What's New
The last ten major changes to the site.
- 02/01/2023 - As we start February in this still new (for me) year, I present for membership in this compendium a comic strip action series from 1966. It lasted only a bit over 4 years but it did give us over two dozen adventures, some of which I present here. is a private eye company specializing in finding missing persons. To accomplish this, they go wherever in the world they need to and get involved in all sorts of exciting and interesting matters. The two main characters are Susanne Dove and Jacob Benedick, a pair of operatives who have been compared to Steed/Peel and Blaise/Garvin. There are mior similarities, I grant you - especially Dove with Modesty Blaise - but they are not would-be clones and are fun to read. Too bad most of the strips remain elusive for me.
- 01/31/2023 - A 15-episode (thankfully very, very short ones) series with a goofy idea from 1966 joins the compendium today. The idea? Let the secret agent have a super power learned in Tibet (where else? With all the power coming out of there, why is it not independent?) In this fellow's case, it was to have an independent shadow that had lots of cool abilities. was the name of the series. Richard Vance was the man who went by that covername.
- 01/29/2023 - I did not know until a few months ago that - or kinda knew but never realized - that a major character in the Sean Dillon series had been active for some time before Dillon came onto the scene. As a result, he deserves his own page. Ergo, , a Brigadier in the British Army (retired) and a crafty old spymaster, becomes a member in this compendium at last. Oh, that realization came about because a fellow spy fan pointed it out - there was no personal epiphany in play here.
- 01/27/2023 - For many years I have seen blurbs about various spy series indicating that their hero is 'Better Than Bond'. Great promotion which is never fulfilled. The series entering the compendium today is slightly different in that it is "Bond With Fangs". That was a new one and a lot closer to being try than those other guys. The name of the series is as odd as the actual series -- -- but not as much fun as, weirdo that I am, I enjoyed the heck out of this series.
- 01/25/2023 - A decade ago, a very, very short series (2 short stories later collected in one very short book) was released, billed as "sexy spy adventures". was the name of the operative who was apparently (I didn't see it but then again, I'm a guy) was irresistible to women. "Bad girls beware. Ty Haringa's on the prowl" is the tag line. I did not think much of this series so my tag line is "Readers beware".
- 01/23/2023 - For today's entrant into the compendium, we are popping across the Atlantic and back just shy of 100 years. Harry Davies is the name of the British Secret Service agent we meet in this collection of books and short stories that the author, George E. Rochester, released over the course of twenty years. However, you might know him better as .
- 01/21/2023 - Five entries ago I added a nonsensical graphic spy series from Britain from 1974 with the very truthful, though decided opinionated, 'Spy school be stupid'. That one was. This one added today, deserves 'Spy School be fun'. This is a three-book series meant for kids 9-12 years old and hits that mark pretty well. It deals with two kids who attend a prestigious spy school and learn all sorts of very useful skillsets, assuming you plan to become a professional field operative later in life. Cute and fun series for children.
- 01/19/2023 - Not too long ago I learned that the incredible writer of thrillers and crime novels, John D. MacDonald, had penned very early in his career a couple of short stories about a new guy in the spy business named . Searching the web I came upon the terrific site superbly produced by Steve Smith. I contacted him to learn more about the two tales and he was awesome to provide me for review purposes his private scans, with the proviso that I not share them (Thank you so much for that, Steve). Reading them - and loving what I was reading - I can see how they would be considered not up to what the master storyteller would soon be producing but, my goodness!, his beginner work is still so terrific it deserves praise. MacDonald wrote right after the second one was finished that he was done with series work so there were never any new stories about this fellow. That is a shame - except that freed the man to produce the awesome work that he did, including the one-and-only Travis McGee.
- 01/17/2023 - There are three pretty exciting and well written adventures in the series being added today to the compendium. The author is Michal A. Richards and he writes about a CIA agent who wants to be an ex- but the Agency doesn't so ... is the fellow's name. I think you should check him out.
- 01/15/2023 - Originally published in a dozen entertaining tales in Cosmopolitan monthly from August 1932 to July 1933 are the adventures of a fascinating black woman named taking place during the Civil War. She was of mixed blood and could at times pass as white speaking as a Southern belle might and at other times easily be believed to be a simple washing maid slave. She did this routinely as she spied on the Confederate forces on behalf of the Union. There was even a main-stream movie made of her tales, starring the delicious Marion Davies and Gary Cooper.
More
What's New!
SPY FICTION!
Say the word SPY to most people and they will respond with James Bond,
with good reason as he is the best known of all fictional spies. With 20+ blockbuster movies over the last 40+ years,
along with the standard movie hype, virtually the entire world knows about 007 and his License To Kill.
Of course, James Bond is by no means the only spy in the world of fiction, just the best known. Who are the rest?
Who has his or her own license to kill, thrill, or chill. How do these agents stack up against each other? Who would
you want beside you in a car chase, in a knife fight, in a dark alley, or beneath the covers?
This site is dedicated to the many, many men and women who, at least in fiction, have defended our freedoms against all forms of enemies, foreign and domestic. Well, granted a few of them were just in it for the money and many were only after the excitement, and sex played a huge role in the motivation of more than a few. But still, their actions helped not only preserve our way of life (on paper) but also brought us, the readers, many hours of escapism and vicarious pleasure.
So, who are these people that I have slaved so diligently to present to you? They are the men and women of spy-fi about whom there is a series. Single-book characters need not apply. There has to be at least two books. Two's the minimum but the more the merrier.
Moreover, I have confined membership to the English language. If it wasn't put into English so I can read it, I haven't worried about it.
Each spy has his or her own page. Click on the "Characters" button to go to a listing page. Click on the letter the
character's last name starts with (or a more common moniker like "Death Merchant" if appropriate). That will take one
step further into the labrynth. Finally, select the character's name from the list and, voila!
Have fun!!