The SpyMasters Book Prize
About the Prize
At SpyMasters, we love spy books. We love to read espionage books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as champion the genre and its authors.
And so it is with great pleasure that we announce the inaugural SpyMasters Book Prize.
The award is open to any spy novel, published in hardback or paperback, in 2024. We will accept both historical and modern spy thrillers. The deadline to enter is April 30th 2025.
A cash prize of £500 will be awarded to the winning author. We will also interview the winner on the SpyMasters podcast.
A longlist of twenty titles will be announced on 1st June 2025.
A shortlist of six titles will then be announced on 18th August 2025.
The winner will be announced at a special prize-giving event on the evening of 3rd September.
Longlist
Spy Hunter by HB Lyle
The Old Fox by Robert Perkins
Paying in Blood by Karen Haden
Committed by Chris Merritt
Second Skin by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
The King Street Affair by Jon Sealy
Shadow of Poison by Peter Tonkin
The Borodino Sacrifice by Paul Phillips
Out in the Cold by Steve Urszenyi
Soldier Spy by Rosemary Hayes
The Violin & the Candlestick by David Jarvis
Mr Campion’s Christmas by Mike Ripley
Honour Among Spies by Merle Nygate
The Peacock and the Sparrow by IS Berry
Foxtrot Mike Lima by Cat Connor
Operation Nightfall by Karl Wegener
Death of a Princess by R.N.Morris
With Prejudice by Roger Price
Midnight in Vienna by Jane Thynne
Found by Will Erikson
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
Shortlist
The Peacock and the Sparrow by IS Berry
Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd
Spy Hunter by HB Lyle
Honour Among Spies by Merle Nygate
Midnight in Vienna by Jane Thynne
Shadow of Poison by Peter Tonkin
The Judges
Paul Burke
Paul writes for Crime Time, Crime Fiction Lover and the European Literature Network, Punk Noir Magazine (fiction). He is also a CWA Historical Dagger Judge 2024. His first book An Encyclopedia of Spy Fiction will be out in late 2025.
Antonia Senior
Antonia is the host of the SpyMasters podcast and historical fiction reviewer for The Times. Antonia is now working on her first non-fiction book, about the Cambridge Five spy ring.
Thomas Waugh
Thomas Waugh is a spy writer and the author of the Daniel Ambler spy thrillers. Duty Calls is the first in the series, published by Sharpe Books.
Shane Whaley
Shane is host of the Spybrary Podcast, is a seasoned podcaster and a fervent enthusiast of spy books and espionage history.
Oliver Webb-Carter
Oliver is co-founder and editor of Aspects of History magazine and hosts the Aspects of History podcast.
Zebedee Baker-Smith
Zeb is a freelance journalist and Books Editor at Aspects of History.
