Saturday, January 24, 2009

Best books: Charles Cumming

Charles Cumming is a British spy novelist who has been hailed as the heir apparent to John le Carré.

For The Week, he named his favorite thrillers.

One title to make the list:
A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler (Vintage, $13).

Ambler is the father of the spy novel, a writer who showed that the popular thriller could also be regarded as literature. This is undoubtedly his masterpiece, a fantastically compelling novel about a mystery writer who becomes involved in the seedy, pre–World War II European underworld.
Read about another title on Cumming's list.

Learn more about the author and his work at Charles Cumming's website.

His most recent novel, Typhoon, was published in the UK to huge critical acclaim.

Cumming’s first novel, A Spy By Nature, was released in 2008 in the US in paperback. The sequel, The Spanish Game, is available in hardcover from St. Martin’s Press.

The Page 69 Test: A Spy By Nature.

My Book, The Movie: The Spanish Game.

--Marshal Zeringue