Welcome to Episode 176 of the Spybrary Spy Book podcast.

Spywrite's Jeff Quest speaks to author Alma Katsu, formerly with the NSA and CIA. Katsu's latest book, Red Widow, follows a CIA mole hunt. It's been optioned for television and is out in paperback on March 1st.

They discuss switching from NSA to CIA and back again, the explosive growth of social media and its effect on espionage, and the unique challenges women face in government bureaucracies. Plus, we talk a bit about some of the things Hollywood gets wrong about spies. All that and more in this episode of Spybrary.

Red Widow is 'An exhilarating spy thriller about two women CIA agents who become intertwined around a threat to the Russia Division–one that's coming from inside the agency.'