Spies and Other Gods – Coming February 2026
The Head of British Intelligence is having a bad day. One of his spies has made an anonymous complaint about a case involving an Iranian assassin and a trail of dead bodies.
To make matters worse, the woman who turns up to investigate seems to know a lot more than she’s letting on…
The Man in the Corduroy Suit
“…establishes Wolff as a memorable voice in the genre” The New York Times
“extraordinarily good” The Spectator
“a classic spy story…whimsical, inventive and shape-shifting” The Wall Street Journal
How to Betray Your Country
“I loved Beside the Syrian Sea…How to Betray Your Country is even better” Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland series
“a distinctly more thought-provoking novel than is customary in the genre” The Times, Thrillers of the Month
“2021’s outstanding espionage novel” Crime Fiction Lover
Beside the Syrian Sea
“Superb…Wolff is a new maestro” Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard Books of the Year
“…a superb debut…Wolff has written a work that seems not to have depended on copying the style and structure of the usual tales of espionage” The Times, Thriller of the Month
“a real original…trembles with realistic detail” James Naughtie, The Radio Times
press
James Wolff moves to John Murray/Baskerville for his first standalone spy novel
Gordon Corera picks How to Betray Your Country as one of his favourite spy novels
The Man in the Corduroy Suit is the only espionage novel to be longlisted for the 2023 CWA Silver Dagger award
2023 CWA Silver Dagger Award Longlist
“There was a homeless man living in our Beirut neighbourhood who would occasionally cadge cigarettes off the soldiers. When the Israelis invaded in ’82 he was sitting on the first tank that drove into Beirut, and turned out to have been an Israeli spy all along. You might trace my interest in the world of spying to that moment.”
Who will be the next Le Carré? The Telegraph, December 2023
“I was arrested on New Year’s Day. An unsmiling cabin attendant told me I had to get off my flight from Izmir to Istanbul, and a waiting police officer told me that I was wanted. ‘Wanted?’ I asked. ‘For what?’ He shrugged.”
Read about James’ stint in a Turkish prison in the London Review of Books
In Detention, London Review of Books, July 2023
The Man in the Corduroy Suit is shortlisted for Crime Fiction Lover’s Best Indie Crime Novel of 2023
Crime Fiction Lover’s 2023 Best Indie Novel shortlist
In his annual blog listing all the films, plays and books consumed over the course of the year, US director Steven Soderbergh reveals that he read Beside the Syrian Sea, How to Betray Your Country and The Man in the Corduroy Suit over the course of a single week in October 2023!
Steven Soderbergh’s Extension365 blog
‘As someone who has recently exited the profession, there’s one cliché that preoccupies me above all others: that it’s impossible to leave. Something happens to the spy in the field, or so they say. They are branded, their DNA is reconfigured, they lose all capacity for innocence and wonder. Once a spy, always a spy.’
Read James’ reflections on being an ex-spy at CrimeReads
‘Childhood knocks together the frame that stays with us for life. Mine was pretty broad, very international, full of drama. I’m sure it contributed to my decision to work for the British government, which I did for 15 years, and there’s no doubt that it set me on the path to becoming a writer.’
James Wolff 