The spy fiction genre as it is currently recognised is usually thought of as a fairly recent phenomenon, and appears to be concerned primarily with the exploits of spies during the
Cold War, but in reality the genre has a very long and extremely disparate history. For example, an early example of the spy novel genre is to be found in the activities of [Baroness Orczy]
?'s [The Scarlet Pimpernel]
? recounting the undercover exploits of an English aristocrat in his attempts to rescue members of the French aristocracy during the
French Revolution. Erskine Childers' novel, [The Riddle of the Sands]
?, defined the spy novel for the
First World War. Much of the
science fiction writer
Philip K. Dick's work is also concerned with subterfuge in a futuristic interplanetary setting.
Writers of Spy Fiction
- [Eric Ambler]?
- [John le Carre]?
- [Erskine Childers]?
- Tom Clancy
- Joseph Conrad
- [Len Deighton]?
- [Paul Eddy]?
- [Ian Fleming]?
- [Frederick Forsyth]?
- [Graham Greene]?
- [Robert Harris]?
- [Baroness Orczy]?
- Charles McCarry