Broken Covers – John Creasey, The Baron edition

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

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Broken Covers – Jack Higgins

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

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Broken Covers – Adam Hall

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

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Spy Games – Spy Ring

Every so often I'll be highlighting some of the spy games I've picked up from various second hand stores over the years. I haven't played most of these yet, as finding willing spy game participants can be tricky, but I'm hoping to road test some of these as the kids get older. Once upon a …

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Broken Covers – Andrew Garve

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

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The Spy Who – The Art – Part 4

    It's been over two years but I've laid hands on yet another abridged version of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. We've seen two previous abridged versions, one in a magazine called True and the next in Reader's Digest. My latest find ran in a magazine called Show - The Magazine …

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Broken Covers – John Creasey Part Two

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

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Broken Covers – Eric Ambler

Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70's the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …

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Bond in Motion – Exhibit Review

This is another in my posts on spy tourism. Read other posts in the series here. Located in London, I had marginal expectations for the London Film Museum’s Bond in Motion exhibit. I'm not any sort of huge car guy and as this is an exhibit looking at Bond vehicles, how much am I really …

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Chicago’s Spy – Spy Story of the Week

Who knew that Chicago was such a hot bed of intrigue? This story from 1977 in the Chicago Reader brought it to light. The article tells the story of how the CIA used (uses?) legitimate companies to provide a cover for CIA agents in other countries. In return these companies received lucrative contracts from the …

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Revolutionary War Spy Letters – Spy Image of the Week

Following up on the this weeks site of the week, this is a letter from George Washington to a member of the Culper Ring his collection of spies against the British. This letter was captured by the British and never made it to it's intended recipient.

Mata Hari’s execution – Spy Image of the Week

There are few events that attracted as much attention a hundred years after the fact as the mystery around the accused spy, Mata Hari. Even now, the court records related to her trial are still sealed until 2017! Look here for a interesting first person account of the execution from a reporter on the scene. …

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KGB Headquarters – Spy image of the Week

For decades the thought of being taken to the KGB headquarters, also known as Lubyanka, struck fear in the hearts of Russians and spies alike. Originally an insurance agency, it was taken over by the secret services after the revolution and still houses part of Russia's current intelligence agency the FSB. The above picture was …

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Pinkerton the spy – Spy image of the week

A pretty widely reproduced picture of Lincoln with Allan Pinkerton. Pinkerton is well known for his founding of the Pinkerton Detectives, but he was also a crucial part of the Union military as head of the Union Intelligence Division. He's also one of the few civilian members of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. More …

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