Historical Mystery Spy

America's most proficient covert operations team, hand-picked for its intelligence, analysis, and crisis-management skills, has had many a tough situation thrown at it. Years ago, before North Korea made its belligerent intentions known to the world, Op-Center's first mission was to thwart a...

Discover World War 2's hidden heroes and villains. Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents explores the intriguing world of spycraft and shows you what goes on behind the scenes in war. From spy schools and ciphers to sneaky tools and secret armies, this guide takes you on a declassified tour of the undercover operations that helped decide the outcome of World War 2. There's also more than a dozen short spy-ographies that cover some of the most famous (and infamous!) agents that were active during the war.

New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA. Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of student activists in Buenos Aires. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns the Cold War makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows.

The 16th Amendment to the Constitution legalized federal income tax, but what if there were problems with the 1913 ratification of that amendment? Secrets that call into question decades of tax collecting. There is a surprising truth to this possibility—a truth wholly entertained by Steve Berry, a top-ten New York Times bestselling writer, in his new thriller, The Patriot Threat.

Clive Franklin, a Russian language expert in the Foreign Office, is summoned unexpectedly to Moscow to act as translator for the British Prime Minister. His life is upended when he discovers that his former lover, Marina Volina, is the interpreter to the Russian President. Together they will try to stop the attack that could paralyse communications and collapse the Western economy.

France, 1938. While Hitler rebuilds Germany and French and English leaders focus on appeasement, one man risks everything to smuggle information out of Munich - and into the hands of a young woman. Evelyn Ainsworth is enjoying a carefree summer with her relatives in the high society of Paris. When her father stops to visit on his way from London to Prague, she never dreams that one favor for him will change her life forever. For beneath the glittering gaiety on the continent, a menacing shadow is growing.

When MI6 sends Evelyn Ainsworth back to Oslo, no one expects any complications, least of all Evelyn. With her identity locked down and her section classified, both her location and her mission are secure. Or so they thought. After months of inactivity and scattered warnings across Europe, Hitler finally moves, but not in the direction everyone expects. With tensions between England and Norway rising, the Führer seizes the opportunity to send an invasion force north—straight into Norway.

To what lengths will the British go to smuggle a secret weapon into Nazi Germany? An unmissable Second World War thriller from bestseller Alex Gerlis. Hiding in the horror of Warsaw's Jewish Ghetto with his family, scientist Roman Loszynski has a secret: a means of making aerial bombing raids frighteningly accurate. Codenamed Tatra, it could change the course of the war. With British agent Jack Miller now in Switzerland, back in Berlin undercover spy Sophia von Naundorf is determined to escape Germany come what may.

Tensions are high across Europe in the beginning of May 1940. Hitler’s forces have overrun Norway, and it’s only a matter of time before his focus turns to France. When Evelyn Ainsworth is sent to Brussels, she understands all too well the risk of remaining too long. The MI6 agent’s goal is to get in, pick up a package, meet with her Soviet contact, and get out again as quickly as possible. But even the best laid plans can go awry.

While America struggles to define its destiny, beautiful and ambitious Caroline Sanford fights to control her own fate. One of Vidal’s most inspired creations, she is an embodiment of the complex, vigorous young nation. From the back offices of her Washington newspaper, Caroline confronts the two men who threaten to thwart her ambition: William Randolph Hearst and his protégé, Blaise Sanford, Caroline’s half brother.

John Lawton's A Lily of the Field is a brilliant historical thriller from a master of the form. The book follows two characters - Meret Voytek, a talented young cellist living in Vienna at the novel's start, and Dr. Karel Szabo, a Hungarian physicist interned in a camp on the Isle of Man. In his seventh Inspector Troy novel, Lawton moves seamlessly from Vienna and Auschwitz to the deserts of New Mexico and the rubble-strewn streets of postwar London, following the fascinating parallels of the physicist Szabo and musician Voytek as fate takes each far from home.

November 1943. Tehran, Iran. The three allied leaders, Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin meet to discuss the invasion of Europe and final defeat of Nazi Germany. When a British Intelligence officer is murdered just days before the start of the conference, Booth Salinger, an American OSS officer, is sent to investigate. Against this backdrop A Spy in the Shadows unfolds exposing a tale of dedicated opponents, betrayal of allies, and a German spy codenamed Traveler.

New York Times bestselling author Alan Furst pens evocative and urbane novels of World War II espionage. Focusing on the European theater, Furst writes about ordinary people struggling to cope with the chaos of the world around them.

The World at Night is an edge-of-your-seat World War II tale of intrigue and espionage, set in the shadowy back streets and glittering salons of occupied Paris. Film producer Jean Casson, a Paris sophisticate, struggles to come to terms with the uncomfortable realities of life under German occupation, as he becomes caught up in the initial actions of what was to become the French Resistance.

À Paris, un ministre franc-maçon est retrouvé prostré dans ses appartements à côté du cadavre de sa maîtresse qu'il a follement aimée. Sur son visage, la morte arbore une étrange expression d'extase amoureuse. L'affaire est officiellement confiée au Commissaire Marcas qui va devenir la cible d'une conjuration visant à compromettre sa réputation, à le faire chasser de la police puis à le supprimer définitivement. Cette fois, les puissants ennemis de Marcas pourraient bien être des frères en maçonnerie.

Marzo de 1937. Mientras la Guerra Civil sigue su trágico curso, una nueva misión lleva a Lorenzo Falcó hasta Tánger, turbulenta encrucijada de espías, tráficos ilícitos y conspiraciones, con el encargo de conseguir que el capitán de un barco cargado con oro del Banco de España cambie de bandera. Espías nacionales, republicanos y soviéticos, hombres y mujeres, se enfrentan en una guerra oscura y sucia en la que acabarán regresando peligrosos fantasmas del pasado.

It’s London, the Swinging '60s, and by all rights, MI6 spy Joe Wilderness should be having as good a time as James Bond. But alas, his postings are more grim than glamorous. Luckily, Wilderness has a knack for doing well for himself even in the most unpromising postings - though this has gotten him into hot water in the past. A coffee-smuggling gig in divided Berlin was a steady money-maker, but things went pear-shaped when he had to smuggle a spy back to the KGB instead.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER All will be revealed in this no-holds-barred finale of the Edgar Award–nominated Maggie Hope series as the intrepid spy teams up with fashion designer—and possible double agent—Coco Chanel to bring down the physicist behind Nazi Germany’s nuclear program...

In 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy makes a historic run for the White House. Despite concerns about his Catholicism, Kennedy’s outward charm is winning the country over, but his inner demons are putting his candidacy in danger and risk destroying his political career. That same year, Caitlin Russo, a former cop turned reporter, is devoting her skills to finding her husband’s killer. His job as a CIA operative posed its fair share of risks, but when Caitlin discovers his notes about the case that led to his death, she knows there’s more to the story than simple tragedy.

Brinley Knight has a photographic memory. Bored with his mundane job, he accepts an offer from MI5 to become a full-time spy in a shadowy world of espionage. As Britain stands at the edge of war, Brin learns to his cost that "defending the realm" means duty before family. Hitler’s fifth columnists in Britain emerge from the darkness as Germany’s military might eyes new territories east of the Rhine. German spies and fascists operate in opulent dining rooms and in the back alleys of London’s East End. Menacing predators, they hunt for information that could aid the Führer.