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This page lists novels that feature the British Intelligence agent Herbie Kruger.

The Nostradamus Traitor

John Gardner

1979

A Herbie Kruger novel.

"Into the cauldron of war went the Nostradamus operation . . . out of it came an even deadlier threat than the Nazis: The Nostradamus Traitor. Britain’s psychological warfare executive knew all about the Nazi belief in the occult. They hatched up a top secret plot to drive a rift between Himmler’s SS and the Wehrmacht by infilitrating phony Nostradamus quatrains into Germany. Thirty years later then unbelievable truth began to trickle out: Herbie Kruger of British Intelligence was given the delicate task of keeping the past well and truly buried."

The Garden of Weapons

John Gardner

1980

A Herbie Kruger novel.

"'In our world we live on lies.' When Big Herbie Kruger used those words to break the KGB defector, he didn’t realize just how much his own life had been built on a lie. In his world, though, where love is just another conduit for information, it could be no other way. Now the lies planted when Herbie created his network in East Berlin have borne their bitter fruit. The lives of men and women who trusted him are in danger and his masters in British Intelligence won’t let him go back to Berlin to help them. Herbie Kruger has no choice, then. He must tell what may be his final lie."

The Quiet Dogs

John Gardner

1982

A Herbie Kruger novel.

"Is this Herbie Kruger’s final stand? He has a chance for redemption. But time is running out; the Quiet Dogs are stirring . . . After his humiliation in The Garden of Weapons, Big Herbie is still under suspicion. Worse, he has endangered Britain’s top agent in the Kremlin, Stentor. Herbie must make amends. He must manoeuvre Stentor’s rescue form the grasp of the Quiet Dogs . . . And exact revenge, in the final confrontation, on his old enemy General Jacob Vascovsky."

The Secret Houses

John Gardner

1988

A Railton family novel. Herbie Kruger appears in this novel.

"Two families - the Railtons in Britain and the Farthings in America - are at the heart of a titanic political struggle, their fates intertwined in the secret world of Intelligence by blood, love, loyalty and betrayal. The British Secret Intelligence Service and the American Office of Strategic Services are locked in a desperate struggle to destroy the war machine that threatens the future of the world - and once again the Railtons and the Farthings are drawn into the secret struggle. Both families are intimately concerned in the fate of the Tarot resistance network, operated by Caspar Railton under the nose of the ruthless SS officer Hans-Dieter Klaubert, known as the Devil of Orléans. Caspar has recruited his nieces Caroline and Jo-Jo as undercover agents in France, and their disappearance coincided with the break-up of Tarot. The truth about Tarot and the fate of Caroline and Jo-Jo is at the heart of this enthralling installment of an Intelligence saga that has been hailed on both sides of the Atlantic as a classic of espionage fiction."

The Secret Families

John Gardner

1989

A Railton family novel. Herbie Kruger appears in this novel.

"The year is 1964. The Cold War is at its height and Caspar Railton, the 'wounded lion' of the Railton clan, which for decades has dominated British Intelligence, is dead. Even worse, evidence has emerged suggesting Caspar was a traitor and suspicion surrounds not only the Railtons but also the Farthings, the American family of spymasters connected by marriage to their British counterparts. Yet Naldo refuses to accept his uncle's guilt and is determined to clear both families' names. With his cousin Arnold Farthing he embarks on a quest to uncover Caspar's past, a mission which takes both men deep into some of the most dangerous territory any agent can enter. The Secret Families completes John Gardner's The Secret Generations trilogy, which is a giant work of fiction drawn from the dramatic history of Britain’s intelligence and security services."

Maestro

John Gardner

1993

A Herbie Kruger novel.

"Louis Passau is America’s greatest living orchestral conductor, a legendary, world-acclaimed artist whose ninetieth birthday will be marked by a glittering celebratory concert at New York’s Lincoln Center. But a double shadow hangs over the event: Passau has recently been accused of spying for Hitler and, worse, the British Secret Intelligence Service have now linked his name to KGB clandestine operations in the USA during the Cold War. The Maestro agrees to be interrogated, but only after the concert. British Intelligence call in Big Herbie Kruger to question the Maestro, and thanks to the once-famous agent-runner Passau survives an assassination attempt in his moment of glory. Still a target, he now insists on dealing only with Kruger, who desperately seeks a safe-house to conduct the debriefing. As he grapples with the elusive truth about the conductor – from the man’s first memories of his Bavarian village, to his adventures as a young immigrant in New York, his experiences in Capone’s Chicago and his ruthless rise to fame and fortune – Herbie Kruger finds himself ensnared in the Maestro’s dangerous secrets and deceits."

Confessor

John Gardner

1995

A Herbie Kruger novel.

"A terrorist car bomb, and death comes quickly to The Confessor, aka Gus Keene, the best interrogator the Secret Intelligence Service ever had. But he becomes infinitely more mysterious in death when Big Herbie Kruger, torn from self-inflicted retirement, is summoned to delve into the dead man’s past. As he begins to peel back the layers of Keen’s life, he uncovers a man of hidden depths, a man who knew more than he should about Government secrets. Soon the trail leads Kruger to the unholy alliance of a renegade IRA cell and a vicious Middle Eastern terrorist group intent upon wreaking havoc across Europe. Somewhere in their razed scenario lie the clues to Keene’s death. But Kruger must pick his way through the chaos of treachery and violence to find them."