TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Otto Penzler — xi The hairless Mexican / W. Somerset Maugham — 3 Somewhere in France / Richard Harding Davis — 13 Gas attack! / Marthe McKenna — 26 The loathly opposite / John Buchan — 39 A source of irritation / Stacy Aumonier — 48 A patriot / John Galsworthy — 57 Judith / C.E. Montague — 62 Peiffer / A.E.W. Mason — 75 The Donvers case / E. Phillips Oppenheim — 84 Georgette–a spy / Graham Seton — 93 Flood on the Goodwins / A.D. Divine — 103 Under enemy colours / A.O. Pollard — 119 The Aldershot affair / Clarence Herbert New — 124 Cunningham / W.F. Morris — 140 Live bait / J.M. Walsh — 152 Uncle Hyacinth / Alfred Noyes — 163 Alexander and the lady / Edgar Wallace — 180 The popinjay knight / Valentine Williams — 188 The link / Michael Annesley — 199 The army of the shadows / Eric Ambler — 211 The traitress / Sidney Horler — 222 Thief is an ugly word / Paul Gallico — 235 Fraulein Judas / C.P. Donnel Jr. — 258 The courier / Dan Fesperman — 270 Citadel / Stephen Hunter — 285 Charlie’s shell game / Brian Garfield — 343 Flight into disaster / Erle Stanley Gardner — 354 You know what’s going on / Olen Steinhauser — 365 The lady of the Great North Road / William Le Queux — 389 Calloway’s code / O. Henry — 399 The story of a conscience / Ambrose Bierce — 405 High tide / John P. Marquand — 410 A battle of wits / Emmuska Orczy — 424 Adventure of the scrap of paper / George Barton — 439 The naval treaty / Arthur Conan Doyle — 450 The Black doctor / T.T. Flynn — 470 Free-lance spy / H. Bedford-Jones — 508 A tilt with the Muscovite / George Bronson-Howard — 531 Trouble on the border / John Ferguson — 548 The case of the Dixon torpedo / Arthur Morrison — 559 A curious experience / Mark Twain — 571 Parker Adderson, philosopher / Ambrose Bierce — 588 The hand of Carlos / Charles McCarry — 593 Neighbors / Joseph Finder — 610 Old soldiers / Brendan DuBois — 631 Condor in the stacks / James Grady — 646 Miss Bianca / Sara Paretsky — 670 Betrayed / Ronald G. Sercombe — 685 For your eyes only / Ian Fleming — 695 The red, red flowers / M.E. Chaber — 717 Comrade / Jeffery Deaver — 735 The spy who clutched a playing card / Edward D. Hoch — 757 Affair in Warsaw / Robert Rogers — 767 The end of the string / Charles McCarry — 775 Sleeping with my assassin / Andrew Klavan — 800 |
I’m a big fan of Otto Penzler’s Big Book series (you can read my reviews of The Big Book of Rogues here, The Big Book of Ghost Stories here, The Big Book of Female Detectives here, and The Big Book of Adventure Stories here). If you have a fan of spy fiction, The Big Book of Espionage would make a wonderful gift.
All the Big Names of spy fiction are here: Ian Fleming, Charles McCarry, Eric Ambler, and John Buchan. But there are plenty of excellent writers who produced wonderful spy fiction, too. I liked “The Spy Who Clutched a Playing Card” by Edward D. Hoch. And James Grady’s “Condor in the Stacks.” And, who knew Sara Paretsky wrote spy fiction?
If you like spy stories, The Big Book of Espionage is a must-buy. If you’re looking for a gift for a friend who loves suspenseful short stories, this book is your answer. Are you a fan of spy fiction? GRADE: A
My own feeling is that the genre doesn’t lend itself to short fiction, which necessarily lacks room for the twist, turn, and twists-on-turns one associates with the form –not to mention the car chases, fights, explosions, and improbably cantilevered ladies. But having said that, I have to allow that Maugham’s “Ashenden” stories were some of his best.
And THANKS! for the DVDs!
Dan, I’m with you on Maugham’s ASHENDEN stories (which now I want to reread!). Classic! Glad you like the DVDs. I wonder how you’ll like that performance of HAMLET from NAXOS…
Yes, the Maugham was the first thing I thought of too. I’ve read a number of these but will look out for the book. Brendan DuBois is one of my favorite short story writers, and I’ve read Hoch and McCarry and Steinhauer and Finder and Doyle and Wallace and Buchan and Oppenheim and Garfield and Fesperman and Ambler and Grandy and Fleming and Paretsky and Morrison and Bierce and O. Henry – though not necessarily these stories.
Currently reading another big book, Mike Ashley’s MAMMOTH BOOK OF PERFECT CRIMES & IMPOSSIBLE MYSTERIES. I bought the Kindle edition cheap a couple of months ago. Lots of locked rooms and impossible crimes, and not the usual authors and stories for the most part.
Jeff, I have a number of Mike Ashley SF anthologies sitting in my Read Real Soon stack. Ashley is an excellent editor for all sorts of anthologies. I probably have read at least a dozen of his hefty tomes!
Phil would have loved this.
Patti, there’s something in THE BIG BOOK OF ESPIONAGE for every spy fan.
I like spy fiction but haveb’t read much short fiction in the genre. I find these big books awkward to read.
Steve, you’re right about the BIG BOOK series being awkward to handle. I’m considering going the e-book route for the next anthology Otto Penzler puts out.
uh I wou
Rick, feel free to complete your comment.
The one glaring omission is there’s no Michael Gilbert story about Calder and Behrens.
Jeff, I noticed the lack of Gilbert’s Calder & Behrens, too. I’ve been planning on rereading GAME WITHOUT RULES.
I love spy fiction and several of my favorite authors have stories in the book so I will be getting this book eventually for sure. I have to confess I don’t like the Big Books (difficult to read) either though. I also love Michael Gilbert stories about Calder and Behrens but I have the two books that collect thoses stories.
Tracy, while the BIG BOOKs tend to be awkward to hold, Otto Penzler gives you a lot for your money. THE BIG BOOK OF ESPIONAGE is 817 pages. With double columns of text!
Oddly enough, my 100-year-old mother-in-law had no problem when she asked to borrow The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries. I certainly thought it might be too awkward for her. But she reads two books simultaneously, one in bed and the other in her comfy chair, and she read the Big Book in her comfy chair
Jeff, I’m reading THE BIG BOOK OF ESPIONAGE in my comfy chair, too!
I agree with Bill Deeck! I can’t keep up with double agents and triple crosses! Spy fiction is not for me!
Bob, I miss Bill Deeck!
I guess Patrick wasn’t able to fix the moderation hassle!
Bob, sadly GOOGLE kept Patrick too busy. Maybe next time…
I wonder how many young readers of Robert Arthur’s ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S SINISTER SPIES and CLOAK & DAGGER anthologies decades back are a serious chunk of the audience fo this book today.
Idle thought, arguably. Arthur did love espionage fiction. I’m surprised Algis Budrys didn’t write more in the clear, but perhaps it felt too close to home from his childhood (his parents were, essentially, spies who became more officially diplomats).
Todd, I know I got my start with Robert Arthur’s ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S SINISTER SPIES and CLOAK & DAGGER anthologies. I read the Ian Fleming’s BOND books, Matt Helm, Eric Ambler, and Aarons. Le Carre and Charles McCarry came along a little later.
Well, damn.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/13/john-le-carre-author-of-tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-dies-aged-89