Discover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage series A crime novelist has found the perfect subject - but it may cost him his life English writer Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when a police inspector tells him about the infamous master criminal Dimitrios, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus. Immediately fascinated, Latimer decides to retrace Dimitrios' steps across Europe to gather material for a new book, but instead finds himself descending into a terrifying underworld of international espionage, Balkan drug dealers, unscrupulous businessmen and fatal treachery - one he may not be able to escape.

Kenton's career as a journalist depended on his facility with languages, his knowledge of European politics, and his quick judgment. Where his judgment sometimes failed him was in his personal life. When he finds himself on a train bound for Austria with insufficient funds after a bad night of gambling, he jumps at the chance to earn a fee to help a refugee smuggle securities across the border. He soon discovers that the documents he holds have a more than monetary value, and that European politics has more twists and turns than the most convoluted newspaper account.

Nicky Marlow needs a job. He’s engaged to be married and the employment market is pretty slim in Britain in 1937. So when his fiancé points out the Spartacus Machine Tool notice, he jumps at the chance. After all, he speaks Italian and he figures he’ll be able to endure Milan for a year, long enough to save some money. Soon after he arrives, however, he learns the sinister truth of his predecessor’s death and finds himself courted by two agents with dangerously different agendas. In the process, Marlow realizes it’s not so simple to just do the job he’s paid to do in fascist Italy on the eve of a world war.

A career-spanning collection of crime and mystery stories with an autobiographical introduction by the Diamond Dagger Award–winning author. Credited with inventing the modern spy novel, Eric Ambler was hailed by Graham Greene as “unquestionably our best thriller writer,” while John le Carré declared him “the source on which we all draw.” Waiting for Orders collects eight of Ambler’s short stories written between 1939 and 1992 that range from the fringes of WWII Germany to the Cold War intrigues of Central America. This volume also includes six cases featuring the refugee Czech detective Dr. Czissar. Stories include “The Army of the Shadows,” “The Case of the Pinchbeck Locket,” “The Blood Bargain,” and others.

A British playwright is caught in the political turmoil of an unnamed Eastern European country in the renowned author’s early Cold War thriller. When Yordan Delchev is charged with treason, Foster is dispatched to cover the proceedings for an American newspaper. As a West End playwright with no experience as a reporter, it’s clear that they intend to capture the theatrics of what appears to be an Authoritarian show trial. Accused of membership in the sinister Officer Corps Brotherhood and of masterminding a plot to assassinate his country’s leader, Delchev’s life and reputation are at stake. But when Foster meets Madame Delchev, the accused’s powerful wife, he suddenly becomes enmeshed in more life-threatening intrigue than he could have imagined.

Returning to his hotel room after a late-night flirtation with a cabaret dancer at an Istanbul b ite, Graham is surprised by an intruder with a gun. What follows is a nightmare of intrigue for the English armaments engineer as he makes his way home aboard an Italian freighter. Among the passengers are a couple of Nazi assassins intent on preventing his returning to England with plans for a Turkish defense system, the seductive cabaret dancer and her manager husband, and a number of surprising allies. Thrilling, intense, and masterfully plotted, Journey Into Fear is a classic suspense tale from one of the founders of the genre.

The Light of Day was the basis for Jules Dassin’s classic film, Topkapi. When Arthur Abdel Simpson first spots Harper in the Athens airport, he recognizes him as a tourist unfamiliar with city and in need of a private driver. In other words, the perfect mark for Simpson’s brand of entrepreneurship. But Harper proves to be more the spider than the fly when he catches Simpson riffling his wallet for traveler’s checks. Soon Simpson finds himself blackmailed into driving a suspicious car across the Turkish border. Then, when he is caught again, this time by the police, he faces a choice: cooperate with the Turks and spy on his erstwhile colleagues or end up in one of Turkey’s notorious prisons. The authorities suspect an attempted coup, but Harper and his gang of international jewel thieves have planned something both less sinister and much, much more audacious.

Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Prague, 1937. In the back alleys of nighttime Europe, war is already under way. André Szara, survivor of the Polish pogroms and the Russian civil wars and a foreign correspondent for Pravda, is co-opted by the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and becomes a full-time spymaster in Paris. As deputy director of a Paris network, Szara finds his own star rising when he recruits an agent in Berlin who can supply crucial information. Dark Star captures not only the intrigue and danger of clandestine life but the day-to-day reality of what Soviet operatives call special work.

“Zoo Station is a beautifully crafted and compelling thriller with a heart-stopping ending as John Russell learns the personal faces of good and evil. An unforgettable read.”-Charles Todd, author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge series Praise for previous books by David Downing: “The author combines his erudition with an excellent political imagination. He writes well, clearly and has a nice wit.”-The Sunday Times (London) “An atmospheric thriller . . . furious pacing.”-Booklist “An elegant rapid-fire spy story.”-The Virginian-Pilot “Compulsive reading.”-The Sunday Telegraph (London) By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent over a decade in Berlin, where his son lives with his mother. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as World War II approaches, he faces having to leave his son as well as his girlfriend of several years, a beautiful German starlet. When an acquaintance from his old communist days approaches him to do some work for the Soviets, Russell is reluctant, but he is unable to resist the offer. He becomes involved in other dangerous activities, helping a Jewish family and a determined young American reporter. When the British and the Nazis notice his involvement with the Soviets, Russell is dragged into the murky world of warring intelligence services. David Downing grew up in suburban London and is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction for adults and children, including The Moscow Option, Russian Revolution 1985, and The Red Eagles. He lives with his wife, an American acupuncturist, in Guildford, England. From the Hardcover edition.