Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb in Slow Horses (Image: Apple TV)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n The headlines this summer are full of war, political strife, underhand dealings and power grabs. So it\u2019s reassuring to read a really good spy novel and remind ourselves it\u2019s all par for the course. Skulduggery has always existed at the highest levels and very entertaining it can be too, in fiction at least. Spy fiction is having a golden moment with some of the best writers turning their hands to the genre. The sheer variety of authors, stories, settings and plots \u2013 from the rip-roaring and action-heavy to the slow-moving and cerebral.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The crime writing world descends on Harrogate for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (Image: Harrogate International Festivals)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n My new book, Solitary Agents, is out now and this weekend is the amazing Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, one of the world’s most famous celebrations of the genre. So to celebrate, here are eight spy authors I love to read and why they stand out in a crowded field. From stone-cold classics to up-to-the-minute thrillers, there\u2019s a little something for everybody here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n David Goodman\u2019s novels include A Reluctant Spy, his multi-award-winning debut, and Solitary Agents, out now in hardback, eBook and audio, both from Headline. His debut science fiction novel, Shards of Starlight, writing as David W Goodman, is out from Solaris Books in Autumn 2027<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Solitary Agents by David Goodman is out now (Image: Headline)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Author Ava Glass is the ‘new queen of spy fiction’ (Image: Jack Jewers)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n When it comes to breakneck pace, strong plot hooks and putting the reader firmly in the shoes of intelligence officers, it\u2019s hard to beat \u2018the new queen of spy fiction\u2019 Ava Glass, whose Emma Makepeace novels are a study in well-balanced character and action. As a former crime reporter and then UK civil servant working in counter-terror communications, Ava has worked with the real operators and services that protect the UK, often working with people whose real names she never learned. She brings all of that experience to novels like The Chase, The Traitor and The Trap and it shows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Charles Cumming’s latest book is Icarus 17 (Image: Daily Record)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n My tastes in spy fiction are broad, from the \u2018exploding helicopters\u2019 end of the spectrum right through to the slower paced, more realistic stories. Charles Cumming\u2019s novels, particularly his earlier ones like A Spy By Nature and A Foreign Country, are definitely in the slower-moving category, but that doesn\u2019t make them any less riveting. You wouldn\u2019t think it\u2019s possible to make someone going through a hotel room bin incredibly tense, but Cumming does it with flair, as his characters piece together conspiracies and leads, often off-the-books and unofficially, to root out traitors, moles and double-dealers. These books are compelling modern spy fiction at its best.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n John Le Carr\u00e9 and Gary Oldman as George Smiley in 2011 adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Image: Montage Becky Herbert)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Where to start with the author many still see as the best in the business, even more than half a decade after his death? Whether you consider the slim, tense mastery of his breakout debut novel The Spy Who Came In From The Cold or the sweeping arc of the George Smiley novels, you\u2019re in for a slow-moving, character-driven treat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n His later novels branched out into arms dealing, corporate malfeasance, and even back into the legacy of his Cold War novels, as the modern world reckoned with the long-term impact of Smiley\u2019s activities. But for my money it\u2019s the novels Le Carr\u00e9 wrote in the seventies and eighties that are his best and most well-observed work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nick Harkaway is the son of John Le Carr\u00e9 and a very fine writer in his own right (Image: Ula Soltys)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n I first came across the author Nick Harkaway through his own work, written under a pen-name, because it turns out he\u2019s actually Nick Cornwell, son of David Cornwell, AKA John Le Carr\u00e9. And his complex, speculative writing stood very well on its own, including the gobsmacking novels GNOMON, Titanium Noir and Sleeper Beach.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But Harkaway has also recently started writing books set in the world of his father\u2019s novels, starting with Karla\u2019s Choice, soon to be followed by The Taper Man. These \u2018in-between\u2019 novels are written in the gaps between the Le Carr\u00e9 originals and they evoke those books beautifully, while still being very much Nick\u2019s own work. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Graham Greene, one of the godfathers of spy fiction, pictured in 1954 (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Another Cold War writer with a huge body of work, Greene is probably best-known for The Quiet American, his devastating and evocative novel telling the story of a dissolute English journalist, a young CIA officer and the woman they both wish to possess. However, probably my favourite of his novels is Our Man In Havana, a deeply funny but paranoid slice of Caribbean espionage that follows Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman in pre-revolutionary Cuba. He agrees to pass information to MI6 and creates a completely fictitious network of informants to do so. Things get a lot darker when the Cuban regime, the CIA and MI6 all begin to act on Wormold\u2019s fantasies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As an actual former clandestine officer for the CIA, I.S. Berry\u2019s debut novel The Peacock and the Sparrow, set in Bahrain during the Arab Spring of 2011, is a masterclass in slow-burn tension and the real-world mechanisms of intelligence work. This novel is almost entirely about the characters and the manipulations of intelligence gathering, with Berry\u2019s jaded field officer Shane Collins finding himself caught between the plans and betrayals of his masters and the love of a woman. It\u2019s the kind of spy story where nobody is quite what they seem and everything has a horrible inevitability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The beauty of this genre is that there\u2019s really something for everyone, and new books coming out from established authors and debuts like me all the time. If you want to meet fellow spy fiction fans and get your reading list started, I highly recommend the excellent Spybrary community, which includes a brilliant website, Facebook group, newsletter and podcast all about spy fiction. There\u2019s much, much more than I can cover here, so dive in and explore the world of spies and espionage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n David McCloskey and his latest book, The Persian (Image: Phil Sharp)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n It\u2019s tough to pick a top spot for a list like this, but David McCloskey comes very, very close. Another former CIA officer (though on the analyst, office-based side rather than out in the field), McCloskey\u2019s recent run of work is exceptional, starting with his debut Damascus Station and most recently The Persian, just out in paperback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n What I love about his books is the incredibly memorable characters (a CIA station chief called Artemis Proctor is a particular favourite), the detailed espionage tradecraft and the real sense of place and time in each book, from pre-civil-war Syria to Putin\u2019s Moscow and the alligator-ridden swamps of Florida. McCloskey is also one of the co-hosts of the excellent The Rest Is Classified podcast, which is an essential listen for anyone fascinated by real-world spies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Slow Horses creator Mick Herron and Clown Town, the latest in the hit series (Image: Montage Becky Herbert)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n My number one spot, however, has to go to the novelist who got me back into reading spy books after many years away from the genre. From the moment I picked up Slow Horses, the first in the fantastic Slough House series, I knew I was reading something that was both very different and a little bit special. Herron\u2019s building full of misfits brought a much-needed wry smile to the genre, served alongside excellent plotting and some of the best dialogue in the business. And Herron hasn\u2019t stopped with this superb series \u2013 he\u2019s also writing new standalone spy novels like The Secret Hours and there\u2019s also the excellent Zo\u00eb Boehm thrillers to dive into as well. A superb novelist and, as I\u2019ve discovered since joining the ranks of spy writers myself, a very nice guy in person.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/1200x712\/secondary\/Gary-7054087.jpg?r=1784651836188\" "\\"Gary")
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n![\"Solitary](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Solitary-Agents-by-David-Goodman-7054184.jpg?r=1784651836316\" "\\"Solitary")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nAva Glass<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Ava](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Ava-7054136.jpg?r=1784651836381\" "\\"Ava")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nCharles Cumming<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Charles-7054131.jpg?r=1784651836442\" "\\"Charles")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nJohn Le Carr\u00e9<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"John](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Le-Carre-7054114.jpg?r=1784651836510\" "\\"John")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nNick Harkaway<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Nick-7054152.jpg?r=1784651836591\" "\\"Nick")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nGraham Greene<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Graham](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Graham-7054160.jpg?r=1784651836651\" "\\"Graham")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nI.S. Berry<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
How to get started with spy fiction<\/h3>\n<\/header>\n
David McCloskey<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"David](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/David-7054173.jpg?r=1784651836720\" "\\"David")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\nMick Herron<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Mick](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/39\/590x\/secondary\/Mick-7054119.jpg?r=1784651836780\" "\\"Mick")
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