Charles Cumming made his first appearance on the program recently when he called in to our studios from London, England. I was somewhat embarrassed to admit to Charles that I had not been aware of him before reading his latest spy novel, "The Moroccan Girl." Now I have some catching up to do; Charles has been penning novels for some time and has amassed an impressive body of work.
The author had some fun with this story. One captivating aspect of espionage novels and the people who create them is the linkage between spy novelists and actual spying. Some spy novelists became writers after they were employed as spies. Others were recruited to become spies while they were writing fiction about espionage and their writing careers provided excellent cover for their spy-craft.
In "The Moroccan Girl" our protagonist is an espionage novelist who is recruited to go on a spy mission in Morocco. As he is being recruited to do some spying while he is attending a book festival he is thrilled. Eventually he realizes that nothing in the spy business is clear cut, and he's gotten himself into a rather tricky situation.
In this interview the author describes his own experience with recruiters for spy agencies and how that lucky circumstance placed him on the path to becoming an espionage novelist.
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