Join Spies and Books, Spybrary host Shane Whaley as he finds outs more about the traitor Robert Hanssen in this interview with author Lis Wiehl

New York Times bestselling author and former federal prosecutor Lis Wiehl delivers a behind-the-scenes account of how FBI agent Robert Hanssen, a church-going father of five, sold national security secrets to Russia for more than two decades--and how America's current political climate makes it still possible today. Three years into his career as an FBI agent, Robert Hanssen made the shocking decision to volunteer as a spy for the Soviet Union, beginning two decades of espionage that the Department of Justice considers "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in US history."

Drawing upon deep archival research and exclusive personal interviews--including unique access to FBI and CIA agents and Hanssen's friends and family--former federal prosecutor and Fox News legal analyst Lis Wiehl has written a propulsive, page-turning thriller detailing how this unassuming father of five, a devout Catholic and member of Opus Dei, got away with sharing highly classified information with Russia, including the names of FBI operatives within the KGB and details about America's military weapons operations.

When FBI agents--with help from an ex-KGB officer--arrested Hanssen in 2001, the resulting investigations laid bare the weaknesses in the FBI's internal security. In her careful analysis, Wiehl uncovers surprising reasons behind Hanssen's devastating acts of betrayal and sheds light on the very real possibility of another mole in operation today, particularly given our current social and political climate.

In this conversation with Spybrary host Shane Whaley, award-winning spy author Dan Fesperman reveals more about the real-life espionage events that inspired his latest novel, set in Berlin 1990, Winter Work. The Berlin Wall has fallen and in the ensuing power vacuum, a former Stasi officer and a CIA agent must fight for their lives. On a chilly early morning walk on the wooded outskirts of Berlin, Emil Grimm finds the body of his neighbor, a fellow Stasi officer named Lothar, with a gunshot wound to the temple and a pistol in his right hand. Despite appearances, Emil suspects murder. If it were a few months earlier, he would have known just what to do. But now, as East Germany disintegrates, being a Stasi colonel is more of a liability than an asset. More troubling still is that Emil and Lothar were actively involved in a final clandestine mission. Now Emil must finish the job alone and on uncertain ground where old alliances seem to be shifting by the day. Meanwhile, CIA agent Claire Saylor is sent to Berlin to contact a ranking Stasi officer, although details of her mission are suspiciously sketchy and her superior seems to have a hidden agenda. When her first rendezvous goes dangerously awry, she realizes the mission is far more delicate than she has been led to believe. With the rules of the game-changing quickly, and as their two missions intersect, Emil and Claire find themselves on unlikely common ground, fighting for their lives against a powerful enemy lurking in the shadows.

Listen in to our first ever live episode of Spybrary. A panel to discuss Tim Shipman's list of the best 125 spy writers. Tim reveals more about his method and criteria for selecting this monster list of spy authors. Joining us are Professor Penny Fielding, author and critic Jeremy Duns, spy blogger Matthew Bradford, and John le Carre book collector Steven Ritterman to run the rule over Tim's pick of the best spy writers. You can find the list and watch the live stream at www.spybrary.com/timslist

Spybrary field agent Erich Wagner slipped us this brush pass review of the nonfiction spy book The Spy Who Changed History by Svetlana Lokhova

Erich tells us that the book will especially appeal to those of us with an interest in pre cold war Soviet deep cover espionage.

More about the book:

On the trail of Soviet infiltrator Stanislav Shumovsky, codenamed Agent BLÉRIOT, Svetlana Lokhova takes the reader on a thrilling journey through Stalin’s most audacious intelligence operation. On a sunny September day in 1931, Soviet spy Stanislav Shumovsky walked down the gangplank of the SS Europa and into New York, concealed in a group of 65 Soviet students. Joseph Stalin had sent him to acquire American secrets to help close the USSR’s yawning technology gap, and the road to victory began in the classrooms and laboratories of MIT. Using information gleaned from this mission, the USSR first transformed itself into a military powerhouse able to defeat Nazi Germany. Then in 1947, American innovation exfiltrated by Shumovsky made it possible to build and unveil the most advanced strategic bomber in the world. Later , other MIT-trained Soviet spies would go on to acquire the secrets of the Manhattan Project. In this thrilling history, Svetlana Lokhova takes the reader on a journey through Stalin’s most audacious intelligence operation, piecing together every aspect of Shumovsky’s life and character using information derived from American and Russian archives.

Shane shares a quick announcement on upcoming episodes and explains why there has been a lull in episodes of late.

James Bond fan and Spybrary's Head of Station SA, Matt Raubenheimer gives us his spoiler-free thoughts on the latest James Bond 007 novel With A Mind To A Kill written by Anthony Horowitz.

It is M's funeral. One man is missing from the graveside: the traitor who pulled the trigger and who is now in custody, accused of M's murder - James Bond.

Behind the Iron Curtain, a group of former Smersh agents want to use the British spy in an operation that will change the balance of world power. Bond is smuggled into the lion's den - but whose orders is he following, and will he obey them when the moment of truth arrives?

In a mission where treachery is all around and one false move means death, Bond must grapple with the darkest questions about himself. But not even he knows what has happened to the man he used to be.

Follow Matt on Twitter for more 007 tweets.

Shane Whaley delivers a brush pass review on Agent in Berlin by Alex Gerlis

To live among wolves, first, you must become one... An unmissable new spy thriller from best-selling master of the genre, Alex Gerlis.

War is coming to Europe.

British spymaster Barnaby Allen begins recruiting a network of agents in Germany. With diplomatic relations quickly unravelling, this pack of spies soon comes into their own: the horse-loving German at home in Berlin's underground; the young American sports journalist; the mysterious Luftwaffe officer; the Japanese diplomat and the most unlikely one of all... the SS officer's wife.

Despite constant danger and the ever-present threats of discovery and betrayal, Allen's network unearths top-secret plans for a new German fighter plane - and a truly devastating intelligence prize... an audacious Japanese plan to attack the United States. But can they prove it?

The race is on.

This week, Spywrite's Jeff Quest welcomes Otto Penzler to the show. Otto shares stories from his many years of collecting books and meeting spy fiction authors.

You’ll hear stories about Eric Ambler, Charles McCarry, John le Carré and many more. , 

Plus, hear about his meeting with Len Deighton, how Ross Thomas nearly lost out on a million dollars, and a shocking revelation about a piece by Quiller writer Adam Hall.

The year is 1957 and our guests share their thoughts on the latest James Bond novel From Russia With Love written by Ian Fleming.

On April 8th, Amazon releases the movie adaptation of Olen Steinhauer's All the Old Knives. In today's episode, two of our most knowledgable spy movie experts and Spybrary agents Matthew Bradford and Jack Lescamela chat with author and screenwriter Olen Steinhauer and the director of All The Old Knives, Janus Metz.

Hello, and welcome to episode 181 of the Spybrary podcast. Today, I'm delighted to serve you an absolute treat a couple of weeks ago, we received an email from the PR folks over at Amazon Prime asking us if we had any interest in a conversation with author and screenwriter, Oen Steinhauer. Many of, you will know Olen from his previous works, the Tourist series of books or maybe you know him from the hit spy tv series Berlin Station?

There's a new movie about to hit Amazon prime, which is an adaptation of Olen Steinhauer's book, All the Old Knives. I know that there are many of you in the Spybrary community who are big fans of that book and are excited for the movie. Not only did the PR team offer us an interview with Olen Steinhauer, but also with the All the Old Knives Director Janus Metz.

I thought to myself, I've got to get the big boys on this. I've got to call the real experienced agents that really know their spy movies and TV. So I called upon Our Men in Hollywood. Many of you know them from our Spybrary community. That's Matthew Bradford and Jack Lescamela. And I called him and said, I've got a job for you.

So today we bring you that conversation that Our Menn in Hollywood had with Olen Steinhauer and Janus Metz. It's a wide-ranging conversation. They touch on a ton of different topics, Jack and Matthew really knock it out of the park for us here.

It's a fascinating conversation that I just know you're gonna enjoy. Just a couple of words of warning, Janus used a couple of F words. So if you're in the car with the kids, or maybe your husband, doesn't like bad language, whatever it may be. He throws me in quite quickly. I couldn't quite edit them out and I didn't want to bleep them, because I just felt that would detract from the conversation. So just a heads up on that. After the conversation, do stick around for, a bit of post-show. Matthew and Jack have a conversation about their interview about All the Old Knives and more with Olen Steinhauer and Janus Metz