Spy Books 🕵️

Books, spy books. Everyone loves a great spy story. Whether it’s James Bond taking down the bad guys or George Smiley painstakingly rooting out a traitor, there’s excellent spy fiction for everyone. The genre was born at the beginning of the twentieth century after the Dreyfuss affair caught the public imagination. This true-life tale of a wrongly convicted spy was the inspiration for the plot of The Railway Children.

The genre really took off when spying became central to World War I and II and the Cold War. Sherlock Holmes came up against spies in several adventures, becoming a double agent himself in “His Last Bow”. Classics such as The Thirty-nine Steps and Ashenden during or about the Great War. The inter-war period brought the world Simon Templar a.k.a. The Saint, in a series of novels by Leslie Charteris. These were made into a TV series starring future Bond star Roger Moore. Spy novels during the Second World War brought a new realism to the genre.

For our little spies-in-training, be sure to check out The Sherlock Holmes Children’s Collection Shadows, Secrets and Stolen Treasure 10 Books (Series One) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. From the creator of one of the most popular fictional detectives in history, this collection contains a whopping ten books for your little spies to analyse. With easy-to-read and simplified text and handy illustrations, these books will shape your little ones into the best kid detectives. Perfect for reluctant readers or to practice independent reading, these books published by Sweet Cherry also contain audiobooks to listen to and read along. Have a look at the full collection of Easy Classics here.

The Cold War, which followed hot on WWII’s heels, gave us one of the most famous spies of all: James Bond. Former naval intelligence officer Ian Fleming put a counter-intelligence officer, a playboy, and an assassin into a cocktail shaker and poured out a phenomenon.

The Young Bond series was launched in 2005 by Charlie Higson. It starts with a thirteen-year-old Bond arriving at Eton in SilverFin and continues to his expulsion in 2008’s By Royal Command. You can grab the complete Young Bond 5 Book Collection at a great price. The second series of four books by Steve Cole was released between 2014 and 2017. You can find them all in the Young Bond 4 Book Collection.

Get ready for some thrilling and action-packed adventures with everyone’s favourite kid spy, Alex Rider, in the Alex Rider The Complete Missions 11 Books Box Set. Written by Anthony Horowitz and published in the UK in 2000, this series has been a popular read among teenagers and young adults aged 9-14 for years. Alex Rider is no ordinary fourteen-year-old; he is a young agent working for the MI6, the British Intelligence Service. After a tragic plane crash that caused the death of Alex's parents, he has since been raised by his uncle, Ian Rider, developing a close bond as Alex grows older. But as his uncle goes missing, it’s up to Alex to put all his training to the test to unveil the mystery behind his disappearance. 

For something a little different, check out The Invisible Library 6 Book Collection by Genevive Cogman. Irene works as a spy for a Library that stocks its shelves with fiction from other realities. Her enemies are not from other countries but are supernatural creatures, magic, and unspeakable horrors. Throughout the series, she visits 1920s America, 1890s Paris, and Venice, where it’s always Carnival.

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