Secret agents and spies can come in many guises. Here is a list of some classic spy novels and short stories, some serious and some comic. Some of these authors have been professionals. If you are in the mood for intrigue, you should find something to your taste among the choices below. This is a selective list; if you would like additional suggestions, please see our NoveList database and search under the phrase, “spy fiction.”

New and Notable:

The Diplomat’s Wife by Pam Jenoff FIC JEN 2008
A female member of the Jewish Resistance in Warsaw who survives a Nazi concentration camp marries a British diplomat after World War II and is sent to Prague on a dangerous intelligence mission. A historical romantic spy novel.

The Ghost War by Alex Berenson FIC BER 2008
CIA agent and Al-Qaeda infiltrator John Wells is sent to investigate suspected Taliban activity.

Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva FIC SIL 2008
A former KGB agent now turned covert arms dealer intends to sell weapons to Al-Qaeda. Israeli spy Gabriel Allon is sent to Moscow to stop him.

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre FIC LEC 2008
A Chechen Muslim arrives in Hamburg, Germany asking for asylum and claiming funds his father, a Russian gangster, deposited in a German bank. Rival intelligence agencies in the War on Terror become involved.

Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst FIC FUR 2008
Set in Poland just prior to the Nazi invasion, this novel is about a French military attaché assigned to the French Embassy in Warsaw who collects intelligence that Germany is about to invade Poland, but he is unable to convince the French Government.

Early Classics:

Ashenden or, The British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham (1928) FIC MAU
This is a collection of stories reflecting Maugham’s experience as a British intelligence agent during World War I.

Journey into Fear by Eric Ambler (1940) MYS AMB
An English armament expert on a ship bound for Turkey discovers that he is on the “hit list” of Nazi assassins to prevent his return to England with a scheme for Turkish defense.
Other titles by Ambler are: Epitaph for a Spy, The Light of Day and A Coffin for Dimetrios.

The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton (1908) 2008
A detective infiltrates an anarchists’ organization.

The Riddle of the Sands: a Record of Secret Service Recently Achieved by Erskine Childers (1903)
Two young men on a sailing holiday discover a German plot to invade England just prior to World War I.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy (1905) FIC ORC
(France, 1789-1799, England 1760-1820)
A member of the British aristocracy risks his life and his personal fortune to help evacuate French aristocracy to England during the French Revolution.

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie (1922) MYS CHR
A husband and wife detective team try to locate a missing lady.

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad (1921) (British) FIC CON
and Under Western Eyes (1921) FIC CON
In A Secret Agent, a terrorist plots to blow up Greenwich Observatory near London.
Under Western Eyes is about a Russian philosophy student who is involved in a revolutionist murder.

The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper (American) FIC COO
(American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783)
Harry Birch is accused of selling information to the British. George Washington is a character.

The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan (1915) FIC BUC
Richard Hannay tries to stop an international conspiracy before World War I.

British Intelligence Service:

Cold War:

The George Smiley Novels by John Le Carre:
Call for the Dead (1987) (1) is the first book in this series chronologically, but possibly the best two books are:
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1964) (George Smiley Novels, 3) and
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) (George Smiley Novels, 4).
Other Smiley novels are:
The Honorable Schoolboy (1977) (5),
Smiley’s People (1979) (6),
The Looking Glass War (1965)(George Smiley appears, but is not the main character), and
A Murder of Quality (1987) (2).

The Russia House by John Le Carre (1989) FIC CAR
A British publisher is used by British Intelligence as a contact for obtaining secret documents from a Russian physicist at a British trade fair in Moscow.

A Perfect Spy by John Le Carre (1986) FIC CAR
A successful career British Intelligence Officer vanishes, and his family and friends gradually learn the truth about Magnus Pym’s life and motives. Le Carre examines the moral aspects of being a spy.

Berlin Game by Len Deighton FIC DEI
A British Intelligence agent is confronted with the knowledge that there is a mole in his organization as he is contacted by one of his agents in place in East Berlin who wants to be rescued.

Hostile Intent by Clive Egleton (1993) (Peter Ashton Novels, Book 1) FIC EGL
Set in the period of Perestroika, as the Cold War was supposedly thawing, Peter Ashton is sent to investigate the assassination of a British Intelligence Agent by Neo-Nazis.

The Quiet American by Graham Greene (1955) FIC GRE
An American is assigned to Saigon, Vietnam, during the French occupation of IndoChina.

Watchman by Ian Rankin (1988) FIC RAN
Miles Flint is a middle manager in British intelligence who suspects a mole when his surveillance of an Arab assassin goes awry. While investigating this possibility, he becomes involved with a planned Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing plot.

The James Bond novels, by Ian Fleming. The best are Casino Royale and From Russia With Love.
Car chases, gadgets and illicit affairs are the hallmark of these James Bond adventures.

Central Intelligence Agency/Office Of Strategic Services (OSS):

The Company (2002) by Robert Littell FIC LIT
This book covers five decades of spycraft at the Central Intelligence Agency, and contains both history and fiction.
Other novels by Littell are: The Once and Future Spy (1990) and The Defection of A. J. Lewinter (1973).

Robert Ludlum FIC LUD
Robert Ludlum has written many books about counterintelligence agents working for the Central Intelligence Agency. The book which first made his name was The Scarlatti Inheritance (1971) FIC LUD, in which Elizabeth Scarlatti develops a plan to prevent her son from assisting Hitler’s Third Reich.
Ludlum is now probably best known for the Jason Bourne series, because of the recent movies starring Matt Damon.
Robert Ludlum: The Jason Bourne series:
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (1980) FIC LUD
The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum (1986) FIC LUD
The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum (1990) FIC LUD

Robert Ludlum died in 2001. The Jason Bourne novels were continued by Eric Lustbader:
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Lustbader (2007) FIC LUS
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Sanction by Eric Lustbader (2008) FIC LUS
Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne in the Bourne Legacy by Eric Lustbader (2004) FIC LUS

Men at War series, by W. E. B. Griffin (American) FIC GRI
Griffin has several series about the military, but this series is about the early history of the O.S.S., the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Double Agents (6)
The Saboteurs (5)
The Fighting Agents (4)
The Soldier Spies (3)
The Last Heroes (1)
and The Secret Warriors (2) are the titles in this series, of which the first book, The Last Heroes, begins in June 1941.

International Intrigue (General)

The Bear and the Dragon by Tom Clancy (2000) FIC CLA
Jack Ryan is now President and trying to straighten out the Social Security system when he becomes involved with a revolution in Liberia, a troubled Asian economy, and an assassination attempt in Russia.

The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett (1978) FIC FOL
“The Needle,” or “Die Nadel” is a German secret agent trusted by Hitler who discovers that the Allied D-Day invasion will be at Normandy, rather than Calais. A British agent comes out of retirement to prevent him from disclosing the secret. A romantic entanglement is involved.

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (1971) FIC FOR
The plot involves an assassination attempt of Charles DeGaulle by a hired killer and French counterintelligence efforts to stop him.

The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry (2000) FIC MCC
Secret agent Paul Christopher investigates the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy under threat from Kennedy’s assassins and the U.S. Government itself.

Some other authors in the Fairfax County Public Library collection which you may enjoy are:

British:
John Gardner – Herbie Kruger series
Anthony Burgess – Tremor of Intent (1966)
Rebecca West – The Birds Fall Down (1966)
Helen MacInnes – romantic espionage thrillers set in Europe (Cold War era)
Alistair MacLean – Scottish author – Where Eagles Dare (1967)
Tim Sebastian – British Intelligence novels (Cold War era)

American:
Dorothy Gilman – humorous Cold War spy adventures involving a middle-aged widow
Lauren Willig – historical spy novels set in the Napoleonic era.