On today's episode of the Spybrary Spy Podcast, Jeff Quest of Spywrite joins us to reveal the results of our Spybrary Shelf of Fame 2018. Which 7 spy books made it on the shelf?
The categories were:
- Pre Cold War Spy Novels
- Cold War Spy Books
- Post Cold War Spy Books.
Check out the runners and riders below. (The winning spy books themselves will appear here soon – we do not want to ruin the suspense before you listen in.)
Pre Cold War era books
Pre-WW1-
The Riddle of the Sands – Erskine Childers
The Secret Agent – Joseph Conrad
Under Western Eyes – Joseph Conrad
Kim – Rudyard Kipling
The Great Impersonation – E. Phillips Oppenheim
WW1-
Greenmantle – John Buchan
The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
An Officer and a Spy – Robert Harris
Ashenden – Somerset Maugham
A Coffin for Demitrios – Eric Ambler
Epitaph For A Spy – Eric Ambler
A Toast to Tomorrow – Manning Coles
Drink to Yesterday – Manning Coles
WW2-
Winter – Len Deighton
Eye Of The Needle – Ken Follett
Enigma – Robert Harris
The Eagle Has Landed – Jack Higgins
Where Eagles Dare – Jack Higgins
Rogue Male – Geoffrey Household
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky – Simon Mawer
Night Soldiers – Alan Furst
Code Name Verity – Elizabeth Wein
SS-GB – Len Deighton
Journey into Fear – Eric Amber
Dark Star – Alan Furst
The Polish Officer – Alan Furst
Spies of Warsaw – Alan Furst
World at Night – Alan Furst
Mission to Paris – Alan Furst
A Small Death in Lisbon – Robert Wilson
The Company of Strangers – Robert Wilson
Los Alamos – Joseph Kanon
Heat of the Day – Elizabeth Bowen
Hot Rail to Hell – Robert Vardeman
The Stone Roses – Sarah Gainham
The Cold War era
The Lantern Network – Ted Allbeury
Judgment on Deltchev – Eric Ambler
The Kremlin Letter – Noel Behn
Heart’s Journey in Winter – James Buchan
Clear and Present Danger – Tom Clancy
The Cardinal of the Kremlin – Tom Clancy
The Hunt For Red October – Tom Clancy
Berlin Game – Len Deighton
Charity – Len Deighton
Faith – Len Deighton
Funeral in Berlin – Len Deighton
Hope – Len Deighton
London Match – Len Deighton
Mexico Set – Len Deighton
Spy Hook – Len Deighton
Spy Line – Len Deighton
Spy Sinker – Len Deighton
The Ipcress File – Len Deighton
Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
From Russia With Love – Ian Fleming
Goldfinger – Ian Fleming
Moonraker – Ian Fleming
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – Ian Fleming
Devil’s alternative – Frederick Forsyth
Fourth Protocol – Frederick Forsyth
The Day Of the Jackal – Frederick Forsyth
The Odessa File – Frederick Forsyth
Charlie M – Brian Freemantle
Six Days of the Condor – James Grady
Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene
The Human Factor – Graham Greene
The Quiet American – Graham Greene
Northlight – Adam Hall
The Ninth Directive – Adam Hall
The Quiller Memorandum – Adam Hall
The Tango Briefing – Adam Hall
The Warsaw Document – Adam Hall
The Ambushers – Donald Hamilton
A Small Town in Germany – John le Carré
Call for the Dead – John le Carré
Smiley’s People – John le Carré
The Honourable Schoolboy – John le Carré
The Russia House – John le Carré
The Spy who Came in from the Cold – John le Carré
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John le Carré
The Company – Robert Littell
The Bourne Identity – Robert Ludlum
The Rhinemann Exchange – Robert Ludlum
Room at the Topless – Ted Mark
The Miernik Dossier – Charles McCarry
The Tears Of Autumn – Charles McCarry
A Magnum for Schneider – James Munro
The Sympathizer – Viet Nguyen
Modesty Blaise – Peter O’Donnell
Other Paths of Glory – Anthony Price
The Anderson Tapes – Lawrence Sanders
Seventeen Moments of Spring – Yulian Semyonov
Harry’s Game – Gerald Seymour
Shibumi – Trevanian
The Little Drummer Girl – John le Carré
The Perfect Spy – John le Carré
The Soul of Viktor Tonko – David Quammen
Running Blind – Desmond Bagley
The Peregrine Spy – Edmund P. Murray
The Better Angels – Charles McCarry
The Secret Lovers – Charles McCarry
A Firing Offense – David Ignatius
Dr. No – Ian Fleming
Agents of Innocence – David Ignatius
Siro – David Ignatius
The Amateur – Robert Littell
The Defection of A.J. Lewinter – Robert Littell
Triple – Ken Follett
The Charm School – Nelson DeMille
The Third Man – Graham Greene
Firefox – Craig Thomas
The Bear’s Tears – Craig Thomas
Sweet Tooth – Ian McEwan
Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens – Michael Gilbert
The Prodigal Spy – Joseph Kanon
The Defectors – Joseph Kanon
The Good German – Joseph Kanon
The Double Agent – John Bingham
Vulture in the Sun – John Bingham
Legacy – Alan Judd
Seven Days of May – Charles W. Bailey II and Fletcher Knebel
Post Cold War era
A Spy by Nature – Charles Cumming
The Trinity Six – Charles Cumming
Typhoon – Charles Cumming
Chaos in Kabul – Gerard de Villiers
Lord of Swallows – Gerard de Villiers
London Rules – Mick Herron
Slow Horses – Mick Herron
Spook Street – Mick Herron
Europe in Autumn – Dave Hutchinson
Decoded – Mai Jai
Absolute Friends – John le Carré
Our Game – John le Carré
Red Sparrow – Jason Matthews
The Tourist – Olen Steinhauer
The Constant Gardener – John le Carré
A Spy’s Life – Henry Porter
Real Tigers – Mick Herron
Dead Lions – Mick Herron
Body of Lies – David Ignatius
Legends – Robert Littell
A Foreign Country – Charles Cumming
A Colder War – Charles Cumming
A Divided Spy – Charles Cumming
Our Kind of Traitor – John le Carré
Hit play and listen in as Jeff shares the voting results.
Links and Resources to follow.
Good idea and well worth repeating periodically.
That said, when I look at the disbursement of nominees, it’s clear that the real winning authors lost out because their votes were split between too many titles.
To avoid that anomaly , would it be crazy to suggest a two step approach:
1) The authors are nominated and short listed.
2) Participants are asked to vote on a title from the nominated author.
I think we’d get a more representative selection. But with the state of democracy in the developed world, who knows ?
Regards to all,
David