EVENTS

July 1, 2026

Head to Waterstones in Putney for a gripping night of conversation with a panel of stellar espionage authors. Ava Glass, Tony Kent, Vaseem Khan, C.J. Merritt & James Wolff will be in conversation with freelance commentator on crime fiction, Ayo Onatade.

Get your ticket here.

Ava Glass is a CWA-Dagger-shortlisted author. A former crime reporter & communications consultant, who for five years worked closely with spies.

Tony Kent is a criminal barrister, founder of Chiltern Kills festival and bestselling author. His novels call upon his experiences as one of the UK’s most in-demand criminal defence lawyers & his particular expertise in terrorism and international organised crime.

Frederick Forsyth CBE, a former RAF pilot & investigative journalist, defined the modern thriller with The Day of the Jackal. Frederick died in June 2025.

Vaseem Khan is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India.He was born in England, but spent a decade working in India. In 2023, he became the first non-white Chair of the UK Crime Writers’ Association.

C. J. Merritt served as a British diplomat in Iraq & Jerusalem. He then retrained as a Clinical Psychologist, focusing on treating PTSD. Alongside his writing, he analyses espionage and insider risk for a cybersecurity consultancy.

James Wolff grew up in Beirut and has lived in Damascus, Cairo and Istanbul. He worked as a British intelligence officer for over ten years.

Ayo Onatade is a clerk for a judge in the Court of Appeal & a book reviewer. She is the Special Crime Reporter at Shots Ezine and also is an associate member of The Crime Writers Association of Great Britain.