Spy Humor

In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself—quite convincingly—as a nun. In another, an invitation to join the Vatican Secret Service sends a prospective operative down a rabbit hole of controversy and confusion. A third story finds an author, on the brink of public ruin, seeing the error of his ways after an act of kindness saves the day.

Most Sinful residents are unaware of Carter’s crisis and are going about their daily lives as they always have, including local prankster Gage Babin. Except this time, Gage’s attempt to elicit laughs leaves him on a slab in the medical examiner’s office. Everyone knows how unhealthy he was, but Fortune thinks there’s more to his death than a poorly timed prank that caused his bad heart to give out.

In a renovated Gothic church on Long Island lives Jonathan Hemlock, an art professor and a world-renowned mountain climber who finances his black-market art collection by working as a freelance assassin. Now, Hemlock is being tricked into a hazardous assignment that involves an attempt to scale one of the most treacherous mountain peaks in the Swiss Alps: the Eiger. His target is one of his three fellow climbers. The problem is that the CII can't tell him which one.

How far would you go, to save the ones you love? Kiku’s quest to rescue her lover has gone disastrously wrong. With the odds stacked against her, her enemies think she’ll run and hide to save herself. They’re wrong—dead wrong. Kiku decides to take the fight to them instead. Now the hunter, Kiku, will stop at nothing to protect those she loves. WARNING: If you have plans, cancel them! You won’t be able to stop reading, so get ready to strap in, buckle up, and hang on for an action-thrill ride of your life! Award-winning, Wall Street Journal bestselling author Christopher Greyson ...

Pete the cat can't actually talk to his owner, Alex, but he's a crime-solving cat, and he knows when things aren't right. And now, Pete knows something is wrong. Someone's been breaking into houses in the neighborhood, and they're not just stealing people's property—they're kidnapping pets! When the burglars come to Alex's house, they nab Pete! Lucky for Pete, Alex's brother, Benjie, comes to the rescue, but gets himself kidnapped by the thieves. Can Pete and Alex uncover the clues and rescue Benjie?

In the fourth book in the New York Times bestselling Spy School series, Ben Ripley enrolls in ski school, where the slopes, and the stakes, get really steep. Thirteen-year-old Ben Ripley is not exactly the best student spy school has ever seen—he keeps flunking Advanced Self Preservation. But...

A captivating spy story, brimming with more twists and turns than a Golden Ager’s hula-hoop convention, Hornett’s debut comedy novel introduces the world to Britain's latest, and most endearing, special agent, Maggie Matheson. Fans of Richard Osman's Murder Club books and The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson will simply love this book. “A laugh-out-loud spy thriller with a twist. Maggie is a thumping good story which keeps you guessing to the end” “Hilarious... you’ll fall in love with eccentric Maggie in minutes..." “Maggie ...

It’s a murder mystery on the moon in this humorous and suspenseful space adventure from the author of Belly Up and Spy School that The New York Times Book Review called “a delightful and brilliantly constructed middle grade thriller.” Like his fellow lunarnauts—otherwise known as...

At Sunny Meadows Retirement Estate, nothing exciting ever happens. The tea is lukewarm. The walls are aggressively beige. And Bingo is mandatory. So when Arthur Penhaligon—quiet resident, forgotten accountant, presumed harmless—notices that the Bingo numbers aren’t random, no one pays attention. No one, that is, except the people who were counting on him not to notice. Because Arthur isn’t just another retiree. He’s a former intelligence analyst whose mind was chemically dulled for a reason. And the Bingo game? It isn’t a game at all—it’s a coded broadcast using a Cold War ...

Teddy Fitzroy’s back for another zoo mystery—this time it’s a koala caper—in this action-packed follow-up to Belly Up that School Library Journal called a “whopper of a whodunit that delivers plenty of suspects, action, slapstick, gross bodily functions, red herrings, and animal trivia...

Dealing with Europe is never easy It's Paris 1919 and the Peace Conference following the end of the Great War is proving anything but peaceful. In fact, it can be murder... A French Diplomat has been murdered. When the chief suspect turns out to be the girlfriend of Aldric 'Spunky' Stephens, Kit Aston is called in to investigate. The investigation becomes a race against time as Europe faces a deadly new enemy, intent on dragging it back into the carnage from which it has just escaped. The Kit Aston mysteries mix real life historical characters and events with crime thrillers full of red ...

When you wound an angel, you unleash a demon. It was supposed to be a simple assignment, get a DNA sample from a young boy, but it turns into a deadly trap. With a price on the boy’s head and a target on her back, Kiku must not only shield him from the ruthless Russian mafia but also from a traitor within the Yakuza itself. Torn between love and honor, duty and scorn, Kiku must decide where her loyalties lie before it’s too late. WARNING: If you have plans, cancel them! You won’t be able to stop reading, so get ready to strap in, buckle up, and hang on for an action-thrill ride of ...

London, 2044. Britain is a republic. President Jan Polak has vanished overnight from Buckingham Palace, just weeks before an election. Has he been kidnapped? Or even killed? One man is determined to find out - as soon as he's had his breakfast. His name is Pond. Howie Pond - the president's official spokesperson and wannabe secret agent. With just a love of James Bond films to guide him, Howie sets out on a mission to solve the missing-president mystery.

Enjoy this compelling spy thriller series with loveable guy and girl next door characters. A madman seizes power in China ...and only America can stop him. In this blockbuster novel of first love and last resorts, the CIA must assemble an unlikely team of young scientists and pilots to infiltrate the Middle Kingdom and take down the ruthless megalomaniac who has set his sights on America. Join forces with America’s next hero as he uses his powers of deduction and iron will to overcome all odds, save his girl, and rescue a grateful nation. Termed “iconoclastic” and “an epic adventure...

72 HOURS AGO, A RUSSIAN NUCLEAR SUBMARINE WENT DARK. 24 HOURS AGO, ITS WEAPONS OFFICER DEFECTED. 1 HOUR AGO, THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK TICKED TO ZERO HOUR. When ex-SBS operative Stirling Hunt executes a retired Russian admiral in a Sicilian hotel, he thinks it's a clean kill. The flash drive in the dead man's pocket says otherwise. Stolen nuclear warheads. An Arctic launch site. An ideological billionaire with a plan to reset the world order. One shot. One target. One chance to stop Armageddon. With ex-Delta assassins hunting him and his own handler trying to burn him, Hunt races from Sicily to ...

A New York Times bestselling series. Tensions are running high when multi-billionaire Lars Sjoburg is poisoned and everyone is looking to Dash Gibson to solve the case in this third and final book in the New York Times bestselling Moon Base Alpha series. Moon Base Alpha was supposed to be an...

This thrilling steampunk novel set in the same world as the New York Times bestselling Parasol Protectorate is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor that Gail Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore. Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia...

Right place. Wrong person. After a case of mistaken identity, one woman must work with her sister’s sexy spy partner to save the world in this heart-pounding romantic comedy. The first thing to know about Dove Barkley is that, even though she works as a cyber security analyst, she is one...

The precious Crown Jewels have been stolen, and there's only one person who can help the Queen: her newest secret agent, Mac B. To help her, he must travel around the globe in search of the stolen treasure...but will he find it in time? From secret identities to Karate hijinks, this fast-paced, witty, and historically inspired chapter book will keep listeners guessing. With fascinating historical facts masterfully sprinkled throughout, the first entry in this series offers adventure, intrigue, absurdity, and humor.

Joe Spork repairs clocks, a far cry from his late father, a flashy London gangster. But when Joe fixes one particularly unusual device, his life is suddenly upended. Joe's client, Edie Banister, is more than just a kindly old lady - she's a former superspy. And the device? It's a 1950s doomsday machine. And having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the government and a diabolical South Asian dictator, Edie's old arch-nemesis.