Skip to main content
This month at the James Bond Book Club we’ve been reading Paul Warner’s A Spy in the Blood. We were thrilled to speak to the author himself to take a deep dive into the appeal of espionage fiction, his approach to writing, questions of nature versus nurture and we even got a hint of what’s in store for his next book…
BECOME A FLEMING INSIDER > JOIN HERE
Category Archives: News
The James Bond Book Club Selection for July 2026 is A Spy in the Blood
Old spy, new tricks. This month we’re switching gears to a more current-day M16 and reading… A Spy in the Blood by Paul Warner.
OVERVIEW
Mark Wolfe used to be a top secret-agent for MI6. Now he spends his days sitting behind desk, recruiting new agents and watching the clock. He has nearly made it to retirement without his family even knowing about his life of espionage…
But when his daughter, Jodi, joins the service and vanishes on her first major mission, Mark has no choice but to step back into the shadows. This time, he’s not fighting for his country. He’s fighting for his family and the modern world of espionage is darker than the one he remembers.
WHY WE CHOSE IT
Published in January to widespread critical acclaim – including being named The Times‘ Thriller of the Month – A Spy in the Blood immediately stood out as a novel that would appeal to James Bond readers, while offering a fresh perspective on espionage and a new voice in the genre.
At its heart, the novel asks a deceptively simple question: what makes a great spy? Is exceptional tradecraft something that can be learned through training and experience, or are some people simply born with the instincts needed for the job? Paul Warner explores these ideas through the relationship between veteran MI6 officer Mark Wolfe and his daughter, creating a story that is as much about legacy and family as it is about espionage.
The novel also poses an intriguing thought for Bond fans. Ian Fleming’s Bond exists in a perpetual present, remaining roughly the same age throughout the novels. But what might happen when a legendary field agent reaches retirement? What scars would decades of espionage leave behind, and how would those experiences shape the next generation? While Mark Wolfe is very much his own character, his story offers a fascinating exploration of questions that Fleming’s Bond was never given the opportunity to answer.
Of course, alongside these thoughtful themes, A Spy in the Blood delivers everything readers expect from a modern espionage thriller: a compelling mystery, authentic tradecraft, shifting loyalties, and high-stakes action. It’s an intelligent, character-driven spy novel that feels both contemporary and rooted in the traditions of the genre, one we could not wait to get our hands on.
THEMES TO CONSIDER
– Nature vs. Nurture – Can the qualities that make someone a great spy be passed on or taught?
– Obedience – Which are more important, the vows you make to your family or the ones you make to your country?
– Realism – Is this a more or less realistic take on MI6 than Fleming’s?
REVIEWS
The Times – ‘Warner’s impressive debut wins the reader’s trust with its nuanced depiction of character, brisk handling of the action and sure grasp of the cost to spies of a life of deception and betrayal’
David Goodman – ‘This explosive debut shifts from the shadowy streets of London to the freezing mountains of the Hindu Kush, powered by double-crosses, brutal action and last-resort adrenaline. Warner’s wry humour, fatalism and the dogged persistence of his protagonist Mark Wolfe draw you deep into the plot, spiralling through betrayal, sacrifice and the inexorable corruption of the secret world. An expertly thrown knife of a spy novel that slips the blade between your ribs when you least expect it.’
The Financial Times – ‘This is an impressive launch for what promises to be an exciting new series’
Rory Clements – ‘Terrifying – if you have children you’ll never see them the same way again’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Long obsessed by espionage fiction, A Spy in the Blood is Paul’s debut spy thriller. The second book in his Mark Wolfe espionage series, Funeral for a Spy, will be published by Zaffre Books in 2027.
Paul Warner has taught English and Art at several schools in London, Naples and East Sussex, where he currently lives with his partner and two children. He has previously been a bookseller and a voice-over artist. Writing as Paul Read, he has also written for the Times Educational Supplement and published two novels through Legend Press.
We hope you enjoy this month’s pick. Stay tuned for an author interview and lots more thrills!
The 2026 CWA Dagger Winners
‘There is only one recipe for a best-seller and it is a very simple one. You have to get the reader to turn over the page.’
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming Publications are proud to sponsor the Crime Writer’s Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, an annual literary prize for the best thriller published in the UK. Eligible books in this category are thrillers set in any period and include, but are not limited to, spy fiction, noir thrillers and action-adventure stories. Past winners include Gillian Flynn, Mick Herron, Robert Harris and Karin Slaughter.
The winners of the 2026 Daggers were announced last night at the CWA Daggers Awards Dinner, with King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby taking the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. The judges commented:
‘Guilt, sacrifice and family secrets collide in this immersive blend of American Dream drama and Shakespearean tragedy. Cosby’s vivid prose, intricate plotting and commitment to emotional and moral complexity give the novel distinct power.’
Our congratulations go out to all of the winners.
King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
Roman Carruthers left the smoke and fire of his family’s crematory business behind in his hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia. He is enjoying a life of shallow excess as a financial adviser in Atlanta until he gets a call from his sister, Neveah, telling him their father is in a coma after a hit-and-run accident.
When Roman goes home, he learns the accident may not be what it seems. His brother, Dante, is deeply in debt to dangerous, ruthless criminals. And Roman is willing to do anything to protect his family. Anything.
A financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, Roman must use all his skills to try to save his family while dealing with a shadow that has haunted them all for twenty years: the disappearance of their mother when Roman and his siblings were teenagers. It’s a mystery that Neveah, who has sacrificed so much of her life to hold her family together, is determined to solve once and for all.
As fate and chance and heartache ignite their lives, the Carruthers family must pull together to survive or see their lives turn to ash. Because, as their father counseled them from birth, nothing lasts forever. Everything burns.
S. A. Cosby is a New York Times bestselling writer from southeastern Virginia. He is the author of All the Sinners Bleed, which was on more than forty Best of the Year lists, including Barack Obama’s, as well as Edgar Award finalist Razorblade Tears and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Blacktop Wasteland. He has also won the Anthony Award, ITW Thriller Award, Barry Award, Macavity Award, BCALA Award, and Audie Award and has been longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.
Find the winners, shortlists and longlists for all of the Daggers here, and learn about the previous shortlists and winners of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger here. Information about the entry process for the awards is available here.
Book Club Interview: Dr. Lucas Townsend on The Mask of Dimitrios
To round off June at the James Bond Book Club, we hope you enjoy this discussion with Dr. Lucas Townsend all about The Mask of Dimitrios, how it inspired Ian Fleming and its place in the history of espionage fiction.
Dr. Lucas Townsend is a lecturer and researcher in English Literature and Culture at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz and the Associate Editor of the International Journal of James Bond Studies. His research is engaged in exploring the relationship of Ian Fleming to wider literary cultures and authors of modernism, intermodernism, and thriller fiction in mid-century Britain.
The Hunt for the 27th Letter
Throughout his life Ian Fleming was fascinated by the appearance of things, whether it was the cut of a suit, the birds of Jamaica or a typeface. In 1947, while helping his friend Robert Harling at the typographical magazine Alphabet & Image, he conceived the idea of a competition for the best interpretation of a twenty-seventh letter of the alphabet.
Entries had to represent a recognised sound or combination of sounds, and must display decorative, philological and typographical merit. Fleming intended to judge the entries alone, and the winner was to receive a book token to the value of five guineas, which at the time was a decent sum. Unfortunately, Fleming was unable to judge his competition – he was in Jamaica at the time – and it was judged in his absence by Robert Harling himself. It was won jointly by illustrator and designer Cecil Keeling and designer and calligrapher John Tarr. Their submissions included letters for ‘-sion’, ‘th’ and ‘st’. The runner-up was artist L. R. Clynick, with a ‘sh’.
Peter Fleming, Ian’s elder brother, was writing a column under the name ‘Strix’ in The Spectator at the time. His choice was ‘er’, as in ‘I have no – er – hesitation in saying…’ He saw it as a long, thin, horizontal letter, ‘drooping slightly at the end; and I’m not sure that I wouldn’t give it an umlaut to make it more decorative.’ His problem was where to fit it into the alphabet. Z was clearly proud of its position and ‘it would sound silly if you used the new letter in stock phrases like “He knows his job from A to ER.”‘ His solution? ‘When I was learning the alphabet, I remember finding the H I J K L stretch particularly tricky going, negotiable only with the help of ER; and if nobody minds, I think it had better go in between K and L, for sentimental reasons.’
In 2017 at the suggestion of Fergus Fleming, Ian’s nephew, the competition was resurrected in The Book Collector, the leading English-language journal for encouraging, supporting and informing all manner of book collecting, co-founded by Ian himself. It received over 2,500 entries, with the shortlist selected by Phil Cleaver, The Book Collector designer and Professor in the Creative Industries at Middlesex University, James Fergusson, Editor of The Book Collector, Fergus Fleming, co-publisher at Queen Anne Press, and Lilian Lindblom-Smith, Head of Graphic Design at Middlesex University. The final decision was then made by the ‘Godfather of British Pop Art’, Sir Peter Blake.
‘LOL’, the 27th letter of the alphabet as imagined by graphic design student David Guthrie took the top spot, and Guthrie was awarded a, in the words of The Book Collector, ‘modestly magnificent’ trophy book – a volume of Ian Fleming’s letters embossed with his letter – and £250, with the journal also donating £500 to the literacy charity Give A Book.
The James Bond Book Club Selection for June 2026 is The Mask of Dimitrios
For our (00)7th James Bond Book Club selection, we’re spotlighting the novel that sits at the very heart of the genre. It is a book that James Bond himself reads. A book that helped inspire Ian Fleming’s creation of James Bond and has influenced generations of espionage writers. Without further ado, our June Book Club pick is… Eric Ambler’s The Mask of Dimitrios.
OVERVIEW
Set in the uneasy years between the two World Wars, The Mask of Dimitrios begins in Istanbul, where English crime writer Charles Latimer hears of Dimitrios Makropoulos, a notorious criminal whose body has been found in the Bosphorus. Intrigued by the man who seemed to appear at the centre of one shady affair after another, Latimer decides to trace his movements across Europe to learn more.
His search takes him from Turkey through the Balkans and into Western Europe, where each new encounter reveals another piece of Dimitrios’ past. What begins as research for a book becomes something more personal as Latimer finds himself drawn into a criminal world of political intrigue and hidden loyalties.
First published in 1939, The Mask of Dimitrios offers a fascinating glimpse of Europe on the eve of enormous change and it remains widely regarded as one of the greatest espionage thrillers ever written.
WHY WE CHOSE IT
Eric Ambler was one of the writers Ian Fleming acknowledged as an influence. Ambler helped shape the modern thriller before Bond existed, replacing larger-than-life adventurers with a darker, more realistic world of international crime and political uncertainty.
In From Russia with Love, Fleming actually has Bond reading The Mask of Dimitrios while travelling to Istanbul. It’s one of the rare occasions we are told exactly what Bond is reading. Some scholars have even suggested that Ambler’s novel influenced aspects of From Russia with Love itself, making this more than a passing literary reference.
As our (00)7th book, The Mask of Dimitrios offers a chance to explore one of the novels that helped shape the world from which James Bond emerged: a journey into the roots of the spy thriller before Bond, before SPECTRE, and before the Cold War made 007 a global phenomenon.
THEMES TO CONSIDER
– Crime and politics – The novel presents crime and politics as deeply interconnected. How does Ambler blur the lines between them?
– Curiosity and obsession – Latimer begins his investigation out of curiosity, but becomes increasingly consumed by Dimitrios’ story. At what point does interest become obsession?
– Before Bond: Ambler and Fleming – Fleming admired Ambler and later had Bond reading The Mask of Dimitrios in From Russia, with Love. What similarities and differences can you see between Ambler’s thriller and Fleming’s approach to character?
REVIEWS
The Times – ‘Not Le Carré, not Deighton, not Ludlum have surpassed the intelligence, authenticity or engrossing storytelling that established The Mask of Dimitrios as the best of its kind’
The Wall Street Journal – ‘A startling, elegant masterpiece of espionage fiction’
The Guardian – ‘A gripping thriller … still fresh as new’
John le Carré – ‘The source we all draw on’
Graham Greene – ‘Unquestionably our best writer’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Ambler is often said to have invented the modern thriller. Beginning in 1936, he wrote a series of novels that thrust ordinary protagonists into political intrigues they were ill-prepared to deal with. Praised for their realism and sophistication, Ambler’s books transformed the genre and established him as one of the most influential thriller writers of the twentieth century. He paved the way for many thriller writers including John Le Carre, Len Deighton, Robert Ludlum and, of course, Ian Fleming.
Eric Ambler is often credited with helping to invent the modern thriller. Beginning in 1936, he wrote a series of novels featuring ordinary protagonists drawn into political conspiracies and international intrigue far beyond their control. Praised for their realism and sophistication, Ambler’s books transformed the genre and established him as one of the most influential thriller writers of the twentieth century.
Alongside The Mask of Dimitrios, some of Ambler’s best-known novels include Cause for Alarm, Journey into Fear, and The Light of Day.
We can’t wait to dig into this cornerstone of the spy fiction canon and the impact it had on Ian Fleming’s writing. Follow our social channels for discussions, highlights, and more.
The 2026 CWA Dagger Shortlists
‘There is only one recipe for a best-seller and it is a very simple one. You have to get the reader to turn over the page.’
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming Publications are proud to sponsor the Crime Writer’s Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, an annual literary prize for the best thriller published in the UK. Eligible books in this category are thrillers set in any period and include, but are not limited to, spy fiction, noir thrillers and action-adventure stories. Past winners include Gillian Flynn, Mick Herron, Robert Harris and Karin Slaughter.
The shortlists for the 2026 Daggers have just been unveiled, so take a look at which titles are in the running for the Steel Dagger below.
The Midnight King by Tariq Ashkanani
Lucas Cole is a bestselling writer. He is also a father, a widower, and a beloved celebrity in his small town. He is an unassuming man - tall, thin and quietly friendly. Lucas Cole is also a serial killer.
Nathan Cole has known the truth about his father since he was ten years old. Too terrified to go to the police, he ran away from home as soon as he was able, carrying the guilt of leaving his sister behind. But when Lucas is found dead in a dingy motel room, Nathan returns to his childhood home for the first time in seventeen years. It’s there he finds The Midnight King, his father’s final unpublished manuscript, a fictionalised account of his hideous crimes, hidden in a box of trinkets taken from his victims. Trinkets that include a ribbon belonging to a missing eight-year-old girl who disappeared only days before his father’s death.
Now, Nathan must deal with the consequences of keeping his father’s secret. But it may not be as simple as finding a lost child. For The Midnight King holds Nathan’s secrets as well as Lucas’s, and he is not the only one searching for the truth…
King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
Roman Carruthers left the smoke and fire of his family’s crematory business behind in his hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia. He is enjoying a life of shallow excess as a financial adviser in Atlanta until he gets a call from his sister, Neveah, telling him their father is in a coma after a hit-and-run accident.
When Roman goes home, he learns the accident may not be what it seems. His brother, Dante, is deeply in debt to dangerous, ruthless criminals. And Roman is willing to do anything to protect his family. Anything.
A financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, Roman must use all his skills to try to save his family while dealing with a shadow that has haunted them all for twenty years: the disappearance of their mother when Roman and his siblings were teenagers. It’s a mystery that Neveah, who has sacrificed so much of her life to hold her family together, is determined to solve once and for all.
As fate and chance and heartache ignite their lives, the Carruthers family must pull together to survive or see their lives turn to ash. Because, as their father counseled them from birth, nothing lasts forever. Everything burns.
The Big Empty by Robert Crais
Traci Beller was only thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. Now a super-popular influencer with millions of followers, she finally has the money to hire a new detective to uncover the truth. And that detective is Elvis Cole.
Taking on a ten-years-cold missing person case is almost always a losing game, though Elvis quickly picks up a lead in Rancha when he learns that an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter Anya might have a line on the missing man. But when he finds himself shadowed by a deadly gang of vicious criminals, the case flips on its head. Victims become predators, predators become prey, and when everyone is a victim, will it be possible to save them all?
Calling on the help of his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, Elvis follows Tommy Beller’s trail into the twisted, nightmarish depths of a monstrous evil, even as what he finds tests his loyalty to his clients, and to himself. But the truth must come out, no matter the cost.
A Sting in Her Tale by Mark Ezra
When retired former spy Felicity Jardine’s mission to drown herself is interrupted by a baby drifting down river, her training kicks in at once. She manages to save the baby, and conceals them both from the shady-looking man who is searching for it.
Then an elderly neighbour to whom she bears a resemblance is found dead, and Felicity knows she’s been rumbled. She has to dust off the highly trained and resourceful secret service officer she used to be, ensure the safety of the baby, and re-enter the fray.
She can count on the help of two former MI6 colleagues to identify the murderer and find out exactly what’s going on. But Felicity will soon realise that her work in 1970s Germany and her present are entangled – and she will have to face some hard truths before she can confront the demons of her past.
Such Quiet Girls by Noelle W. Ihli
ONE HIJACKED BUS.
New driver Jessa is desperate for her shift to run smoothly to avoid exposing her job-application lies. Twelve-year-old passenger Sage just wants to get home, exhausted from watching over her little sister, Bonnie. But disaster strikes when their bus is hijacked in broad daylight. For the innocent souls onboard, the nightmare is only just beginning . . .
TEN FRIGHTENED CHILDREN.
Trapped inside a shipping container buried 20 feet underground, the captives are promised they’ll be freed once a ransom is paid to the hijackers. But Jessa and Sage aren’t sure they’ll last that long. It’s dark and cramped – and, as every minute passes, it’s becoming harder to breathe.
A DEADLY RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK . . .
With time – and air – running out, can they team up to outsmart their captors? Or are they doomed to an unthinkable fate?
The Good Father by Liam McIlvanney
Gordon and Sarah Rutherford are normal, happy people with rich, fulfilling lives. They have a son they adore, a house on the beach and a safe, friendly community in a picture-postcard town.
Until, one day, Bonnie the labrador comes in from the beach alone. Their son, Rory, has gone – the only trace left behind is a single black sandal.
Their lives don’t fall apart immediately. While there’s still hope, they dig deep and try to carry on.
But as desperation mounts, arms around shoulders become fingers pointed – at friends, family, strangers, each other. Without any answers, only questions remain. Who can they trust? How far will they go to find out what happened to Rory?
And the deadliest question of all: what could be worse than your child disappearing?
When the truth begins to emerge, they find themselves in a world they could barely have imagined.
We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
Welcome to North Falls. A small town where everyone knows everyone. But nobody knows the truth.
Emmy Clifton has lived here all her life. She thinks she knows her neighbours. She’s wrong.
She thinks it’s just another hot summer night: a night like any other. She’s wrong.
When her best friend’s daughter asks for help, she thinks it’s just some teenage drama. She thinks it can wait. She’s never been more wrong in her life.
As the town ignites in the wake of the girl’s disappearance, Emmy throws herself into the search. But then she realises: You never really know a town until you know its secrets.
Is Emmy ready for the truth?
Find the shortlists for the rest of the Daggers here, and learn about the previous shortlists and winners of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger here. The winners will be announced at the Daggers’ Dinner on 2nd July.
Announcement: New Editions of Bond Universe Texts
Today, Thursday 28th May, is Ian Fleming’s birthday and to celebrate we’re very pleased to announce three new publishing projects coming in 2026. Each take us further into the worlds of Felix Leiter, teenage James Bond and Ian Fleming himself.
Introducing Raymond Benson’s The Hook and the Eye audiobook, Charlie Higson’s Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier paperback edition and John Pearson’s Ian Fleming – The Notes in hardback.
THE HOOK AND THE EYE – AUDIO EDITION
Following the success of last year’s paperback and eBook release of Bond continuation author Raymond Benson’s new Felix Leiter spin-off novel, The Hook and the Eye will now receive an audiobook edition. Read by narrator Stuart W. Howard it will be available worldwide via all audiobook platforms.
It is 1952. Felix has lost his job at the CIA and finds himself working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. What starts as a simple surveillance job turns into a matter of life and death when Felix stumbles upon a murder and a cabal of spies embedded in Manhattan.
Hired to transport the impossibly beautiful and impossibly secretive Dora from New York to Texas, Felix is thrust into a non-stop adventure, where danger and deceit lie in wait around every bend in the road.
The Hook and the Eye is a mystery, a romance, a spy story, a road trip tale and a postcard of a lost Americana. It is Raymond Benson at his very best.
Publication: 5th August, 2026
DANGER SOCIETY: THE YOUNG BOND DOSSIER – PAPERBACK REISSUE
With a new audio drama edition of the first Young Bond title, SilverFin, coming in the autumn from Big Finish productions, this full colour paperback reissue of Danger Society gives fans the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of Charlie Higson’s Young Bond.
Everything you ever wanted to know about the boy, who became the man, who became the legend…
Danger Society: The Young Bond Dossier features a short story by Charlie Higson, and is the complete and definitive guide to the world and adventures of Young Bond. Packed with information – from in-depth character profiles to the cars, the weapons and the exotic locations, plus facts, stats, photographs, maps, and illustrations by Kev Walker – this book is both a must-have for Young Bond fans and a perfect introduction to the megaselling series.
Publication: 3rd September, 2026
IAN FLEMING – THE NOTES – FIRST EVER TRADE EDITION
A brand-new hardback of Ian Fleming: The Notes by John Pearson. This legendary book has only previously been available as a very limited edition but will now be available online, at our shop and at all good bookshops.
For fans of James Bond and Ian Fleming, here are the meticulous biographical notes that John Pearson made in 1965 while researching Ian Fleming.
John Pearson occupies a unique role in the world of Bond. He has the distinction of being James Bond’s only authorised biographer and his celebrated work, The Life of Ian Fleming was the first book about Fleming ever to be published.
Ian Fleming – The Notes is a book about writing a book. It charts not only Fleming’s life but Pearson’s own journey while investigating his subject. Compelling, insightful, irreverent and written in John Pearson’s inimitable style, it includes fascinating details, letters and interviews that never made it into the finished biography.
Publication: 18th November, 2026
The James Bond Book Club Selection for May 2026 is A Stranger in Corfu
With summer just around the corner, we were in the mood for some sun-soaked intrigue (à la Fleming) and the streaky blue shores adorning the cover of Alex Preston’s latest novel called out to us. So, introducing the James Bond Book Club’s May pick… A Stranger in Corfu.
OVERVIEW
Set on the small Ionian island of Vidos, just off the coast of Corfu, A Stranger in Corfu blends espionage and mystery into an unusual and atmospheric novel. The island serves as a discreet refuge for former intelligence agents – a place where those who are no longer useful to MI6 are quietly sent to recover, retire or disappear.
Nina Wolfe, a young operative reeling from a failed mission in Bosnia and the trauma that followed, arrives to this strangely suspended island expecting rest and anonymity. Instead, she finds herself amongst a group of ageing spies whose pasts are anything but settled. When one of the island’s residents is found dead, the calm is fractured, and Nina is drawn into a web of long-buried secrets and unresolved betrayals.
The novel moves between past and present, exploring the lives that brought these agents to Vidos and the moral compromises that continue to haunt them. What begins as a story of recuperation becomes something far darker: a reckoning with the personal cost of a life lived in the shadows.
WHY WE CHOSE IT
A secluded island off Corfu, populated by former spies living out a quiet, watchful afterlife, feels entirely in keeping with the worlds inhabited by James Bond. It’s easy to imagine such a place existing just beyond the edges of a Bond novel: sunlit… beautiful… faintly menacing beneath the surface.
Ian Fleming had a gift for using location not just as backdrop but as atmosphere: exotic settings that heighten both the glamour and danger of espionage. Preston’s Vidos taps into that same tradition. Its idyllic isolation creates a sense of unease, where the past lingers and secrets feel inescapable, no matter how far one travels.
A Stranger in Corfu takes that familiar, Bond-like setting and turns it inward. Instead of high-octane missions, we’re given the aftermath – a cast of characters who might once have moved through those classic espionage landscapes, now confined to one of their own. The result is a novel that feels both evocative of the genre we love and intriguingly at odds with it.
THEMES TO CONSIDER
– The afterlife of espionage – What happens to spies when their usefulness ends? Is Vidos a refuge, a prison, or something in between?
– Memory and guilt – Many of the characters are shaped by past actions they cannot undo. How does the novel explore the psychological cost of those choices?
– Identity and reinvention – Can those who have lived under assumed identities ever truly know themselves – or start again?
REVIEWS
Tom Holland – ‘Le Carré meets The Durrells – A Stranger is Corfu is a brilliantly atmospheric thriller. Suspenseful, vivid and impossible to put down’
Vaseem Khan – ‘A beautifully written examination of what it means to put your life – and soul – on the line for a cause. A spy novel of the highest calibre’Adam Rutherford – ‘Taut, tense and utterly gripping: Preston evokes a wonderfully thrilling story from the dreamy Ioanian. Nothing short of brilliant’
Evie Wyld – ‘A beautiful, taut novel laced with the thrills of lives half-lived and never escaped; of friendship, love and relentless betrayal beneath Corfu’s blazing sun and the restless, dark sea – where secrets threaten to drown them all. A story that haunts long after the last page’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alex Preston is an award-winning author of five novels including This Bleeding City, The Revelations, In Love and War and Winchelsea, as well as a book of non-fiction As Kingfishers Catch Fire. He writes regularly for the Economist and Harper’s Bazaar. He reviews books for the Observer’s New Review, Financial Times and Spectator. Alex is co-founder of the Corfu Literary Festival and Patron of Oxford Literary Festival.
We hope you enjoy A Stranger in Corfu. Follow our social channels for discussions, highlights, and more.
New Release: Quantum of Menace paperback
Quantum of Menace, the charming, drily humorous and intelligently crafted first book in the new James Bond spin-off series, The Q Mysteries, is now out in paperback.
Selected as Thriller of the Month by The Sunday Times, Vaseem Khan’s book focuses on Q as he lives his life post MI6, and will appeal to Bond fans and readers of Murder Before Evensong, The Thursday Murder Club and Slow Horses.
After Q (aka Major Boothroyd) is unexpectedly ousted from his role at MI6, he finds himself back in his sleepy hometown of Wickstone-on-Water.
His childhood friend, renowned quantum computer scientist Peter Napier, has died in mysterious circumstances, leaving behind a cryptic note. The police seem uninterested, but Q feels compelled to investigate and soon discovers that Napier’s ground-breaking work may have attracted sinister forces.
Can Q decode the truth behind Napier’s death, even as danger closes in?
‘Punchy, witty, smart and thrilling’ – Janice Hallett
‘Captivating… manages to blend elements of techno-thriller, spy novel, gangland saga and home counties whodunnit, and Vaseem Khan manages to get the balance just right.’ – The Sunday Times
‘Clever, cunning and quirky’ – Mick Herron
‘Excellent. An entertaining mash-up of Fleming, Le Carré and the best of British detective fiction’ – Charlie Higson
Vaseem is discussing his book, the 007 universe and Q’s new era at events across the UK – find out more here.
Quantum of Menace is also available in hardback, eBook, and as an audiobook read by Alexander Armstrong. The next book in the series, The Man with the Golden Compass, is out on the 22nd October 2026. Both titles are available to order from ianflemingshop.com.
