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Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Spy Novels

I'm re-reading Kingdom of Shadows by Alan Furst and he mentions several other books. Compulsive me would like to make a list of those books so I could reference them when I am looking for something new to read. Lazy me doesn't want to stop and make notes, lazy me just wants to keep enjoying the story. You know, I'm not the only compulsive fool in the world. I'll bet someone else has already put together such a list, so I ask Google and this what it came up with:

For similar atmospheric and historical spy fiction:
    • John le Carré
    • Paul Vidich, particularly "The Coldest Warrior" and "Beirut Station"
    • Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series
    • Robert Harris
    • Ken Follett
    • Len Deighton
    • Joseph Kanon
For authors who inspired Furst:
    • Between Meals by A.J. Liebling
    • A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
    • The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron
    • Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History by Rhonda K. Garelick
    • The Diamond Chariot by Boris Akunin
    • The Snows of Yesteryear by Gregor von Rezzori
Authors of commercial fiction Furst admires:
    • Ray Bradbury, especially Something Wicked This Way Comes
    • Mary Renault, as in The Praise Singer
    • Herman Wouk, particularly The Caine Mutiny
I've read some of these, and heard of a few more, but there are several that are new to me. Anyone, now I've got a list to work from.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now get AI to summsrise them into one parsgraph. Saves you reading them.