Most Popular Books by Eric Ambler

When Josef Vadassy arrives at the Hotel de la Reserve at the end of his Riviera holiday, he is simply looking forward to a few more days of relaxation before returning to Paris. But in St. Gatien, on the eve of World War II, everyone is suspect–the American brother and sister, the expatriate Brits, and the German gentleman traveling under at least one assumed name. When the film he drops off at the chemist reveals photographs he has not taken, Vadassy finds himself the object of intense suspicion. The result is anything but the rest he had been hoping for.

Nicky Marlow needs a job. He’s engaged to be married and the employment market is pretty slim in Britain in 1937. So when his fiancé points out the Spartacus Machine Tool notice, he jumps at the chance. After all, he speaks Italian and he figures he’ll be able to endure Milan for a year, long enough to save some money. Soon after he arrives, however, he learns the sinister truth of his predecessor’s death and finds himself courted by two agents with dangerously different agendas. In the process, Marlow realizes it’s not so simple to just do the job he’s paid to do in fascist Italy on the eve of a world war.

The renowned thriller author turns his attention to true crime—while also taking shots at spies, Hollywood writers, and other subjects—in this collection of essays. Known for timeless thrillers including Epitaph for a Spy and Journey into Fear, Eric Ambler was a keen observer of rogues and rule-breakers of all kinds. In The Ability to Kill, he delves into some of the most intriguing and disturbing criminal cases of the last few hundred years. These include nineteenth-century Edinburgh’s Burke and Hare, who supplied a medical school with ill-gotten cadavers; Victorian London’s infamous Jack the Ripper; the Frenchman Henri Désiré Landru, an early twentieth-century serial killer; and the Californian doctor Bernard Finch and his lover Carole Tregoff, who conspired to murder his wife in 1961. Rounding out the collection are a few pieces on lighter topics such as spies and how to spot them, and novelists in Hollywood. Though his subjects are often grim, Ambler’s deft touch makes this examination of homicide and other matters a pure pleasure to read.

In this international thriller from the author of Epitaph for a Spy, a freelance writer is offered a deadly job he can’t refuse. Robert Halliday is an ordinary writer-for-hire until he receives a bomb threat in the mail. When the bomb arrives as promised, it is accompanied by an offer of employment from international fixer Karliss Zander. Unless Halliday agrees to help him edit the memoirs of a nineteenth-century Russian terrorist, Zander will detonate the bomb. Preferring not to test Zander’s resolve, Halliday takes the job. But he soon discovers his new employer requires more than his eye for grammar and punctuation. Tangled in an international web of danger, Halliday begins to wonder if he’d have been better off letting the bomb explode.

The Light of Day was the basis for Jules Dassin’s classic film, Topkapi. When Arthur Abdel Simpson first spots Harper in the Athens airport, he recognizes him as a tourist unfamiliar with city and in need of a private driver. In other words, the perfect mark for Simpson’s brand of entrepreneurship. But Harper proves to be more the spider than the fly when he catches Simpson riffling his wallet for traveler’s checks. Soon Simpson finds himself blackmailed into driving a suspicious car across the Turkish border. Then, when he is caught again, this time by the police, he faces a choice: cooperate with the Turks and spy on his erstwhile colleagues or end up in one of Turkey’s notorious prisons. The authorities suspect an attempted coup, but Harper and his gang of international jewel thieves have planned something both less sinister and much, much more audacious.

In his Edgar Award–winning autobiography, the “father of the modern crime thriller” reveals the eventful life that inspired his classic works (CrimeReads). Eric Ambler’s Here Lies invites readers inside the mind of one of the twentieth century’s greatest thriller writers. In this work the famously recalcitrant author peels back the layers of experience that affected his life with the same skill he uses to unfold the plots of his novels. Ambler candidly describes his South London childhood; his brief engineering career, which he gave up to work in theater; and his time as an advertising copywriter. He details the publication of his revolutionary spy novels in the 1930s and ’40s, including such early classics as A Coffin for Dimitrios and Journey into Fear. He also tells of his service in the film division of the British War Office during World War II, which allowed him to write his first screenplays; and his postwar renown as the leading writer in the genre on both sides of the Atlantic.

In this classic thriller, two American tourists find more adventure than they bargained for when they get involved with Chinese gun smugglers and Muslim revolutionaries, learning first hand about the intrigue of the post-colonial world. Greg and Dorothy Nilsen had wanted to go on an adventurous trip, see some of the more out-of-the-way places. But the cruise they were on was turning out to be a bore. So when the gracious Mr. Tan requests that Greg take a side trip to Singapore to resolve a bureaucratic detail involving a consignment of small arms, Greg is surprisingly receptive. All he has to do is sign some papers, he’s told, and he’ll be paid a handsome fee. And everything does go smoothly, until it comes to getting a check co-signed by the rebel leader…

Waiting for Orders collects nine short stories that span the sixty-year career of master spy novelist Eric Ambler. The stories include thrilling portrayals of wartime Europe in “The Army of the Shadows” (1939); six cases featuring a refugee Czech detective, Dr. Czissar (1940); “The Blood Bargain” (1972), a Central American political thriller; and “The One Who Did for Blagden Cole” (1992), a detective story of sorts about the death of a painter. In four accompanying essays, Ambler shares intriguing anecdotes from different phases of his career, offering unique insight into his writing process. This intriguing and varied collection is a perfect introduction to the life and writing of one of the twentieth century’s greatest thriller writers.

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE''S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • The classic story of an ordinary man seemingly out of his depth, this is Ambler''s most widely acclaimed novel, "one of the masterpieces of the genre" (The New York Times Book Review). A chance encounter with a Turkish colonel leads Charles Latimer, the author of a handful of successful mysteries, into a world of sinister political and criminal maneuvers. At first merely curious to reconstruct the career of the notorious Dimitrios, whose body has been identified in an Istanbul morgue, Latimer soon finds himself caught up in a shadowy web of assassination, espionage, drugs, and treachery that spans the Balkans.

A thrilling, intense, and masterfully plotted classic suspense tale from one of the founders of the genre. Returning to his hotel room after a late-night flirtation with a cabaret dancer at an Istanbul boîte, Graham is surprised by an intruder with a gun. What follows is a nightmare of intrigue for the English armaments engineer as he makes his way home aboard an Italian freighter. Among the passengers are a couple of Nazi assassins intent on preventing his returning to England with plans for a Turkish defense system, the seductive cabaret dancer and her manager husband, and a number of surprising allies.

Dr. Frigo is a change of scene for acclaimed spy thriller writer Eric Ambler, moving from the European theater to an equally intriguing Caribbean political stage. Dr. Ernesto Castillo has shunned politics and shut himself off from the world since his father, a Central American leader, was assassinated years ago. In fact his cool, detached demeanor has earned him the nickname Dr. Frigo. The doctor is more than content to live quietly on a small island, keeping busy with his practice and his mistress . . . but now his late father’s political party comes calling. Its rising leader, Manuel Villegas, hopes to put Dr. Castillo to work as his physician and as a rallying figure for the elder Castillo’s supporters, who are still numerous and necessary to help Villegas win power in a planned coup. Ignoring the advice of his mistress, whose marriage to a French intelligence officer made her an expert player of political games, the doctor unwisely stumbles his way forward, risking his profession—and then his life.

All in all Steve Fraser had enjoyed his three-year stint in the former Dutch Southeast Asian colony of Sunda, and he’d been well compensated. But now he was looking forward to a last weekend in the capital before heading home. But Sunda was newly independent, and not entirely stable. An opposition faction with fundamentalist Islamic leanings was set on overthrowing the provisional government. And instead of enjoying a sybaritic weekend with the Eurasian beauty Rosalie, Fraser finds himself trapped with her by a fanatical group who’ve taken over the country’s radio station and made their headquarters in his friend Jebb’s apartment. As the government launches a counterattack, the couple’s survival depends on their ability to dodge bullets and the shifting loyalties of the coup’s lieutenants.

Foster’s dramatic skill is well-known in London’s West End theaters. So perhaps it wasn’t so surprising when he was hired by an American newspaper publisher to cover the trial of Yordan Delchev for treason. Accused of membership in the sinister Officer Corps Brotherhood and of masterminding a plot to assassinate his country’s leader, Delchev may in fact be a pawn and his trial all show. But when Foster meets Madame Delchev, the accused’s powerful wife, he suddenly become enmeshed in more life-threatening intrigue than he could have imagined.

Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award Syria, 1970. Michael Howell has kept his family’s Middle Eastern business enterprises going through a decade of takeovers, war, and revolution, thanks in part to his office manager, Teresa, who is also his mistress. One late night at the office, they discover men working overtime—producing unauthorized bombs for the Palestine Action Force. Worse, this guerrilla terrorist group is not deterred by their discovery—rather, they will enlist Howell and Teresa’s unwilling help in carrying out their plan.

A battle of criminal minds leads to deadly attacks in the Gold Dagger Award–winning author’s thriller of “cerebral twists and sophisticated wit” (Time). In the parlance of criminology, an “Able Criminal” is one who flies below the radar of crime syndicates and law enforcement alike. Employing no discernable pattern or method, he is virtually uncatchable—but that won’t stop criminologist Frits Krom from trying. Krom believes that Paul Firman, the director of an ostensibly legitimate international investment firm, is a textbook “Able Criminal.” Surprisingly, Firman has agreed to an interview with Krom at his secluded villa on the French Riviera. But amid their barbed exchanges, it becomes clear that the host and his guest are under siege by a third party, one whose motives and violent intentions are unclear. Now, criminal and criminologist will have to join forces in order to survive . . . Send No More Roses was previously published under the title The Siege of the Villa Lapp.

Kenton''s career as a journalist depended on his facility with languages, his knowledge of European politics, and his quick judgment. Where his judgment sometimes failed him was in his personal life. When he finds himself on a train bound for Austria with insufficient funds after a bad night of gambling, he jumps at the chance to earn a fee to help a refugee smuggle securities across the border. He soon discovers that the documents he holds have a more than monetary value, and that European politics has more twists and turns than the most convoluted newspaper account.

Peter Ackland is ordered to rest by his Doctor. He travels to Cornwall and is greeted by Henry Braddock, who has a revolver in his pocket. Ackland also comes across other characters who try their hand at blackmail, and a stage that is all set for murder.

The Dark Frontier launched Eric Ambler’s five-decade career as one of the most influential thriller writers of our time. England, 1935. Physicist Henry Barstow is on holiday when he meets the mysterious Simon Groom, a representative for an armaments manufacturer. Groom invites the professor to Ixania, a small nation-state in Eastern Europe whose growing weapons program threatens to destabilize the region. Only after suffering a blow to the head—which muddles his brain into believing he is Conway Carruthers, international spy—does the mild-mannered physicist agree to visit Ixania. But he quickly recognizes that Groom has a more sinister agenda, and Carruthers is the only man who can stop him.

English crime novelist Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when he makes the acquaintance of Turkish police inspector Colonel Haki. It is from him that he first hears of the mysterious Dimitrios – an infamous master criminal, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus. Fascinated by the story, Latimer decides to retrace Dimitrios’ steps across Europe to gather material for a new book. But, as he gradually discovers more about his subject’s shadowy history, fascination tips over into obsession. And, in entering Dimitrios’ criminal underworld, Latimer realizes that his own life may be on the line.

Eric Ambler is at the top of his form with A Kind of Anger, which expertly combines a satire of paparazzi-driven media culture with a classic espionage tale filled with breathless suspense. Six weeks ago, Lucia Bernardi fled the Swiss villa where her lover was murdered—and then she vanished. No one can find her: Not the police, who want her for murder; not the tabloids, who want her for her story; nor the real killers, who desperately want the papers she spirited away from the scene of the crime. Disgraced reporter Piet Maas stumbles upon Lucia, in hiding in the south of France. There he must decide whether to publish her story—reviving his career but guaranteeing her death—or to join in her perilous extortion scheme, and risk both their lives for the promise of profit.

Desperate for a country to call home, a stateless exile turns soldier of fortune in this Edgar Award–winning author’s international thriller. Eric Ambler first introduced readers to Arthur Abdel Simpson in The Light of Day. Simpson, whose English father and Egyptian mother left him with uncertain citizenship, took part in a daring Istanbul robbery before heading back to Greece on a temporary travel permit. But now he faces the prospect of becoming a noncitizen of any country. Frantic to beg, steal, or forge a passport for himself, Simpson becomes a mercenary for a ruthless Central African mining company seeking control of land rich in rare earth ores. A misfit with little military experience, he quickly finds himself in over his head. But that’s nothing new for Simpson, who nonetheless manages to outwit his ruthless adversaries. Dirty Story was previously published under the title This Gun for Hire.

It wasn’t anyone’s idea of a glamorous first assignment at a white show law firm. George Cary, former WWII bomber pilot and newly minted lawyer, was given the ignoble task of going through the tons of files on the Schneider Johnson case, just to make sure nothing had been overlooked. But, as luck would have it, George did discover something among the false claims and dead-end leads that made this into more than just another missing-heir-to-a vast-fortune case. And what he found would connect a deserter from Napoloeon’s defeated army to a guerrilla fighter in post-war Greece, and lead Cary himself into a dangerous situation where his own survival will depend more on what he learned in the army than anything he learned in law school.

A blanket of fog grounds a flight and Maclaren finds himself sharing a room with a fellow passenger who then disappears, leaving behind an envelope. The contents seem innocent, but they lead to nightmarish adventures, culminating in the avoidance of cold-blooded killers in a deserted windmill in the company of a beautiful redhead.

Charles Burton, journalist, cannot get work past Iron Curtain censors and knows he should leave. However, he is in love with Anna Maras, who is in danger. Then the President is assassinated and a colleague is found dead. He decides to smuggle Anna out, but is sought by secret police and counter-revolutionaries alike.

Thirty years after Eric Ambler introduced the world to his unlikely hero, the academic and novelist Charles Latimer, in A Coffin for Dimitrios, Latimer returns in The Intercom Conspiracy. Now a successful, bestselling author on the trail of a new book, Latimer steps in to help Theodore Carter, the hapless, hard-drinking editor of Intercom, a small, international political newspaper, investigate his bosses and the sources of the secrets he’s publishing. It was recently purchased by two magnates who are, unbeknownst to the frazzled Carter, chief intelligence officers in two minor NATO countries. Not all of Intercom’s readers are happy with some recent stories, which are surprisingly more truthful and a lot more dangerous than the rumors and fictions that used to fill its pages—and some of those readers will go to any length to keep their secrets safe. As Latimer and Carter get closer to the truth, they realize they’re jeopardizing more than just their careers.

Steve Fraser is looking forward to his final weekend of a three-year stint on the Southeast Asian island of Sunda when Islamic terrorists attempt to seize control. When the government launches a counter attack, Fraser finds himself caught in the crossfire.

A coup d''état in a Caribbean state causes a political storm in the region and even the seemingly impassive and impersonal Doctor Castillo, nicknamed Doctor Frigo, cannot escape the consequences. As things heat up, Frigo finds that both his profession and life are horribly at risk.

Kenton''s career as a journalist depends on his facility with languages, his knowledge of European politics and his quick judgement. Where his judgement sometimes fails him, however, is in his personal life. When he travels to Nuremberg to investigate a story about a top-level meeting of Nazi officials, he inadvertently finds himself on a train bound for Austria after a bad night of gambling. Stranded with no money, Kenton jumps at the chance to earn a fee helping a refugee smuggle securities across the border. Yet he soon discovers that the documents he holds have far more than cash value - and that they could cost him his life ...

From dust jacket notes: "If you are one of the hundreds of thousands who already know Eric Ambler''s superb ''thrillers'' - he hates the word himself, but there is no other convenient designation for these extraordinary tales of undercover plottings and spies at work - you will certainly want this book. If you have not yet read Ambler, you have been missing the man who is absolutely the best in his field. Because, as Alfred Hitchcock points out in his Introduction, Ambler writes first-rate, suspense-filled, exciting stories about entirely credible, decent, very human fellows in tough situations. They are filled with equally credible pictures of the suave political gangsters, disreputable big-business men, and riffraff of the cheap cafes who made life on the political fringes of continental Europe an unpleasant thing for decent fellows to stumble into during the 1930''s. You can take Eric Ambler, if you wish, on several levels at once; and on every one of them he is tops ..."

Arthur Simpson is a thief whose victim turns out to be in a league well above his own. Simpson is blackmailed into smuggling arms into Turkey. The Turkish police discover this and he is further blackmailed by them into spying on the ''gang'' - or rot in a Turkish jail. But agreeing to help brings even worse danger ....

Although trained as a playwright, Foster chronicles the trial of Papa Deltchev, a discredited Eastern European leader charged with treason, and learns that truthful reporting behind the Iron Curtain can also be a capital crime.