SpyMasters

Paul Burke is interviewed by Barry Forshaw, Financial Times Crime Fiction Critic and author of Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide. Discussing SPIES ON SCREEN: FROM SILENT TO STREAMING, favourite films, Alfred Hitchcock, Eric Ambler, Bond, Bourne and MI, iconic performances, action v realism, the history of espionage cinema and streaming.

SPIES ON SCREEN
The definitive guide to espionage on film and TV.

Covering more than 900 spy movies and series, from Bond and Bourne to Hitchcock and Herron, Spies on Screen is the first comprehensive guide of the modern era, exploring how the genre has evolved alongside real-world concerns about geopolitics, surveillance, cyber warfare and global conflict. In a series of compelling and accessible essays, Burke combines expert analysis with cultural history to define the trends, themes and transformations of spying across more than a century of hot and cold conflict. Whether you are hoping to discover a new series or to reconnect with a forgotten classic, look no further. Spies on Screen is an unrivalled reference guide; the essential companion to one of entertainment's most enduring genres.

PAUL BURKE was born in London, university educated and has worked in the private, voluntary and academic sector over the years. He has been writing about crime, thriller and mystery fiction since 2016 and podcasting for Crime Time FM since 2021. His first passion as a reader was Cold War spy fiction. Paul is interested in sports, arts, politics and history. He was editor of Aspects of Crime, a new online magazine/website dedicated to crime fact and fiction, presenter of SpyMasters and is now Fiction Editor at Spybrary.com

Barry Forshaw is the editor of Crime Time, the Financial Time Crime Fiction Critic and the author of several books on crime fiction and film, including Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide and American Noir.

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Alan Judd talks to SpyMasters about his new spy thriller No. 1 St James Park, John le Carré, W Somerset Maugham, Mansfield Cumming, Christopher Marlowe, Jane Archer and women spies of WWI.

No. 1 St James Park: At the height of the First World War, Emily Grey finds herself far away from the action, collating Swiss rubber imports in a hut in the middle of St James’ Park. Summoned to MI6’s Whitehall headquarters, Emily learns that her talent for languages is needed elsewhere and she is despatched to Bern to debrief Fritz the Ritz, an agent reporting on the wartime activities of German industry.

However, when she discovers that Fritz the Ritz may not be all he claims to be, she is led to the door of an import-export dealership in Lausanne and the unassuming couple who run it. Could they really be at the heart of a network that threatens the lives of millions of Allied soldiers? And, if they are, can Emily, and her ever-eager partner Nigel Nisbet, stop them before they go too far?

With a matchless flair for historical accuracy, psychological acuity and breathtaking adventure, Judd’s latest historical thriller demonstrates once again that he is one of the finest spy novelists writing today and that this series of novels about the origin of MI6 bears comparison with John Le Carre, Patrick O’Brien and Joseph Conrad.

Alan Judd is the author of the Charles Thoroughgood series, The Kaiser's Last Kiss, A Fine Madness and his latest series featuring Emily Grey.

Recommended Elizabeth Howard The Cazalets, Robert Galbraith, Displacement: Zweig, Roth and Banjamin.

Paul Burke is the editor of Aspects of Crime. His first book Spies on Screen will be published on 20 October.
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Simon Conway talks to SpyMasters about The British Agent, Afghanistan, conspiracy, Chuff, bomb disposal, US politics...

THE BRITISH AGENT: A SPY ALONE. AN ENEMY WITHIN.

A veteran American spymaster weaving an elaborate web.

A politician who makes a high-stakes promise he can’t keep.

A clutch of sophisticated air defence missiles stolen in Ukraine.

A terrorist cell with plans to commit an outrage in the US capital.

And, at the centre of it all, a British agent, operating alone and undercover, on a desperate, globe-trotting mission to prevent catastrophe.

She cannot fail . . .

Recommends: EJ SWIFT When There Are Wolves Again

Mention Michael Idov Collaborators, James Wolff Spies and Other Gods.

Paul Burke is Editor of Aspects of Crime. His first book Spies on Screen will be published later this year.
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Charles Cumming talks to Paul Burke about his new novel Icarus 17, latest in the Box 88 series, The Day of the Jackal, A Spy by Nature, Thomas Kell, Geopolitics in the novel, post-Cold War spy fiction dip, touring Eastern Europe before The Wall fell, Plane and not meeting Jason Statham.

Icarus 17: As director of covert intelligence agency Box 88, Lachlan Kite is at the apex of his espionage career. But when Martha Raine – a woman he hasn’t seen in twenty years – begs for his help, Kite finds himself back in the game, racing to avert disaster. Kite must find Martha’s son, Max, who vanished in Athens with his girlfriend, Yasmine. But the couple aren’t just missing, they’re running for their lives. Two rival agencies are hunting them, both with orders to kill on sight. Max and Yasmine are carrying a dizzying secret, one which could pull apart the foundations of the Middle East for a generation. If Kite fails to save them, the costs – both personal and professional – will be catastrophic.



Charles Cumming is a British writer of spy fiction. Educated at Eton and the University of Edinburgh where he graduatednwith 1st Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as "the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carré and Len Deighton left off". In 1995, Charles Cumming was approached for recruitment by the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). A Spy By Nature, a novel partly based on his experiences with MI6, was published in 2001. The novel's hero, Alec Milius, is a flawed loner in his early 20s who is recruited by MI6 to sell doctored research data on oil exploration in the Caspian Sea to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 2001, Charles Cumming moved to Madrid. His second novel, The Hidden Man, came out in 2003. The Spanish Game, 2006, Typhoon, 2008, The Trinity Six, 2011.
A Foreign Country, 2012, was named the first Scottish Crime Book of the Year at the inaugural Bloody Scotland Festival in Stirling in September 2012. It also won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the best thriller of 2012. A Colder War, 2014. A Divided Spy, 2016. The Man Between (published in
the US as 'The Moroccan Girl') was published in 2018. In 2020 Cumming released BOX 88, followed by JUDAS 62 (2021), KENNEDY 35 (2023) and ICARUS 17 (2026). Charles Cumming was also the screenwriter of the Gerard Butler action movie 'Plane' and was part of the writing team responsible for the first season of the hit TV series 'The Day of the Jackal.

Recommended: Bruce Chatwin, Martin Amis, John Cheever, Philip
Roth, Henry Porter, David McCloskey. Ian Fleming and Frame 37 both by
Nicholas Shakespeare, The Peacock and the Sparrow IS Berry, The Bureau, The Agency.

Paul Burke is the editor of Aspects of Crime and the presenter
of Spymasters. His first book Spies on Screen will be published this year.





Icarus
17: Lachlan
Kite should have left fieldwork behind by now.

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Johan Wennström talks to Paul Burke about The Stay Behinds: Sweden's Cold War Guardians.

The Stay Behinds: Packed with first-hand accounts and previously classified government documents, this book reveals the secrets of Sweden's resistance network, created to deter a potential Soviet occupation.Following World War II, Sweden faced the looming threat of the Soviet Union and its drive to spread communism. This led to the formation of a resistance movement involving Sweden's intelligence service, the employers' association and the labour movement. The stay-behind network was fully legalised in 1955 and continued its clandestine work until the mid-1990s, with the mission of keeping communism – and the Soviets – out of Sweden.Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with key figures, author Johan Wennström peels back the layers of secrecy surrounding the stay-behinds. This book looks at the men who created the network, the work the operatives carried out, the cell-like structure they relied on, and how the US and UK intelligence communities cooperated with the Swedish stay-behinds. This is the first in-depth study of a secret organization that helped shape modern Sweden. It also highlights lessons for today's NATO and makes the case for a defence policy grounded in national interest.

Forthcoming Audio The Stay Behinds Spotify.com

Johan Wennström: is a research fellow at the Swedish Defence University and an occasional contributor to UnHerd. He is one of Sweden's most prominent commentators on alliance politics and European security.

Paul Burke is the presenter of Spymasters. His first book Spies on Screen will be published later this year.

Produced by Junkyarddog
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