On this page

This page lists spy fiction anthologies.

My Best Spy Story

1938?

An anthology of chapters from novels and short stories each selected by by the relevant author. The contents are:

• The Link (Michael Annesley)
• Flood on the Goodwins (A.D. Divine)
• Trouble on the Border (John Ferguson)
• Gun Cotton S.S. (Rupert Grayson)
• In Enemy Territory (George A. Hill)
• The Traitoress (Sydney Horler)
• Music Hath Charms (Vernon Loder)
• The Uncounted Factor (Stephen Maddock)
• Gas Attack! (Marthe McKenna)
• "38" (Laurence W. Meynell)
• Cunningham (W.F. Morris)
• The Piping Days of Peace (Talbot Mundy)
• Escape (Bernard Newman)
• Under Enemy Colours (Captain A.O. Pollard)
• Georgette—A Spy (Graham Seton)
• Live Bait (J.M. Walsh)
• Espionage (Dennis Wheatley)
• The Popinjay Knight (Valentine Williams)
• Brien Averts a War (Alexander Wilson)

My Best Secret Service Story

Editor: A.D. Divine

1940

An anthology of chapters from novels and short stories each selected by by the relevant author. The contents are:

• The Meaning Of The Act (Margery Allingham)
• The Army Of The Shadows (Eric Ambler)
• For Which Side? (Michael Annesley)
• Quite By Accident (Arthur Applin)
• The Spy (F. Britten Austin)
• The Man From Madrid (H.H. Bashford)
• The Man Who Was No. 16 (Agatha Christie)
• Wilson Calling (G.D.H. & M. Cole)
• Strictly Diplomatic (Carter Dickson)
• Mines In The Estuary (A.D. Divine)
• The Death Of James Condon (J. Jefferson Farjeon)
• A Parable Of The Secret Service (Rupert Grayson)
• The News In English (Graham Greene)
• The Man Who Grew Bulbs (Stephen Maddock)
• The Traitor (W. Somerset Maugham)
• Information Received (Woosnam Mills)
• My Friends, The Enemy (W.F. Morris)
• The Man From Poonch (Talbot Mundy)
• The Phantom Fleet (E. Phillips Oppenheim)
• Mutton Dressed As Lamb (J.M. Walsh)
• Death At Three-Thirty (Dennis Wheatley)
• The Day (Ethel Lina White)
• The Amateurs (Valentine Williams)

World's Greatest Spy Stories

Editor: Vincent Starrett

1944

An anthology of 25 spy related short stories by Eric Ambler, Anthony Boucher, August Derleth, John Dickson Carr, Joseph Conrad, Ambrose Bierce, Frank Gruber and others.

The Spy's Bedside Book

Editor: Graham Greene & Hugh Greene

1957

An anthology of espionage related excerpts from novels, short stories and factual writing. The contents are:

• A Mission Is Proposed (John Buchan)
• Directive To Colonel Zabotin
• A Damned Good Story (W. Somerset Maugham)
• A Late Call At The German Embassy (L.C. Moyzisch)
• The Value Of Hide-And-Seek (Robert Baden-Powell)
• Take A Hard-Boiled Egg (Bernard Newman)
• Example Of Invisible Writing
• Tricked (William Le Queux)
• A Whip Of The Circassian Sort (T.E. Lawrence)
• A Nasty Scratch (William Le Queux)
• A Spy Advertises (Herbert Greene)
• A Bathroom At The Paris Ritz (Dennis Wheatley)
• A Trussed Fowl (William Le Queux)
• In The Back Of The Head (Vladimir Petrov)
• A Little Black Beret (Peter Fleming)
• At The Social Club (George Griffith)
• "That Indeed Is To Die" (Fenimore Cooper)
• Seduced With The Old Tricks (W.H. Auden)
• An Excellent Babadagly (William Le Queux)
• I Spy (Graham Greene)
• A Segment Of German Sausage (Peter Fleming)
• The Sad Fate Of Major Andre (Richard Garnett And Anna Seward)
• The Police Spy (Joseph Conrad)
• Seven Miles From Calais (Max Pemberton)
• A Twinge (William Le Queux)
• A Narrow Squeak (Paul Dukes)
• A Cross-Country Run (Belle Boyd)
• Good Hunting (Maurice Paleologue)
• Foreign Travel (Ian Fleming And Walter Schellenberg)
• Seex Fat English Pigs (Lechmere Worrall And J.E. Harold Terry)
• The Case Of The Dixon Torpedo (Arthur Morrison)
• The Adventures Of Bonaparte (Compton Mackenzie)
• Colette And Mata Hari (Colette)
• The Man In The Soft Cap (Edmund Blunden)
• A Meet In The Shires (William Le Queux)
• The Spies' March, 1913 (Rudyard Kipling)
• A Royal Spy (Alan H. Burgoyne)
• Schnitzel Alias Jones (Richard Harding Davis)
• How It Strikes A Contemporary (Robert Browning)
• Could Not Believe His Eyes (Robert Baden-Powell)
• None Other Than ... (William Le Queux)
• The Waiters' Union (E. Phillips Oppenheim)
• Royal Gifts (William Le Queux)
• A Well-Appointed Office (Walter Schellenberg)
• Blanc De Blanc Brut, 1943 (Ian Fleming)
• A Certificate From General Washington (Fenimore Cooper)
• Prison Reading (R.H. Bruce Lockhart)
• Planning A Novel (Eric Ambler)
• Love (Major Andre)
• Queer People (Basil Thomson)
• The Lawrences (Hugh Kingsmill)
• Operation Goethe (Thomas Mann)
• What The Soldier Said (William Blake)
• Coleridge And Wordsworth, Suspects (S.T. Coleridge)
• The Gendarme And The Painter (Paul Gauguin)
• A Lawyer From Kent (Walter Schellenberg)
• The Amorous Dutchess (Maurice Paleologue)
• Postscript To Dreyfus (Guy Chapman)
• Beneath The Open Windows (Thomas Hardy)
• The Ordinary Route (Maurice Paleologue)
• Equipment For Tibet (F.M. Bailey)
• Vodka With Pepper (Ian Fleming)
• Dichlorethyl Sulphide (Roger Lancelyn Green)
• Butterfly-Hunting In Dalmatia (Robert Baden-Powell)
• Carrier Pigeons (H.R. Berndorff)
• A Visit To The Lavatory (R.H. Bruce Lockhart)
• Top People Read The Times (William Le Queux)
• The Ambassador's Valet (Maurice Paleologue)
• Russian Methods (H.R. Berndorff)
• The Explosive Cigar (William Le Queux)
• A Plant (William James)
• The German Governess; The Simplest Things In The World; An Early Microphone (Lechmere Worrall And J.E. Harold Terry)
• The Hansom Cab Approach (George Griffith)
• Calloway's Code (O. Henry)

Best Secret Service Stories

Editor: John Welcome

1960

"In making this delectably hair-raising collection, John Welcome has cast his net wide. Somerset Maugham, Ian Fleming, John Buchan, John P. Marquand, Peter Cheyney, A. E. W. Mason, Conan Doyle - those are only some of the masters of thrill and suspense whose work is represented here."

• Introduction (John Welcome)
• Miss King (W. Somerset Maugham)
• Mister Big (Ian Fleming)
• High Tide (John P. Marquand)
• The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (Conan Doyle)
• Dr. Lartius (John Buchan)
• The Hut (Geoffrey Household)
• News Out of Spain (A.E.W. Mason)
• Espionage (Dennis Wheatley)
• A Double Double-Cross (Peter Cheyney)
• Water on the Brain (Compton Mackenzie)
• The Trial of Marius Derocq (Bernard Newman)
• The Flaw in the Crystal (Godfrey Smith)
• Parker Adderson (Philosopher (Ambrose Bierce)

To Catch A Spy

Editor: Eric Ambler

1964

An anthology of espionage related short stories selected by and with an introduction by Eric Ambler. The contents are:

• Introduction (Eric Ambler)
• The Loathly Opposite (John Buchan)
• Giulia Lazzari (Somerset Maugham)
• The First Courier (Compton Mackenzie)
• I Spy (Graham Greene)
• Belgrade 1926 (Eric Ambler)
• From A View To A Kill (Ian Fleming)
• On Slay Down (Michael Gilbert)

Best Secret Service Stories 2

Editor: John Welcome

1965

The contents are:

• Introduction (John Welcome)
• The Hairless Mexican (W. Somerset Maugham)
• The Meaning of the Act (Margery Allingham)
• Quantum of Solace (Ian Fleming)
• The Crippled Lady (Dennis Wheatley)
• The Affair of Mister Haynes (Edgar Wallace)
• His Last Bow (A. Conan Doyle)
• Spud Trevor of the Red Hussars (Sapper)
• Night Train to Milan (William Haggard)
• Barbouze (Alan Williams)
• The Headmaster (Michael Gilbert)
• Reveals the Cotton Glove (William Le Queux)

The Spy Trade: An Anthology Of International Espionage In Fact And Fiction

Editor: Leslie Frewin

1966

Best Secret Service Stories 3

Editor: John Welcome

1967

Great Spy Stories from Fiction

Editor: Allen Dulles

1969

An anthology of excerpts from novels and short stories. The contents are:

• The Recruitment Of The Archtraitor (Robert Asprey)
• The Defection Of Kuznetov (Leon Uris)
• Happy, The Joe (George Lock Howe)
• The Stockings Of Major Andre (Bruce Lancaster)
• Conspiracy Up To The Ears (Roman Goul)
• A Coversation On The Train (Rebecca West)
• Mr. Vladimir And Mr. Verloc (Joseph Conrad)
• The General Of The Order (Alexandre Dumas)
• Entrapping A Lady (Baroness Orczy)
• The Bruce-Partington Plans (A. Conan Doyle)
• The Intruders (Erskine Childers)
• Guarding The Zeppelins (Manning Coles)
• A Defector Who Didn't Make It (Peter Cheyney)
• A Message To Umballa (Rudyard Kipling)
• I.A. (Lawrence Durrell)
• Far From Home (James Leasor)
• The Assistant Producer (Vladimir Nabokov)
• Betrayal (Arthur Koestal)
• Belgrade, 1926 (Eric Ambler)
• A Problem Of Identity (E. Phillips Oppenheim)
• A Confusion Of Celts (Helen Macinnes)
• The Trojan Horse (Virgil)
• A Belated Promotion (Duff Cooper)
• A Curious Experience (Samuel L. Clemens)
• A Little Piece Of Hungary (Len Deighton)
• The Trigger (Richard Condon)
• Taylor's Run (John Le Carre)
• The End Of James (Ian Fleming)
• Giulia Lazzari (W. Somerset Maugham)
• All's Well (David St. John)
• The Recruitment Of Major Blenkinsop (Sir Compton Mackenzie)
• The Inventive Mr. Wormold (Graham Greene)

Spy! An Anthology of Espionage Stories

Editor: Alan C. Jenkins

1969

An anthology of fictional and factual spy related short stories. Authors include John Buchan, O. Henry, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Eric Ambler, many others.

The contents are:

• Interrogation of a Spy (Bernard Newman)
• Execution of a Spy (George Millar)
• The Babington Plot (Denis Meadows)
• The Thirteenth Man (Lt. Col. Oreste Pinto)
• The Haunted Château (Dennis Wheatley)
• Judith (C.E. Montague)
• The Thirty-Nine Steps (John Buchan)
• The Spy who Lost a War (Colonel Vernon Hinchley)
• The Dark Invader (Captain Franz Rintelen von Kleist)
• Calloway's Code (O. Henry)
• The Vanished Rolls of Film (H.K. Rönblom)
• Colonel Abel (Ronald Seth)
• The Bruce-Partington Plans (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Exchange (Gordon Lonsdale)
• Checkpoint (John Le Carré)
• The Boy Spy (Alphonse Daudet)
• Parker Adderson (Philosopher (Ambrose Bierce)
• The Apple Barrel (Robert Louis Stevenson)
• Delilah (Guy de Maupassant)
• A Curious Experience (Mark Twain)
• A Spy of Napoleon (Baroness Orczy)
• The Dark of Summer (Eric Linklater)
• Ten Little Nigger Boys (Captain Peter Churchill)
• Against the Normans (Charles Kingsley)
• A False Charge (Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart)
• Spy-Haunts of the World (Eric Ambler)

Favourite Spy Stories

1981

An anthology of short stories and excerpts from novels. The contents are:

• Taylor's Run (John le Carré)
• Shadow of Fu Manchu (Sax Rohmer)
• The Human Factor (Graham Greene)
• The Fate of the Traitor (William le Queux)
• The Champagne Spy (Wolfgang Lotz)
• The Boy Spy (Alphonse Daudet)
• The Bruce-Partington Plans (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
• Strange Conflict (Dennis Wheatley)
• The Secret Agent (Joseph Conrad)
• Funeral in Berlin (Len Deighton)
• A Curious Experience (Mark Twain)
• The Traitor of Arnhem (Lt.-Col. Oreste Pinto)
• The Spy (James Fenimore Cooper)

13 Short Espionage Novels

Editors: Martin H. Greenberg and Bill Pronzini

1985

The contents are:

• The Adventure Of The Bruce-Partington Plans (Arthur Conan Doyle)
• The Traitor (W. Somerset Maugham)
• Tokyo, 1941 (Cornell Woolrich)
• Dealers In Doom (William E. Barrett)
• The Sizzling Saboteur (Leslie Charteris)
• The Danger Zone (Erle Stanley Gardner)
• Betrayed (John D. Macdonald)
• Deep-Sleep (Bruce Cassiday)
• The People Of The Peacock (Edward D. Hoch)
• Dr. Sweetkill (John Jakes)
• The Giggle-Wrecker (Peter O'Donnell)
• The Spoilers (Michael Gilbert)
• Octopussy (Ian Fleming)

Cloak And Dagger: A Treasury Of 35 Great Espionage Stories

Editors: Bill Pronzini, Carol-Lynn Rossell Waugh and Martin H. Greenberg

1988

The contents are:

• Introduction (Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg)
• A Curious Experience (Mark Twain)
• The Story Of A Conscience (Ambrose Bierce)
• Two Fishers (Guy De Maupassant)
• The Traiter (W. Somerset Maugham)
• The Diamond Of Kali (O. Henry)
• "Somewhere In France" (Richard Harding Davis)
• The Phantom Fleet (E. Phillips Oppenheim)
• The Informer (Joseph Conrad)
• The Kingsmouth Spy Case (Ernest Bramah)
• The Pigeon Man (Valentine Williams)
• The Hairless Mexican (W. Somerset Maugham)
• A Man's Foes (Pearl S. Buck)
• The Little Lady From Servia (E. Phillips Oppenheim)
• A Tall Story (G.K. Chesterton)
• Strictly Diplomatic (John Dickson Carr)
• The Army Of The Shadows (Eric Ambler)
• Flight Into Disaster (Erle Stanley Gardner)
• The Russian Prisoner (Leslie Charteris)
• The Traitor (Lawrence G. Blochman)
• Cloak And Digger (John Jakes)
• Cross-Over (Michael Gilbert)
• To Slay An Eagle (Stephen Dentinger)
• The Little Green Book (Jack Ritchie)
• S.P.Y. In The Sky (Bruce Cassiday)
• The Case Of XX2 (Julian Symons)
• The Spy And The Bermuda Cypher (Edward D. Hoch)
• The Sports Page (Isaac Asimov)
• Hide And Seek--Russian Style (Patricia Mcgerr)
• Salamander Four (Peter O'Donnell)
• Non-Interference (Janwillem Van De Wettering)
• The Monster In The Maze (Ron Goulart)
• Best-Sellers Guaranteed (Joe R. Lansdale)
• Winds Of Change (John Lutz)
• Charlie's Game (Brian Garfield)

The Headline Book of Spy Fiction

Editor: Alan Williams

1992

The Oxford Book of Spy Stories

Editor: Michael Cox

1996

"This anthology offers a panorama of the best spy stories, which have forever fixed the concept of espionage in the popular imagination. In tales of political intrigue, wartime heroism, and peacetime scheming, we see the spy at work and at rest, sometimes the romantic saviour of a nation's secret, more often an embittered loner, wracked with disillusion and uncertainty. The great game becomes a grubby business in which the enemy may, indeed, be one of us. These stories by writers of the calibre of A. E. W. Mason, John Buchan, Frank O'Connor, Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, Michael Gilbert and Graham Greene, range from traditional thrillers with the spy as hero to explorations of the metaphoric potential of espionage and the moral, political and psychological issues that such an activity brings into question. Together with Michael Cox's fascinating introduction, they form a wonderfully entertaining literary insight into a world of intrigue and deception."

The Book of Spies: An Anthology of Literary Espionage

Editor: Alan Furst

2003

An anthology of excerpts from espionage novels.

"An action-packed anthology celebrates finest works of literary espionage in a collection that features contributions by Eric Ambler, Anthony Burgess, Joseph Conrad, Maxim Gorky, Graham Greene, John le Carré, Compton Mackenzie, W. Somerset Maugham, Charles McCarry, Baroness Orczy, John Steinbeck, and Rebecca West, among other notable writers."

Agents of Treachery: Spy Stories

Editor: Otto Penzler

2010

"For the first time ever, legendary editor Otto Penzler has handpicked some of the most respected and bestselling thriller writers working today for a riveting collection of spy fiction. From first to last, this stellar collection signals mission accomplished."

• The End Of The String (Charles McCarry)
• Section 7(A) (Operational) (Lee Child)
• Destiny City (James Grady)
• Neighbors (Joseph Finder)
• East Of Suez, West Of Charing Cross Road (John Lawton)
• Father's Day (John Weisman)
• Casey At The Bat (Stephen Hunter)
• Max Is Calling (Gayle Lynds)
• The Interrogator (David Morrell)
• Sleeping With My Assassin (Andrew Klavan)
• The Hamburg Redemption (Robert Wilson)
• The Courier (Dan Fesperman)
• Hedged In (Stella Rimington)
• You Know What's Going On (Olen Steinhauer)

Agents & Spies: Short Stories: Gothic Fantasy

Foreword: Martin Edwards

2017

"Daring tales of kidnap and rescue, assassination and revenge, the politics of death and espionage, these are the themes of this latest volatile concoction of classic and new writing. The days of empire and traditional war have been replaced by cyber warfare but the subtle, lethal methods of agents and spies remain the same, and so has the power of great writing, with stories here to chill and intrigue every reader."