Double O Section 10th Anniversary: Top 10 Spy Novels of the Past Decade

While I haven't seen all the spy movies to be released around the world over the past ten years, I have certainly seen the majority of them. The same can't be said for spy novels. There are simply too many published every year to possibly keep up with all of them. But I do read a whole lot of spy fiction, and try to stay on top of the new stuff. Here are ten of my favorite spy novels published during the past ten years.

My Favorite Spy Novels 2006-2016

1. The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer (2010)

If you haven't read this book, it's a bit unfair of me to list it as the best spy novel of the decade, because it can't really be read as a one-off; it actually requires you to read three books. The good news is... all three are fantastic! The Nearest Exit is the middle novel in Steinhauer's Milo Weaver trilogy, which begins with The Tourist (2009) and ends (for now, anyway) with An American Spy (2012). It's tough to pick a favorite of those (especially between the last two), but when it came out The Nearest Exit blew me away with the best "knot," to use Connie Sachs' term, since Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The characters are compelling; the tradecraft is impressive, and the espionage plot is ingenious. Publishers absolutely love to label any new spy novel with a variation on "le Carré meets Ludlum" (odd as those particular bedfellows are), but Steinhauer really delivers on that, combining exciting action of the latter with the rich characterizations, complex plots and moral uncertainty of the former. It astounds me that these books have not yet been filmed. Perhaps if Steinhauer's new TV show Berlin Station proves successful, that will be remedied.

2. A Most Wanted Man by John le le Carré (2008)

Speaking of le Carré, the all-time master of this genre is still as sharp as ever in his eighties. Not only has he remained prolific (I don't begrudge his contemporary Len Deighton enjoying his retirement, but oh how I wish he were still publishing as well!), but he's remained topical. Le Carré may have written about the Cold War better than just about anyone else, but that period was hardly the limit of his outrage. If anything, he's gotten angrier as he's gotten older. Some of his later books might suffer a bit from getting overly polemical, but A Most Wanted Man is the perfect concoction of literary fury. It's not only the best novel of the "War on Terror," but easily among the best in the author's justly celebrated oeuvre, featuring some of the most memorable characters he ever created. How many authors are still producing some of their best work in their eighth or even ninth decades? Le Carré is a towering talent still at the top of his game. His follow-up novel, Our Kind of Traitor, was also fantastic, as was his memoir this year, The Pigeon Tunnel. I can't wait to see what he does next.

3. Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews (2013)

Proving once again that spies and authors draw from similar skill sets, former CIA officer Jason Matthews penned as impressive a debut novel as you're ever likely to read in this compelling tale of the spy games very much still being played between America and Russia. The novel follows Russian SVR agent Dominiki Egorova and up and coming CIA officer Nate Nash first separately, and then as their paths ultimately converge. While most of us will never be able to judge a spy novel for its accuracy, Matthews certainly lends an air of authority in his descriptions of tradecraft and Agency politics that feel incredibly realistic. Red Sparrow was the first in a trilogy, and unfortunately the second novel, Palace of Treason, was a serious letdown, but I'm holding out hope that Matthews will bounce back with his third novel and cement himself a spot among the great spies-turned-writers like le Carré, Greene and Fleming.

4. The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss (2006)

Before Mark Gatiss shot to Internet superstardom as co-creator of the BBC's terrific Sherlock, he penned a trilogy of fantastically fun spy/adventure novels featuring the unlikely secret agent "by appointment to His Majesty" Lucifer Box. Box is a sort of debonair, bisexual mash-up of Sherock Holmes, James Bond and Oscar Wilde, and as witty a narrator as you could ask for. In my review here when this second book in the Box trilogy came out, I wrote that it gave me "just about the most pure enjoyment I’ve gotten out of any book in a long time." All these years later, it still stands out for that. Granted, I must admit that that might have something to do with my specific tastes, which seem to be nearly identical to Gattiss's. Into this supernatural John Buchan/Dennis Wheatley pastiche,/parody, he mixes healthy doses of James Bond, Hammer horror, Adam Adamant, Doctor Who and P.G. Wodehouse. For me, that adds up to sheer joy. Anyone who enjoys Gatiss's work on Sherlock and Doctor Who should definitely seek out The Devil in Amber (as well as its precursor, The Vesuvius Club). Read my full review here.

5. The Last Run by Greg Rucka (2011)

For his work on the sublime spy series Queen & Country (comprised of both comics and novels), Greg Rucka made that very first list that started this blog ten years ago, so it's not surprising that he's making this one too. What is a bit surprising (and disappointing), is that he hasn't written more spy novels since then! But the one new Queen & Country novel to come out in the past decade was more than worth the five year wait that led up to it. This is by far my favorite of the subgenre of contemporary espionage that Lee Child memorably and humorously dubbed, "something about Iran." Rucka uses Iran to tell a very contemporary twist on the classic Cold War spy novel. His field heroine, Tara Chace, finds herself on the run deep in enemy territory (quite a Quiller predicament), while his desk hero, Paul Crocker, is faced with that age-old dilemma of trying to figure out whether a potential defector is too good to be true. You don't have to have read any other entries in this superb, Sandbaggers-inspired spy series to enjoy The Last Run, but if you have, it rewards on multiple levels. I really, really hope that Rucka returns to the Queen & Country universe again, be it in a new novel or a new comic series. In fact, that's one of my dearest spy fan-related hopes. Read my full review of The Last Run here.

6. A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming (2012)

Along with Olen Steinhauer, Charles Cumming is probably my favorite contemporary spy writer. He reliably delivers a great read every time, but A Foreign Country, the first of his novels featuring British agent Thomas Kell, is my favorite of his to date. Though the stakes (involving the first female head of MI6) are incredibly high, the story itself is relatively small for contemporary spy ficiton, and I found that appealing. It's also a great example of one of my favorite type of spy plots, the secret war between friendly nations. In this case, that secret war turns deadly. Like Jason Matthews, Cumming is a master at describing tradecraft with a palpable sense of realism, and a lengthy shadowing operation with a very limited surveillance team is the highlight of this novel. This was optioned by Colin Firth's company back in 2013 as a potential starring vehicle for the actor (who I think would be great as Kell). Earlier this year it was reported that the project is still alive, but might take the form of a miniseries rather than a movie. That's something I would love to see!

7. The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Servant by Kate Westbrook (2006)

When The Moneypenny Diaries concept was first announced, it sounded like a terrible idea. It seemed like a blatant attempt by Ian Fleming Publications to capitalize on the then zeitgeisty success of Bridget Jones' Diary... which seemed like an odd zeitgeist to capitalize on for the heirs of Ian Fleming. So who would have predicted such an odd experiment would produce the best James Bond continuation novel of the last decade? Unfortunately, it was so under the radar that hardly anyone outside of hardcore Bond fans ever found out about it. But the second book, in particular, in Samantha Weinberg's really quite brilliant trilogy definitely deserves a larger audience. Weinberg, writing as Kate Westbrook, actually wrote a Bond novel with the potential to appeal to the sorts of spy fans who don't normally give 007 the time of day. She penned a Bond novel, with Miss Moneypenny as the protagonist, set in John le Carré's world—mixed with actual history. In Secret Servant, we see Bond's Service torn apart by a mole and M acting like Control in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Add to that real-life traitor Kim Philby and his wife Eleanor, and you've got the makings of a Bond novel unlike any other and a treat for Bond fans and fans of the "desk" half of the spy genre alike. Read my full review of The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Servant here, and my interview with Weinberg here.

8. Double or Die by Charlie Higson (2007)

The Moneypenny Diaries wasn't the only seemingly bad idea by Ian Fleming Publications to strike unlikely gold in the past decade. The announcement that they would explore the adventures of James Bond as a boy in a series of Young Adult books seemed like an equally blatant Harry Potter (and Alex Rider)-inspired cash-grab, and initially provoked consternation among many fans. But author Charlie Higson improbably made this unlikely premise work, and ended up penning some of the very best James Bond continuation novels to date, as well as some of the best of the very rich trend of Young Adult literature in the early 2000s. It's a toss-up for me whether Blood Fever (which pre-dated this blog) or Double or Die is my favorite, but there is no question that the latter is a fantastic read. In attempting to decrypt a secret code, James and his Eton friends find themselves on a scavanger hunt across pre-WWII London involving gambling, Soviet spies and a nascent Bletchley Park. It's a great Young Adult adventure that feels authentically Bondian, and a fantastic read. Read my full review of Double or Die here.

9. Restless by William Boyd (2006)

William Boyd eventually became a James Bond continuation novelist himself, and penned a decent 007 entry with Solo. But it wasn't nearly as good as his original spy novel Restless, a literary thriller about a young woman in 1970s Britain searching for the elusive truth about her mother's past as an agent of William Stephenson's British Security Coordination during WWII. The BSC makes a fascinating backdrop for a spy novel, dealing again with that theme of spying between friendly nations. In this case, that spying includes the real-life historical efforts of Stephenson's organization to draw America into the war to aid Britain. But both the 1940s and 1970s storylines are compelling (unlike in the miniseries, which gave short shrift to the Seventies one), and Boyd creates two terrific heroines. It should be noted that there's an excellent audio version read by Bond Girl and Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike. Boyd's masterpiece is Any Human Heart (a novel that features a little bit of spying—and Ian Fleming as a character—but which isn't really a spy novel), but Restless is also well worth reading.

10. Dead Line by Stella Rimington (2008)

Stella Rimington is another former spook turned successful author, and like Jason Matthews, she lends credence to the theory that the two professions rely on some of the same skill sets. Like Matthews, the former Director General of MI5 brings an air of undeniable authenticity to her Liz Carlyle spy novels. Dead Line is among Rimington's best, and expands the tapestry a bit from her previous books. Rather than focusing on Carlyle and her antagonist, she follows many different agents working for different countries and different branches of the British intelligence community this time around. While it isn't immediately clear how all of these storylines are related, the converge in a most satisfying manner, culminating in an assassination attempt at a peace conference in Scotland. Rimington also proved prescient (again, not surprising given her former profession) in predicting the significance of Aleppo in world affairs. Read my full review of Dead Line here.

Those were ten of my favorite spy novels of the past decade, though I could easily make a list of fifty! (Well, maybe not easily. These things take time to write!) What were some of yours? I'd love to get some recommendations for my reading pile.

Addendum: I cannot believe that I forgot to include Jeremy Duns' excellent debut novel, Free Agent! It was easily among my favorites of that period, but for some reason I had thought it came out sooner.

The contest code word is: AMBER.

Our Kind of Trailer

At long, long last, we finally have a trailer for the new John le Carré movie Our Kind of Traitor! This movie has been in the works for a looong time, from when it was originally rumored to be directed by Justin Kurzel (Macbeth) and star Mads Mikkelsen and Ralph Fiennes, to its final cast of Ewan McGregor (Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker), Naomie Harris (Skyfall), Damian Lewis (Homeland) and Stellan Skarsgård (The Hunt for Red October) under the direction of Susanna White. This trailer also finally confirms that Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) is indeed in the movie! His involvement was rumored early on, but subsequently put in question. He was first touted to play Luke, but it's clear from the trailer that that isn't the case. (Readers of the book will realize quickly what role he is playing.) Luke is played by Khalid Abdalla (Green Zone). This UK trailer is kind of an odd watch because there seems to be a very short teaser for the trailer on its head, and lines like "based on the novel by John le Carré" and "You betrayed your country!" are repeated in the main body of the trailer. Overall, despite some changes of location (like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and a younger Hector than I ever imagined, the trailer makes the movie look pretty faithful to the novel. Between this in theaters and The Night Manager on television and The Pigeon Tunnel in bookstores, 2016 is shaping up to be an excellent year for le Carré fans!

Our Kind of Traitor opens May 6 in the UK and in America later in the summer.

Trailer: Dad's Army

1970s UK sitcom Dad's Army has been reinvented for the bigscreen as an all-star spy comedy from Johnny English Reborn director Oliver Parker. Bill Nighy (Page Eight), Michael Gambon (Page Eight), Toby Jones (Wayward Pines), Tom Courtenay (Otley), Mark Gatiss (Sherlock), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (RED 2) star. In the film, the outcome of WWII suddenly depends on the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard discovering the identity of a German spy for MI5. Check out the trailer:

Tradecraft: Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor Firms Cast, Starts Shooting

John le Carré's 2010 novel Our Kind of Traitor has taken a long journey from page to screen. Even before the book was published, we learned that Hossein Amini (who also contributed to, but wasn't ultimately credited on, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) was penning the script. In May, 2012, Australian director Justin Kurzel became attached, and by November Ewan McGregor (Haywire) was rumored to star as British academic Perry, with Jessica Chastain rumored to play his girlfriend Gail and Bond alums Ralph Fiennes and Mads Mikkelsen circling the plum roles of British spymaster Hector and enigmatic Russian gangster Dima, respectively. Then in October of last year, Kurzel departed to direct Michael Fassbender in Macbeth, and that Parade's End director Susanna White was replacing him. Additionally, Mikkelsen had had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Would this film ever get made?

The good news is yes! In fact, filming began this week! But there have been further fluctuations with the cast. The only original member still involved is McGregor, who's still on board as Perry. While M and Le Chiffre may have moved on, there's still a Bond alumnus involved. The Hollywood Reporter reports that reigning Miss Moneypenny Naomie Harris will play Gail. Additionally, Stellan Skarsgård (The Hunt for Red October), Damian Lewis (Homeland), Jeremy Northam (Enigma) and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) have all come aboard. (The latter two according to Variety and Yahoo! Movies, respectively.) What's unclear is exactly who's playing who.

All the trades seem in agreement that Skarsgård will play Dima, the Russian gangster who befriends Perry and Gail while they're vacationing, and recruits them to be his conduits to British Intelligence. But then things get murky. As far as I can tell, the only official word on Lewis's role is that he will play "a member of British Intelligence." Some outlets have taken that to mean that he'll be playing the book's most integral spook role, that of Hector, the role Fiennes had originally been circling. (Personally I always imagined Bill Nighy in that role.) The IMDb currently lists Lewis as spymaster Hector and Gatiss as his protegé, Luke. ("Little Luke," as he's frequently referred to in the book, which would make an odd match for the notably tall Gatiss.) But to readers of the novel, it would make more sense if those roles were reversed. With his spymaster experience on Sherlock, the 48-year-old Gatiss (easily capable of playing older) would make a credible Hector. And Lewis, at 43, would seem a more credible match for field man Luke. (It's also entirely possible that in the screenplay, Luke has the larger role since he ends up following the couple around Europe as they meet with Dima's entourage.) In the book, Hector is definitely older than Perry. Lewis and McGregor are the same age. Clearly, the part could have been altered (which certainly wouldn't be a first for a le Carré adaptation; a crucial role in The Looking Glass War comes to mind), but for the moment I'm betting that's how things shake out. So who does that leave Northam playing? Readers of the book, please chime in with your thoughts! The Ink Factory, the production company run by le Carré's sons, seems to like to play coy about who's playing who. We went through this same guessing game as the cast was assembled for Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man.

No matter who's playing who, I'm very excited about this movie! Le Carré is still writing at the top of his game, and Our Kind of Traitor is a superb thriller. One gets the feeling that if le Carré classified his books by the same methods as Graham Greene, he might consider this one what Greene called one of his "entertainments." Which means that it should make a fantastic movie! Every bit as twisty, intelligent, and complex as we've come to expect from the author, it's also a gripping chase across Europe. According to Variety, Traitor will shoot for ten weeks "on location in London and its suburbs, as well as Finland, Bern, Paris, the French Alps and Marrakech." And lest anyone fear that the famous Hollywood trade had given up its classic turns of phrase since going online-only, I'd like to call attention to a tongue-twisting bit of Variety-speak. The trade describes this movie as a "contempo spy suspenser." Try saying that five times fast!

New James Bond Radio Drama Available to Hear Online Now

Following previous BBC Radio 4 adaptations of "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger," Die Another Day villain Toby Stephens returns to the role of James Bond 007 in a brand new radioplay of "From Russia With Love." Today's Saturday Drama is available to listen to now around the world from the BBC Radio 4 website. Stephens is joined by Eileen Atkins (The Avengers) as Rosa Klebb, Tim Piggot-Smith (Quantum of Solace) as Kerim Bey, Julian Sands (24) as Q, and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, author of the Lucifer Box novels) as Kronsteen. Martin Jarvis again plays the "Ian Fleming" role of narrator. The 90-minute radioplay will stream on the BBC's iPlayer for 7 days.

Diana Rigg to Guest Star on Doctor Who

BBC reports (via AICN) that Emma Peel herself, uber-spy star Dame Diana Rigg (also the greatest Bond Girl of all time), will appear alongside her daughter, Rachel Sterling (Tipping the Velvet) on an upcoming episode of Doctor Who penned by none other than Mark Gatiss! Gatiss is not only the author of the fantastic Lucifer Box spy send-ups The Vesuvius Club and The Devil in Amber (as well as the less successful third novel in the trilogy, Black Butterfly), but also an avowed fan of of both James Bond and Sixties spy television. (He's all over the extras on the DVD release of BBC's answer to The Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives!, for instance.) I have little doubt that he'll be able to resist working in a sly reference or two to Rigg's famed spy roles. (He even references Charles Helfenstein's excellent book The Making of On Her Majesty's Secret Service on an audio commentary for the latest season of Sherlock, the brilliant modern-day take on Sherlock Holmes that he co-created with current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.) Apparently the pair will play a mother and daughter on the show, too. (I was kind of hoping they'd play older and younger versions of the same character on a time travel show. Oh well.) Rigg's Avengers predecessor Honor Blackman memorably appeared in the epic 1986 Doctor Who serial "The Trial of a Time Lord."

Lucifer Box Returns On the Radio

Mark Gatiss' dandy secret agent Lucifer Box is back!  Not in a new novel, unfortunately, but in a new BBC Radio recording of the author's second (and best) Box novel, The Devil in Amber.  (Read my review of the book here.) It's actually not really an adaptation, unfortunately, but Gatiss himself reading his own novel.  Still, with a performer as talented as Mark Gatiss (who played a litany of characters on The League of Gentlemen), that's the next best thing.  It's also notable because although an abridged, Gatiss-read audio version of his first Lucifer Box book, The Vesuvius Club, was issued on CD, no audio version of The Devil in Amber ever came out. So now's your chance to hear it, in six half-hour segments. The first one can be heard here on the BBC's iPlayer right now... but only for a few more hours, I'm afraid. The second episode begins tomorrow and will be available for a week.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week

After a bit of a drought, there are finally some big spy releases again this week. 

First and foremost, on the big-budget studio front, there's Knight and Day, available as a single-disc DVD, a 3-Disc DVD/Blu-ray Combo Pack with Digital Copy, and a "limited time Holiday Gift Set," which seems to be the same as the Combo Pack, but without the stupid digital copy. (That one also works out to be the cheapest.) Special features on all three versions include the featurettes "Wilder Knights and Crazier Days," "Boston Days and Spanish Nights," "Story," "Scope" and "Knight and 'Someday': Featuring the Black Eyed Peas and Tom Cruise" (which may actually be the worst special feature ever on a DVD!), the viral videos "Soccer" and "Kick" and the theatrical trailer.  The Blu-ray configurations will include all that plus the BD-Live Extras "What’s New, "Live LookUp," "Exclusive: Not Your Regular Spy" and "Highlight: Excerpt from Wilder Knights and Crazier Days." (No, I'm not quite sure what the advantage is of having an excerpt from a featurette also included in its entirety, but there you have it.)  SRP is $39.99 for the 3-disc Combo Pack (though it's half that right now on Amazon), $34.98 for the limited Holiday Gift Set (also cheaper, of course) and $29.98 for the DVD (ditto). I wish they'd had the courage to stick with the film's really cool theatrical poster design for the cover, but given its poor box office reception it was probably a good idea to switch to a more traditional show-the-stars'-faces look. And as far as star face DVD covers go, this one's actually not bad. This movie got a bad rap because the press wanted Tom Cruise to fail, but I found it to be a lot of fun.  (Read my review here.)

On the other side of the pond, Network has a couple of Region 2 releases that will be of interest to spy fans. It's not "Wet Job," but Whodunnit? is a Callan reunion of sorts. Whodunnit? is a unique panel gameshow from the Seventies hosted by Callan himself, Edward Woodward, on which Russell Hunter (Lonely on Callan) is one of the guests.  The show challenged celebrity contestants to solve a fictional murder mystery.  I'm not familiar with it myself, but it sounds kind of awesome!  According to Network's description, Whodunnit? "presented short dramas laden with clues to be pieced together by the panellists, who would then question the characters involved and finally point the finger at the most likely suspect; lively repartee was the order of the day." Other guests appearing on the first season (which is what you get, along with the pilot, on this 2-disc set) include James Bond author Kingsley Amis and real-life private eye Anne Summer.  The PAL Region 2 DVD retails for £19.99, but can be ordered from Network's website for just £11.99.

Also new from Network is Scorpion Tales, an anthology series of six one-hour plays "each linked by the scorpion-like twist in its denouement," according to Network's publicity.  Of most interest to spy fans will be the Prisoner-like sixth episode, "Truth or Consequence" by Brian Phelan, which follows a jet pilot who sets out for a training course at a remote secret service base. En route, he finds his car has been sabotaged, and on arriving, he is subjected to physical and mental abuse and accused of passing on intelligence documents. Terrifyingly, both his wife and father seem to be in collusion with the military authorities. He doesn't know what to believe, or to whom can he turn for help. Scorpion Tales, a 2-disc PAL Region 2 release, retails for £19.99. It can currently be ordered from Network's website, though, for just £14.99. (And there's a sale going on on web exclusives that makes it even cheaper still: £10.49!)

I mentioned there'd been a bit of a drought lately, but I've also overlooked some important releases in the last few weeks.  Last week saw the release of Who? from Scorpion Releasing (speaking of scorpions), and BBC released Sherlock the week before.  As previously reported, Who? is a 1974 Cold War spy-fi movie starring Elliott Gould and Trevor Howard, based on the novel by Algis Budrys (thanks, Tex). The plot mixes espionage and robots–but in a very gritty, serious, Seventies way, not a Sixties Casino Royale/Some Girls Do Way. Scorpion's DVD will contain a plethora of bonus features, including separate audio commentaries with director Jack Gold and star Elliott Gould, an interview with co-star Edward Grover and a brand new 16x9 (1.78:1) widescreen transfer. Retail is $19.95, but of course it's cheaper on Amazon.

Sherlock is the fresh, contemporary take on Sherlock Holmes devised by Lucifer Box creator Mark Gatiss and current Doctor Who (speaking of Who?) producer Steven Moffat.  Benedict Cumberbatch (the upcoming Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and The Office's Martin Freeman (soon to be Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit) star as Holmes and Watson, respectively.  (Sorry; "Sherlock" and "John" as they're now referred to.)  As with many of the best Holmes adaptations, it uses the character of Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes to inject a healthy dose of espionage into the proceedings.  Mycroft (played by an actor who should probably be recognizable to fans of the material covered on this blog) pops up in two of the three feature-length episodes, and the final one, "The Great Game," is partially an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's very best spy tale, "The Bruce Partington Plans."  Beyond the spy angle, though, this is hands-down the best adaptation of Sherlock Holmes in years, and just so much fun.  Bond composer David Arnold provides the soundtrack.  Sherlock: Season One is available on DVD (SRP $29.99, but obviously available cheaper if you look in the right places) and Blu-ray ($39.99, but currently discounted enough on Amazon that it's actually cheaper than the DVD).  To make up for the fact that the "season" contains only three episodes (only in England!), there are lots of bonus features, including commentaries by Gatiss, Moffat and others, a making-of featurette and--best of all--the unaired, original, hour-long version of the pilot, which was totally reshot.

New Spy-Related DVDs And Games Out This Week

No straight-shooting spy titles out this week, but quite a few spy-ish DVDs.  Plus, of course, a few videogames that have a lot of Bond fans excited. 

First up, from MGM Home Entertainment, is the1968 film musical adaptation of Ian Fleming's children's book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, on Blu-ray/DVD and DVD/Blu-ray combo packs.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was produced by 007 producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, scripted by You Only Live Twice screenwriter Roald Dahl and counts Bond alums Desmond Llewelyn and Gert Frobe among its cast. Dick Van Dyke stars as inventor Caractacus Potts, and Sally Ann Howes plays the Bond Girlishly-named Truly Scrumptuous. The new combo release comes in two configurations: a BD/DVD combo pack in a Blu-ray size case, and a DVD/BD combo in a more kids' section-friendly standard DVD Amray case.  All of the special features are on the Blu-ray.  The only new ones (besides the high-def transfer, of course, and newly upgraded 7.1 audio) are kid-oriented (“Toot Sweet Symphony melody maker – the Toot Sweet Toots Musical Maestro" and “Chitty's Bang Bang Driving Game”), but happily all of the interviews and vintage promotional material from the last DVD edition is ported over, including "Remembering Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dick Van Dyke," the featurette “A Fantasmagorical Motorcar” (about the actual car used in the film and its current owner, if memory serves), the original Sherman Brothers demos of the film’s most popular songs, vintage featurettes including “The Ditchling Tinkerer,” “Dick Van Dyke Press Interview,” and “The Potts Children's Featurette,” a photo gallery and a vintage advertising gallery including English and French versions of the theatrical trailer and several television spots. There's also a sing-a-long version of the film for the tots. Both combo variations retail for $34.99, but are available considerably cheaper from Amazon and other online vendors.

An old woman detective may not seem very spy-like at all, but there's actually plenty in Agatha Christie's Marple: The Geraldine McEwan Collection, from Acorn Media, to interest spy fans.  First and foremost, there's Timothy Dalton (in The Sittaford Mystery), who leads a pack of spy-friendly guest stars that also includes Joanna Lumley, Jane Seymour, Keeley Hawes, Herbert Lom, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Richard Armitage, Jane Asher, Robert Powell, Tim McInnerny, Mark Gatiss and many, many more.  (Besides being an actor, Gatiss is the co-creator of the BBC's new Sherlock series and author of the wonderful Lucifer Box spy novels.) This set includes all 12 feature-length mysteries that McEwan starred in on 12 DVDs, plus plentiful extras including an hour-long "backstage" documentary with cast and crew interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a history of Miss Marple adaptations (that sounds fun!), photo galleries, an Agatha Christie biography, and cast filmographies. Retail is $99.99.

It's a good week for Timothy Dalton fans, because in addition to his debut on Chuck, we also get the aforementioned Marple DVD set and Toy Story 3, in which he voiced the adorable stuffed hedgehog with delusions of Shakespearean grandeur, Mr. Pricklepants.  It's not a huge part, but it's great to hear a hedgehog talking like Timothy Dalton.  Plus, Toy Story 3 is an amazing movie.  I think it's my favorite of the Pixar trilogy, and one of my favorite movies of the year.  It's available on standard DVD, Blu-ray and a 4-disc Blu-ray/DVD Special Edition Combo pack. For the huge Disney fans out there, it's also available as part of the massive, 10-disc Toy Story Trilogy Blu-ray/DVD combo set. That one will cost you dearly, though, so you might want to save it for Santa.

There are also two new James Bond videogames out today: James Bond 007: Bloodstone and GoldenEye 007, the latter a remake of the classic N64 first-person shooter of over a decade ago (though not from the same makers).  I don't really cover videogames here simply because I don't play them.  I'm no good at them.  I kind of wish I was, though (and that I had the hours required to devote to them, but I'm afraid this blog takes up all of those!), because these games both look pretty neat based on the trailers.  Both star Daniel Craig, which in the case of GoldenEye is pretty weird, since Pierce Brosnan, of course, starred in the movie. 

The new GoldenEye 007 should actually hold interest for Bond music fans as well as Bond gamers, because David Arnold composed the score.  I'm really curious to hear it.  The movie GoldenEye has one of the worst Bond scores, by Eric Serra, and I've often fantasized about what an Arnold score might have been like for it since he did all the other Brosnan Bonds.  Now I guess we can find out!  I really hope that the score is released in some format, be it on CD (unlikely, I guess) or at least as a digital download.  The one part we can hear so far struck me as a tad disappointing.  Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger steps in for Tina Turner to cover the movie's original title song, penned by U2's Bono and the Edge.  With David Arnold producing the cover, I was hoping for something along the lines of his fantastic 1997 Bond covers CD, Shaken and Stirred, which paired classic songs with unexpected performers for uniformly impressive results.  Unfortunately, instead of an indie artist of the caliber of Aimee Mann or Natacha Atlas, we get a Pussycat Doll.  And Scherzinger simply doesn't have the vocal chops to deliver an interesting or worthy rendition.  Too bad.  I did like the orchestration, but was a bit taken aback at how familiar it sounded.  Based on Shaken and Stirred, I'd expected a more radical reinvention.  Oh well.  I hope the score is good, and for people who are into first person shooters, I hope the game is good too!  Let me know. 

GoldenEye 007 retails for $49.99 for the Wii, $29.99 for the Nintendo DS and $69.99 for a special edition of the Wii version that comes with a special Golden Gun controller.  James Bond 007: Bloodstone retails for $59.99 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, and $49.99 for PC.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: OSS 117: Lost In Rio Found In Region 1 At Last!

Today, Americans are finally able to buy the fantastic spy parody sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio on DVD!  This hilarious follow-up to OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies (which I picked as the best theatrical spy release of 2008) is as loving and meticulous an homage to and send-up of Sixties Bond films, the Eurospy genre and of course the original OSS 117 movies (which played it straight) as you could hope for.  Read my review of the film here, and read my introduction to the character here if you're unfamiliar with OSS 117's current or past incarnations.  Suffice it to say, this film is a must-have for spy fans.  Director Michel Hazanavicius not only sets the film in 1967, but also shoots it as if it were made then, with rear projection and stock footage and appropriate lighting and film stock.  It looks great.  Sadly Music Box Films are not releasing this on Blu-ray, even though there was a Region 2 BD release in France, but happily they have included a subtitled version of the 24-minute Making-Of documentary from the French release!  This includes interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. 

The movie is still going strong in theaters, though, continuing its summer-long platform release.  It opens in Cleveland, OH on September 3 and screens in the Milwaukee Film Festival in Wisconsin the week of September 23.

Also debuting today on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray from Sony is the Michael Caine revenge vehicle Harry Brown.  Harry Brown isn't a spy movie, but any movie in which Michael Caine kicks so much ass at any age should definitedly be on the radar of a lot of spy fans.  That said, please bear in mind that you are not going into a fun, Taken-style old guy revenge movie.  Harry Brown is a gritty and, frankly, depressing character study that bursts into realistic and disturbing mayhem in its second half.  It is very good and Caine deserves an Oscar nod, but it isn't fun.  You can read my full review here. 

There are also a few notable releases on the other side of the pond today.  UK spy fans finally get a good version of The Protectors: The Complete Series, courtesy (as usual) of Network.  This colorful half-hour ITC series from Gerry Anderson features former Man From U.N.C.L.E. Robert Vaughn as international private detective Harry Rule.  The plots are fluff, but the action is legitimately international, with lots of location filming, and the music is awesome.  The Protectors is a lot of fun.  Also out in the UK is Mark Gatiss' and Steven Moffat's updating of Sherlock Holmes to the present day, Sherlock.  I haven't seen this yet, but I'm dying to.  (Regular readers will be aware of how much I like Gatiss, who penned the terrific Lucifer Box novels.)  The Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray include commentaries from Gatiss, Moffat and the cast as well as the unaired hour-long pilot episode.  Sherlock is due out on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States with the same special features this November, following a telivision run on PBS.

Mark Gatiss Tweets About Bond

There is no news here; only me geeking out that someone I admire so much geeks out about the same stuff I do.  Mark Gatiss was in Los Angeles recently to promote Sherlock, and according to his Twitter account he had a very Bond-filled trip.  (Or Licence To Kill-filled, anyway.)  These tweets made me like the Devil in Amber writer even more:

Bugger me! Just met Felix Leiter on the street. That's what LA is for. David bloody Hedison! Although name's is for tombstones, of course.

In restaurant last night, turned to see Robert Davi at nearby table! After yesterday's Felix Leiter, this is Bond heaven!

If Anthony Zerba  isn't at breakfast I'll be very disappointed.

Sounds like Mr. Gatiss had a wonderful trip.  I live in this city and never see that many Bond stars in a two-day period!

Cat Among The Pigeons

DVD Review: Poirot: The Movie Collection Set 4

Agatha Christie may not be a name readily associated with spies, but when you consider how many mysteries the incredibly prolific author penned–and how many motives she had to come up with–it’s not surprising that more than a few featured espionage. One such novel was Cat Among the Pigeons (written in 1959), a title adapted for TV this year and featured in the latest set of Poirot mysteries from Acorn Media, Poirot: The Movie Collection - Set 4. Personally, I love a good mystery and I love Poirot, and the addition of spies sweetens the deal even more. On top of that, this story was adapted by Mark Gatiss, one of my very favorite contemporary spy writers! (Although he’s probably better known for his acting and for being a member of the darkly hilarious comedy troupe the League of Gentlemen.) Gatiss is a self-described fan of the Grand Dame of Mystery, and having previously appeared in another Poirot (and a Marple), as well as having sent up Christie in the endpapers of his novel The Devil in Amber, it’s high time he penned a Poirot. With its inclusion of secret agents and allusions to adventures in far-flung corners of the Empire–combined with its girls’ school setting–Cat Amongst the Pigeons is a good match for Gatiss’s sensibilities. Despite the ripe ingredients, Gatiss resists the path of camp, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s read his Lucifer Box novels. Yes, they are parodies of a genre he clearly loves, but what makes them so enjoyable is that they manage to be at the same time exemplary of that genre. They’re not send-ups of pulpy adventure novels; they’re bona fide pulpy adventure novels with lots of humor. "Cat Amongst the Pigeons" may lack most of that humor, but Gatiss latches onto and plays up the hints of pulpy adventure in Christie’s novel.

Such adventure starts things off in a prologue set somewhere on the subcontinent as two strapping, stiff-upper-lip Englishmen make a heroic last stand against the vile revolutionary hordes overrunning a palace. Evidently, they’ve seen to it that someone or something got safely out before the fortress fell. What all this has to do with the plot, of course, we’ll have to wait to find out, as instead we join Belgian sleuth extraordinaire Hercule Poirot (still played to perfection by David Suchet after inhabiting the role on television for twenty years) as he visits a girls’ school to give a speech. Detectives giving speeches at schools is an odd theme in Golden Age British mysteries and the TV adaptations thereof, and I’m jealous of those schoolchildren. I certainly never had any famous detective make a speech at my school! (Well, unless you count the DARE officer, I guess.) Anyway, Poirot’s there to make a speech, but of course a murder occurs, as always happens wherever he goes. Naturally, he’s asked to stay on to investigate, working in full cooperation with the local police. And of course, everything is not what it seems at this school.

For starters, the hunky young gardener who all the girls are into is really an agent of His Majesty’s Secret Service, tasked with looking after a princess in their midst. The princess is the rightful heir to the throne of that faraway country where the revolution’s just occurred. His Secret Service credentials, however, don’t eliminate him as a suspect. After all, MI6 could have ulterior motives here, playing out their games of international politics on the soil of a British girls’ school! And the gardener’s not the only spy in the mix anyway. Poirot quickly discovers that there’s also a mysterious, deadly female agent among the students or the teaching staff, codenamed "the Angel." But who is she? Finally, there’s also the strong possibility that one of the girls’ mothers is a spy as well! Far-fetched? Not at all! "The secret service recruits from all walks," notes one character. "It’s quite possible that Mrs. Upjohn was a part of them. Without her being some sort of female Bulldog Drummond or something!" If only Mrs. Upjohn were around, perhaps she could shed some light on the identity of the Angel (a former British agent turned double turned independent operator and now presumed dead) and the increasing number of murders happening around the campus! But she’s not; she’s off in Europe.

As the body count builds, the princess is kidnapped, secrets are exposed and a Royal treasure comes into play (of course!), the girls (including Harry Potter’s Cho Chang, Katie Leung, in a small role) are all atwitter about the goings on: "I think I might swoon if anything else happens. It’s just too too thrilling!" Indeed it is thrilling. This is the ideal playground for Mark Gatiss to operate in, and he has a great time translating Christie’s various clues and misdirects to the screen. Despite all of these exciting trappings sure to please the spy fan, however, it’s simply not one of Poirot’s most devious mysteries. If that’s what you seek, you’re better off with the second feature-length episode included in this package, "Mrs. McGinty’s Dead."

"Mrs. McGinty’s Dead" has nothing to do with espionage, but as long as you’ve gotten the set for "Cat Among the Pigeons," you might as well watch it! It’s got the cleverer plot of the two, and it’s almost as much fun. This is Poirot in his more familiar milieu, solving a murder at the behest of the police in a small English country village. Everyone in the village has secrets, naturally, and Poirot quickly deduces that one of the women in town is either a murderess who escaped to Australia decades ago, now come back with a new identity, or else her daughter. It’s likely that the titular Mrs. McGinty recognized said person, and that that knowledge led to her titular state. Now it’s up to Poirot to divine who it is, and true to the Christie formula, there’s bound to be at least one more murder along the way...

"Mrs. McGinty’s Dead" sees the return of Poirot’s sometime sidekick mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker), whose welcome presence affords writer Nick Dear the chance to poke the same fun at those who adapt classic mystery novels to other mediums as Christie did at mystery novelists themselves. Ariadne is in town to collaborate with a successful playwright on a play about her foreign detective hero, the not-un-Poirot-like Sven Hjerson. The playwright, of course, wants to sex it all up, much as the TV producers have been accused of doing to the latest incarnation of Christie’s Marple. And he wants to turn the sixty-year-old Sven into a skiing action hero, much to Ariadne’s dismay. "He’s sixty!" she protests, to which the playwright tells her that he’s now much younger, as otherwise his sexual relationship with the teenage girl he’s helping would seem inappropriate. She tries to insist that there is no sexual relationship, and that Sven has never shown any interest in women, but the boxoffice-savvy playwright says that simply can’t be. I’m not sure how many of these objections come directly from Christie, but even if they do, they still play perfectly as contemporary in-jokes. Everything builds to a classically Poirot denouement in this thoroughly satisfying entry in the series.

Unfortunately, two scant ninety-minute episodes aren’t enough to fill Acorn’s standard three-disc Poirot set, so the company pads out this release with a third disc containing an hour-long TV special "Super Sleuths: Poirot". Although built-in teasers for ad-breaks belie its TV origin, this special is a decent overview of the character containing enlightening interviews with Suchet and some of the other regular actors from the series’ earlier seasons (it’s honestly refreshing to see Captain Hastings back in the form of actor Hugh Fraser; I do miss him from the current adaptations, even if his absence is true to the books) as well as writers and producers. Most interesting to spy fans among the latter is Alex Rider creator Anthony Horowitz, one of the original creative forces behind the series. Horowitz calls Christie out on her over-reliance on "in your face" clues, but says she has a fantastic ability to construct different solutions to murders; he loves her endings. The documentary mercifully doesn’t give away any of those endings, but it does talk a lot about Curtain, Poirot’s final adventure, and any significant mention of that story is bound to contain certain spoilers. "Super Sleuths" is a worthwhile bonus feature (though one with limited rewatchability) and a pleasant inclusion in the set, but its presence hardly justifies the steep fifty dollar price point. Luckily, the set can be readily found for much less at various online retailers, and the two actual mysteries make it a worthy addition to any Poirot collection–as well as an entertaining rental for spy fans curious to dip their feet into the related mystery genre.

Gatiss: Lucifer Box TV Adaptation Dead... But Sherlock Lives

A cool-looking blog with the great name The Word Is Not Enough (though "word" appears to have become "medium," which is not as cool) reports that Mark Gatiss has revealed that the previously announced BBC adaptation of his first Lucifer Box novel The Vesuvius Club is now dead in the water. According to the Word (er, the Medium), "Mark Gatiss spent a year developing an adaptation of his novels with the Beeb. However, it's been abandoned because 'it went the way I thought it would and became more and more neutered.' So they live no more." Sad, but I can't say I didn't expect it. It seemed unlikely even in the age of Torchwood that the BBC would have allowed Gatiss to faithfully adapt his novel, in which bi-sexual Edwardian spy Lucifer Box takes on a demented transvestite bent on volcanic revenge with the aid of purple zombies. Since Gatiss has already adapted his book into one other medium, I assume the graphic novel gives us an idea of what might have been. But the novel is far superior.

I'd still love to see the Box stories filmed. Perhaps with the BBC deal lapsed, the door is open for a film version? I'd say the second book, The Devil In Amber, lends itself most readily to cinematic treatment. Still, it's sadly unlikely that any Hollywood studios will ever come knocking for a bi-sexual hero.

In the same report, though, the Medium has some good (if not spy-related) news about another upcoming Gatiss project: the author/actor/comedian has teamed up with Stephen Moffat to create a new Sherlock Holmes series called Sherlock. Not to be confused with the two Holmes movies currently in development, Gatiss' series plunks the famed detective, his associate Dr. Watson, housekeeper Mrs. Hudson and apartment at 221B Baker Street down in modern-day London. (Not via time travel or anything; they're now contemporary characters.) Gatiss says that they've taken inspiration from the Universal series of Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce movies, which contemporized Holmes in the war-torn 1940s. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Holmes and The Office's Martin Freeman plays Watson.

The press release says, "Sherlock is a thrilling, funny, fast paced take on the crime drama genre set in present day London." More insightful is a quote from Moffat, who proves he knows the right tone to go for by saying, "Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures and that's what matters."

Gatiss adds, "The fact that Steven, myself and millions of others are still addicted to Conan Doyle's brilliant stories is testament to their indestructibility. They're as vital, lurid, thrilling and wonderful as they ever were. It's a dream come true to be making a new TV series and in Benedict and Martin we have the perfect Holmes and Watson for our time."

It's true; the modern setting sets off a few alarm bells. There's certainly room to go wrong. (I can't help but think of Steve Coogan's fake show Sherlock Holmes in Miami in Cruise of the Gods). But Gatiss is generally a guarantor of quality, so I have faith. I'm very excited for this!

Richard Chopping Style Cover For Latest Lucifer Box Novel!
Pays Homage To Classic Bond First Edition Artwork

Wow. Fantastic! LuciferBox.com points the way today to newly-revealed cover art on Amazon.co.uk for Mark Gatiss' latest Lucifer Box novel, Black Butterfly. As previously revealed, the third Box novel (following The Vesuvius Club and the phenomenal Devil In Amber) advances Box (who started his career as an Edwardian secret agent) into the 1950s and into Ian Fleming territory. The Vesuvius Club parodied/homaged Conan-Doyle in the early 20th Century; The Devil In Amber lovingly satirized John Buchan and Dennis Wheatley with a 1930s setting. Now a much older (but probably no less vain) Box will find himself in more Bondian situations, and I simply cannot wait!

This cover, of course, appropriately echoes the classic Richard Chopping covers that graced most of the British first editions of Fleming's books from From Russia With Love onwards. (It most directly evokes Thunderball and The Spy Who Loved Me.) This is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for from the Devil May Care cover! The official synopsis also drops some cool Bond references:

LUCIFER BOX. He's tall, he's dark and, like the shark, he looks for trouble. Or so he wishes. For, with Queen Elizabeth newly established on her throne, the now elderly secret agent is reaching the end of his scandalous career. Despite his fast-approaching retirement, queer events leave Box unable to resist investigating one last case...Why have pillars of the Establishment started dying in bizarrely reckless accidents? Who are the deadly pay-masters of enigmatic assassin Kingdom Kum? And who or what is the mysterious Black Butterfly? From the seedy streets of Soho to the souks of Istanbul and the sun-drenched shores of Jamaica, Box must use his artistic licence to kill and eventually confront an enemy with its roots in his own notorious past. Can Lucifer Box save the day before the dying of the light?

Black Butterfly comes out November 3.
Read my review of The Devil In Amber here.

Devil May Care Hits #8 On NY Times Best Seller List

Say what you will about the book (and believe me, I will--in the next few days), but Ian Fleming Publications did a great job marketing it! The whole Centenary hype worked wonders, and Sebastian Faulks' James Bond pastiche Devil May Care debuted at a tie for Number 8 on the New York Times Best Seller List, a first for 007 since the middle John Gardner era. Meanwhile, it's breaking publishing records on Bond's own "pitiful little island" (to quote Blofeld), where according to The Guardian, it's "Penguin's fastest selling hardback fiction title ever." In other words, Fleming's heirs have successfully restarted the literary Bond franchise in much the same way Eon Productions successfully restarted the film one with Daniel Craig, which is great news! Now they need to make sure they don't let this wave die down, and commission someone else to start work on the next Bond novel right away. (Faulks has made it clear that this assignment was a one-off for him, although the project has certainly upped his name recognition.) My own top choice would be Charlie Higson, who's shown a certain talent for the character in his Young Bond series, or failing him, one of his ilk from British TV, like Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie or Mark Gatiss. Gatiss would knock a Bond book out of the park!