51: Interview with Spy Novelist Charles Cumming

Charles Cumming – British Spy Writer talks about his work, on the Spybrary Spy Podcast

Charles Cumming interview on the Spybrary Spy Podcast
Charles Cumming interview on the Spybrary Spy Podcast

Welcome to Episode 51 of the Spybrary Spy podcast today we have a stellar interview lined up for you with British spy writer Mr. Charles Cumming


David Craggs, ‘Our Man in the U.K.' goes to West London to interview Charles Cumming about his latest book called The Man Between ( The Moroccan Girl in the USA.)

What is The Man Between all about?

He risked it all to become a spy. Now he must pay the price.

A gripping new standalone spy thriller from the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year and ‘the master of the modern spy thriller’ (Mail on Sunday).

One simple task for British Intelligence takes him into a world of danger.

Successful novelist Kit Carradine has grown restless. So when British Intelligence invites him to enter the secret world of espionage, he willingly takes a leap into the unknown.

But the glamour of being a spy is soon tainted by fear and betrayal, as Carradine finds himself in Morocco on the trail of Lara Bartok – a mysterious fugitive with links to international terrorism.

Bartok is a leading figure in Resurrection, a violent revolutionary movement whose brutal attacks on prominent right-wing politicians have spread hatred and violence throughout the West.

As the coils of a ruthless plot tighten around him, Carradine finds himself drawn to Lara. Caught between competing intelligence services who want her dead, he soon faces an awful choice: to abandon Lara to her fate or to risk everything trying to save her.

‘The Man Between is up there with the best – full of thrills, wit and fine writing’ Peter Robinson

Jeremy Duns is a voice we respect and he is not wrong here!
Jeremy Duns is a voice we respect and he is not wrong here!

We know Charles has a large following among our Spybrary listeners, so we go on a journey through his other spy novels including the Kell trilogy, Typhoon, Trinity Six etc (links below.)

Charles Cumming Spy Author makes his debut on the Spybrary Spy Podcast
Charles Cumming Spy Author makes his debut on the Spybrary Spy Podcast

Not just a top notch spy novelist, the Ink Factory drafted Charles Cumming on to the writing team for the much anticipated second season of The Night Manager.  Wonderful to hear that the master himself John le Carre has given the sequel his blessing which must give Charles and the team a lot of confidence (and dare we say it added pressure) to produce a thrilling sequel.

On The Night Manager 2, Charles Cumming tells Spybrary –

“It has John le Carre's blessing. It's the first time that the great man has allowed one of his books to be sequalized. If that is a verb. So we are taking existing characters and putting them in new environments and creating new characters for them to come up against. I'm not allowed to say where it's set. I'm not allowed to say who's in it. All I can say is that I think we did a quite a good job and we are nearly there.”


We talk about the differences in American spy literature and British spy writing. There is a passage in The Man Between which really made me laugh and I cheekily asked if this was Charles Cumming talking through the main character Kit Carradine.

” So what? You're writing a kind of spy story set in Morocco? Like a Jason Bourne thing?

Carradine has always thought that his novels occupied a literary space equidistant between the kiss-kiss-bang-bang of Ludlum and the slow-burn chess games of le Carre.  For reasons of intellectual vanity, he would ordinarily have tried to distance himself from Ramon's description, but he was keen to stop talking about his work.  As a consequence, he readily conceded that his ‘Moroccan thriller' was going to be full of guns and explosions and beautiful women.”

Big shout out to David who does an excellent job once again in this interview. We both hope you enjoy this interview with Charles Cumming.

 

Spybrary Host Shane Whaley on The Man Between.

Charles Cumming The Man Between

Did you know?

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 the UK in June 2001. The novel's hero, Alec Milius, is a flawed loner in his early 20s who is recruited by MI5 to sell doctored research data on oil exploration in the Caspian Sea to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Read more about Charles Cumming on his Official Website.

And of course you can find out more about Charles Cumming as he reveals his Spybrary Quickfire answers on this episode.

Charles Cumming signed Shane's copy of A Foreign Country in 2017 with a promise to come on the show to talk about his new book. Thank you Charles, your candid interview means a lot to your fans. Looking forward to the next one!

Links, Books and Resources referenced on Episode 51 with Charles Cumming

Spybrary Spy Podcast Discussion Group
Talk more about spy books in our Spybrary discussion group

If you enjoyed this interview come and chat with other fans of spy books on our Spybrary listeners discussion group.

Charles Cumming Official Website

Charles Cumming Spy Author Amazon Page

Charles Cumming Books in Order

The Man Between – Charles Cumming

The Man With the Golden Gun – Ian Fleming

The Night Manager – John le Carre


The Spy Who Came In From The Cold – John le Carre

The Spy Who Loved Me – Ian Fleming

Spy By Nature – Charles Cumming

Typhoon – Charles Cumming

A Foreign Country – Charles Cumming

Trinity Six – Charles Cumming

Thomas Kell and Colin Firth – Evening Standard Article

 

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