Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat, two thrilling accounts of World War II espionage, are available together as an ebook—with an excerpt from the New York Times bestseller Double Cross. “Not since Ian Fleming and John le Carré has a spy writer so captivated readers.”—The Hollywood Reporter AGENT ZIGZAG • “Wildly improbably but entirely true . . . [a] compellingly cinematic spy thriller with verve.”—Entertainment Weekly Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began. Based on recently declassified files, Agent Zigzag tells Chapman’s full story for the first time. It’s a gripping tale of loyalty, love, treachery, espionage, and the thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal. OPERATION MINCEMEANT • “Brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining.”—The New Yorker Near the end of World War II, two British naval officers came up with a brilliant and slightly mad scheme to mislead the Nazi armies about where the Allies would attack southern Europe. To carry out the plan, they would have to rely on the most unlikely of secret agents: a dead man. Ben Macintyre’s dazzling, critically acclaimed bestseller chronicles the extraordinary story of what happened after British officials planted this dead body—outfitted in a British military uniform with a briefcase containing false intelligence documents—in Nazi territory, and how this secret mission fooled Hitler into changing military positioning, paving the way for the Allies to overtake the Nazis.

Agent Zigzag: One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly become MI5's Agent Zigzag. Dashing and louche, courageous and unpredictable, inside the traitor was a hero, inside the villain, a man of conscience: the problem for Chapman, his many lovers and his spymasters, was knowing where one ended and the other began. Ben Macintyre weaves together diaries, letters, photographs, memories and top-secret MI5 files to create the exhilarating account of Britain's most sensational double agent. Operation Mincemeat: One overcast April morning in 1943, a fisherman notices a corpse floating in the sea off the coast of Spain. When the body is brought ashore, he is identified as a British soldier, Major William Martin of the Royal Marines. A leather attaché case, secured to his belt, reveals an intelligence goldmine: top-secret documents Allied invasion plans. But Major William Martin never existed. The body is that of a dead Welsh tramp and every single document is fake. Operation Mincemeat is the incredible true story of the most extraordinary deception ever planned by Churchill's spies - an outrageous lie that travelled from a Whitehall basement, all the way to Hitler's desk. Double Cross: D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit... At the heart of the deception was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents whose bravery, treachery, greed and inspiration succeeded in convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong Allied invasion force. These were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved thousands of lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. This is their story.

Drawing heavily on recently declassified sources, this examination of German wartime intelligence services traces the logistical and strategic expansion of the Third Reich's foreign covert operations in World War II. Beginning with the changes introduced to counteract institutional neglect, the author describes attempts to penetrate both neutral and adversarial nations outside territories occupied by the Wehrmacht. The Nazis created covert teams for counterintelligence and penetrating border defenses. Strategies were formed for assembling saboteur divisions in North and South America, while data were gathered on industrial installations to target. American fascist movements of the 1930s are discussed, along with Nazi sabotage missions in the United States and intelligence penetrations and domestic collusion in Latin America.

Get the Summary of Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "A Spy Among Friends" chronicles the intertwined lives of British intelligence officers Nicholas Elliott and Kim Philby, the latter a notorious double agent for the Soviet Union. Elliott, from a privileged background, joined MI6 and developed a close bond with Philby, who was also recruited into British intelligence despite his hidden communist sympathies. Philby's charm and social connections allowed him to rise within MI6, all while betraying secrets to the Soviets...

International bestseller! James Bond has nothing on Dusko Popov. a double agent for the Abwehr, MI5 and MI6, and the FBI during World War II, Popov seduced numerous women, spoke five languages, and was a crack shot, all while maintaining his cover as a Yugoslavian diplomat… On a cool August evening in 1941, a Serbian playboy created a stir at Casino Estoril in Portugal by throwing down an outrageously large baccarat bet to humiliate his opponent. The Serbian was a British double agent, and the money―which he had just stolen from the Germans―belonged to the British. From the sideline, watching with intent interest was none other than Ian Fleming… The Serbian was Dusko Popov. As a youngster, he was expelled from his London prep school. Years later he would be arrested and banished from Germany for making derogatory statements about the Third Reich. When World War II ensued, the playboy became a spy, eventually serving three dangerous masters: the Abwehr, MI5 and MI6, and the FBI. On August 10, 1941, the Germans sent Popov to the United States to construct a spy network and gather information on Pearl Harbor. The FBI ignored his German questionnaire, but J. Edgar Hoover succeeded in blowing his cover. While MI5 desperately needed Popov to deceive the Abwehr about the D-Day invasion, they assured him that a return to the German Secret Service Headquarters in Lisbon would result in torture and execution. He went anyway... Into the Lion’s Mouth is a globe-trotting account of a man’s entanglement with espionage, murder, assassins, and lovers―including enemy spies and a Hollywood starlet. It is a story of subterfuge and seduction, patriotism, and cold-blooded courage. It is the story of Dusko Popov―the inspiration for James Bond. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

From the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag. The thrilling true story of the greatest and most successful wartime deception ever attempted A Richard & Judy Book Club selection

The Historical Dictionary of British Spy Fiction is a detailed overview of the rich history and achievements of the British espionage story in literature, cinema and television. It provides detailed yet accessible information on numerous individual authors, novels, films, filmmakers, television dramas and significant themes within the broader field of the British spy story. It contains a wealth of facts, insights and perspectives, and represents the best single source for the study and appreciation of British spy fiction. British spy fiction is widely regarded as the most significant and accomplished in the world and this book is the first attempt to bring together an informed survey of the achievements in the British spy story in literature, cinema and television. The Historical Dictionary of British Spy Fiction contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 200 cross-referenced entries on individual authors, stories, films, filmmakers, television shows and the various sub-genres of the British spy story. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about British spy fiction.

A "savvy study" (Publishers Weekly) and a fascinating exploration of the roles many spy novelists played during World War II and the influence of intelligence work on their writing. World War II deception operations created elaborate fictions and subterfuges to prevent the enemy from apprehending the true targets and objectives of Allied forces. These operations shortened the war considerably and saved countless lives—and they were often invented, proposed, and sometimes executed by creative minds that would come to be known worldwide for their spy novels. In Counterfeit Spies: How World War II Intelligence Operations Shaped Cold War Spy Fiction, Oliver Buckton reveals the involvement of writers in wartime deceptions and shows how those operations would later impact their work. He also examines how the details, personnel, and methods of the GARBO network, Operation Mincemeat, Philby’s treason, Operation Bodyguard, and more were translated from real life into spy fiction by these authors, necessitated by the Official Secrets Act which prevented writers from revealing their experiences in memoirs or other nonfiction works. Featuring Ian Fleming, Dennis Wheatley, Graham Greene, Helen MacInnes, John Bingham, and John le Carré, Counterfeit Spies is a captivating examination of the brilliant novelists who took wartime espionage and deception to another level with their enduring works that continue to entertain and fascinate readers today.

This “engrossing study” of invisible ink reveals 2,000 years of scoundrels, heroes and their ingenious methods for concealing messages (Kirkus). In Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies, Kristie Macrakis uncovers the secret history of invisible ink and the ingenious way everything from lemon juice to Gall-nut extract and even certain bodily fluids have been used to conceal and reveal covert communications. From Ancient Rome to the Cold War, spies have been imprisoned or murdered, adultery unmasked, and battles lost because of faulty or intercepted secret messages. Yet, successfully hidden writing has helped save lives, win battles, and ensure privacy—at times changing the course of history. Macrakis combines a storyteller’s sense of drama with a historian’s respect for evidence in this page-turning history of intrigue and espionage, love and war, magic and secrecy. From Ovid’s advice to use milk for illicit love notes, to John Gerard's dramatic escape from the Tower of London aided by orange juice ink messages, to al-Qaeda’s hidden instructions in pornographic movies, this book charts the evolution of secret messages and their impact on history. An appendix includes kitchen chemistry recipes for readers to try out at home.