The Secret Agent's Bedside Reader: A Compendium of Spy Writing - Hardcover

A Spectator Book of the Year: "A compendium of fiction, memoir and archive material, never less than entertaining and surprisingly informative." The Spectator "If you crave armchair action and adventure this well-chosen anthology should prove thoroughly satisfying." The Good Book Guide

Espionage fact and fiction collide in this thrilling compendium of spy writing, where you'll fi nd some of the greatest spy stories ever written alongside genuine agent reports and instructions that changed the course of history - all within one definitive and unique collection. Daring wartime plans devised by Ian Fleming that could have come straight from the pages of a Bond novel are followed by the first appearance of John le Carre's George Smiley. Never-before-published reports from Cambridge spies Kim Philby and Guy Burgess to Moscow Centre are seen alongside literary classics by Graham Greene and Somerset Maugham. Genuine instructions to agents on how to tail a suspect, or how to stay alive inside wartime Germany - 'never confi de in women' - are interspersed with tales of derring-do inside Bolshevik Russia from Paul Dukes and Sidney Reilly, the original Ace of Spies. With an expert introduction to each extract, former intelligence officer Michael Smith deftly uses his own experience, and that of his many contributors, to take us on a fascinating journey inside the real world of espionage. The Secret Agent's Bedside Reader is a must-own for every espionage enthusiast and aspiring agent. Featuring John Le Carre, Erskine Childers, John Buchan, Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, Kim Philby, Joseph Conrad, Guy Burgess, Somerset Maugham and many more.