SpyMasters

Paul Burke is interviewed by Barry Forshaw, Financial Times Crime Fiction Critic and author of Crime Fiction: A Reader's Guide. Discussing SPIES ON SCREEN: FROM SILENT TO STREAMING, favourite films, Alfred Hitchcock, Eric Ambler, Bond, Bourne and MI, iconic performances, action v realism, the history of espionage cinema and streaming. SPIES ON SCREEN The definitive guide to espionage on film and T...

Alan Judd talks to SpyMasters about his new spy thriller No. 1 St James Park, John le Carré, W Somerset Maugham, Mansfield Cumming, Christopher Marlowe, Jane Archer and women spies of WWI. No. 1 St James Park: At the height of the First World War, Emily Grey finds herself far away from the action, collating Swiss rubber imports in a hut in the middle of St James’ Park. Summoned to MI6’s Whitehall...

Simon Conway talks to SpyMasters about The British Agent, Afghanistan, conspiracy, Chuff, bomb disposal, US politics... THE BRITISH AGENT: A SPY ALONE. AN ENEMY WITHIN. A veteran American spymaster weaving an elaborate web. A politician who makes a high-stakes promise he can’t keep. A clutch of sophisticated air defence missiles stolen in Ukraine. A terrorist cell&nbs...

Charles Cumming talks to Paul Burke about his new novel Icarus 17, latest in the Box 88 series, The Day of the Jackal, A Spy by Nature, Thomas Kell, Geopolitics in the novel, post-Cold War spy fiction dip, touring Eastern Europe before The Wall fell, Plane and not meeting Jason Statham. Icarus 17: As director of covert intelligence agency Box 88, Lachlan Kite is at the apex of his espionage career...

Johan Wennström talks to Paul Burke about The Stay Behinds: Sweden's Cold War Guardians. The Stay Behinds: Packed with first-hand accounts and previously classified government documents, this book reveals the secrets of Sweden's resistance network, created to deter a potential Soviet occupation. Following World War II, Sweden faced the looming threat of the Soviet Union and its drive to sprea...

Former FBI Director JAMES COMEY talks to Paul Burke about his novel RED VERDICT, The FBI, being a socially adept introvert, Russian operations in America, the inspiration for Nora and Benny and The Kansas City Massacre. RED VERDICT THE MURDER OF THE YEAR. THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY.An influential defense company executive sits down for dinner at an exclusive restaurant in Manhattan. It's the last me...

Andrew Rosenheim talks about his contemporary spy thriller The Interpreter's Secret, AI in publishing, kindle, literary games on the page, cat and mouse chases. The Interpreter's Secret: in Stockholm for a G20 summit, the interpreter Thomas Weaver is summoned by the White House Chief of Staff to an off-the-record meeting with a Russian general. Expecting routine diplomacy, what Weaver gets instead...

Daria Santini talks to Spymasters about her biography of Edith Tudor Hart, A Woman Called Edith, the Cambridge Five, Arnold Deutsch, photography, working class lives, communism and spying. Edith Tudor Hart has long evaded biographers. A Jewish-Austrian exile in 1930s London, she was a talented professional photographer, anti-fascist activist—and Soviet secret agent. Daria Santini provides the firs...

Michael Idov talks to Spymasters about his new novel THE CORMORANT HUNT, screenwriting, The Collaborators, Doug Lyman, geopolitics and the spy novel and walking back the cat. THE CORMORANT HUNT: Disheartened CIA officer Ari Falk, now hiding in the Republic of Georgia, is hailed as a hero by some and branded a traitor by others after blowing the lid off a massive conspiracy. But his quiet exile is...

Piers Blofeld talks to Spymasters about his new book on Anthony Blunt, MASTER OF LIES, the greatest traitor, working for Churchill and Stalin, Operation Market Garden, a not-confession confession, enjoying the limelight of discovery. MASTER OF LIES: In a brilliant feat of literary detective work Master of Lies tells the extraordinary untold story of Anthony Blunt's life as a spy. Based on extensiv...

STALIN'S APOSTLES: The Cambridge Five and the making of the Soviet Empire, Part 2. From MacLean and Burgess' defection to today, research, new sources, The Cambridge Five are surrounded by myth. It was time for a new sober and revealing history of the most deadly spy ring ever. Paul Burke talks to Antonia Senior about her new thrilling account of Burgess, Maclean, Philby, Blunt & Cairncross: STALI...

The Cambridge Five are surrounded by myth. It was time for a new sober and revealing history of the most deadly spy ring ever. Paul Burke talks to Antonia Senior about her new thrilling account of Burgess, Maclean, Philby, Blunt & Cairncross: STALIN'S APOSTLES is a radical new look at the way five people allowed their obsession with Communist ideology to overshadow any sense of morality or decency...

Adrian Munsey, director/writer of Spymasters a new documentary series for Sky Arts talks to Paul Burke about the intersection between history and its representation in film and fiction. The documentary features contributions from Christopher Andrews, academics, writers and has extensive archival footage and movie clips. Featured here: the biography of our times, exploring the boundaries between pr...

What if one of the founders of the English novel was also a spy? In this episode of Spymasters, host Paul Burke speaks with historian Marc Mierowski about the extraordinary secret career of Daniel Defoe. Today Defoe is remembered as the author of Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress. But long before he became a novelist, he operated in the murky world of intelligence,...

Former British intelligence officer (writing under a pseudonym), James Wolff, joins Antonia Senior for a smart, funny, unflinching conversation about his daring new novel Spies and Other Gods — a spy story told in a totally unexpected voice. We talk secrecy and censorship, the strange culture of intelligence, oversight (and why it rarely works), the moral “grubbiness” baked into espionage, and why...

In this episode of Spymasters, Antonia Senior sits down with acclaimed author Alex Preston to discuss his gripping new novel A Stranger in Corfu — a dark, atmospheric story that blends the glamour of the Mediterranean with the psychological wreckage of espionage. At the centre of the novel is Nina, a young MI6 agent dispatched into the collapsing chaos of 1990s Yugoslavia, where the moral certaint...

Former CIA analyst and bestselling spy novelist David McCloskey returns to Spymasters to talk to Antonia Senior about his new thriller The Persian — a razor-sharp spy story set inside the Israel–Iran shadow war. We discuss how real-world covert operations (from sabotage to targeted assassinations) have shaped modern espionage, and how spy fiction can capture the human cost of clandestine conflict:...

What happens when a secret police force writes its own novels? In this episode of Spymasters, Antonia Senior is joined by academic and KGB expert Filip Kovacevic to explore the hidden world of Soviet spy fiction—and the extraordinary role it played inside the KGB itself. Drawing on his book KGB Literati, Kovacevic reveals how intelligence officers, counter-spies, and veterans of state security bec...

This special crossover episode brings together espionage and crime fans for a fast-paced round-table on our Books of the Year 2025. Antonia Senior (Spymasters) is joined by: Paul Burke – host of Aspects of Crime Mark Ellis – bestselling author of the Frank Merlin series Thomas Waugh – author of Endgame Together we unpack the best in spy fiction, crime writing, historical thrillers and intelligence...

Former diplomat and political insider Sam Guthrie joins Antonia Senior to talk about Chinese espionage, industrial spying and his debut Hong Kong–set thriller, The Peak. Blending politics, business and spycraft, the novel follows an unreliable narrator, a dangerous love triangle and a single act of compromise that changes everything. Sam and Antonia dig into how modern China, ASIO-style counterint...

In this lively literary conversation, Antonia Senior and Paul Burke explore the fascinating world of spy and crime fiction — from the golden age of classic espionage novels to the digital dilemmas of modern spy thrillers. As Paul launches Aspects of Crime, a new magazine, and a platform for authors and readers, they discuss how technology reshapes the genre, why characters like Charlie Muffin and ...

In this episode, Antonia Senior speaks with journalist and author Jason Burke about The Revolutionists, and the extraordinary true story of Gunnar Ekberg — the Swedish spy who infiltrated radical left-wing movements in Europe during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Ekberg witnessed first-hand a moment of enormous ideological energy: when secular, nationalist and progressive revolutionary groups bel...

In this episode of Spymasters, Antonia Senior speaks with bestselling historian Dr. Helen Fry about her riveting new book, The White Lady. Set in German-occupied Belgium during World War I and World War II, Fry’s book uncovers the incredible true story of a secret  spy network that risked everything to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. Together, Fry and Senior explore: How ordinary women bec...

Join host Antonia Senior as she delves into the gripping world of espionage with author Merle Nygate. In this episode, they explore the challenges of writing a spy thriller set against the backdrop of real-world events, focusing on Nygate's latest novel, "The Protocols of Spying." Discover how the Mossad's London station grapples with intelligence failures and what lies ahead for its chief, Eli Am...

In this episode of Spymasters, Antonia Senior interviews historian Roger Moorhouse about the Enigma code and its impact on naval warfare during World War II. The conversation explores the crucial role of Polish codebreakers, the operations of U-boats, and the significant turning points in the Battle of the Atlantic. Morehouse shares insights into the human cost of U-boat warfare, the effectiveness...