(Ian Fleming changed this to “M” in the James Bond novels.) Ferguson’s book describes in brilliant detail the eccentric warren of tiny offices in the attics of London’s Whitehall where C’s secret service was tucked away during World War I, as its agents, mostly ex-military men, scattered across Europe to risk absolutely everything to find out what German Kaiser was planning, and stop him. He was known to all as “C”, and every subsequent head of MI6 has been called “C” in his honor. Having lost his leg in a car accident, he had a wooden prosthetic that he would stab unexpectedly with a knife during meetings to unnerve people. Cumming is an unforgettable character – the great-great grandson of the founder of the East India Company, he was born to wealth and prone to florid demands and temperamental rages. This extraordinary book rockets through the founding of Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) by Mansfield Smith-Cumming in the early years of the 20 th century.

Here are my favorite, stranger than fiction, utterly gripping, non-fiction books about real spies.

Girl spy party ideas