Pressed collars and impossibly polished cufflinks. Concealed deadly gadgetry and dashes across foreign borders with expertly doctored passports. An absurdly beautiful woman, or two, waiting patiently in a penthouse suite. Such are the tropes of modern spy fiction as popularised by iconic authors such as Ian Fleming.
This suave and idealistic characterisation paired with mouth-wateringly appealing mystery, violence and excess is what helped to propel fictional espionage into a classic, canonical genre. Yet there’s so much more to historical espionage – both fictional and non-fictional – than 007.
