A Spy Like Me by Kim Sherwood

James Bond is alive.

Or at least, he was when he left a clue at the black site where the insidious private military company Rattenfänger held him captive. MI6 cannot spare any more lives attempting to track down one missing agent—no exceptions, even for Bond. But Johanna Harwood, 003, has her own agenda. Sidelined by her superiors while she grieves the loss of a loved one, Harwood goes on an unsanctioned mission: to find 007. Meanwhile, MI6 has another problem…

A bomb has detonated in London.

Double O agents on the trail of the terrorists responsible acted quickly to prevent mass destruction and save lives. But MI6 failed to neutralize the nation’s enemies before they could strike, and one of their own was seriously injured in the blast.

They won’t fail again.

Assigned to root out the source of the terrorists’ funding, Joseph Dryden, 004, and Conrad Harthrop-Vane, 000, enter the field. Tracing clues from Sotheby’s auction house to Crete to Venice, they uncover a money laundering scheme involving diamonds, black market antiquities, and human trafficking. Once a major sale is made, a six-day countdown to the next terror attack begins. As the Double O’s follow the twisting trail, they find themselves unexpectedly inching closer to Bond…

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Amazon.com: A Spy Like Me: Six days. Three agents. One chance to find James Bond. (Double O, 2): 9780063236578: Sherwood, Kim: Books

 I am the author of Testament (2018), which was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, shortlisted for the Best First Novel Award, and won the Bath Novel Award and the Harper's Bazaar Big Book Award; and Double or Nothing (2022), the first in a trilogy of Double O novels expanding the James Bond universe. My next novel will be A Wild & True Relation (2023), a historical adventure novel about smugglers, women and writing through the centuries.

I have been a James Bond fan all of my life, and when Ian Fleming's family invited me to contribute to the 007 canon, it was quite literally a dream come true. In Double or Nothing, James Bond is missing. 007 has been captured, perhaps even killed, by a sinister private military company. His whereabouts are unknown. Meet the new generation of spies... Johanna Harwood, 003. Joseph Dryden, 004. Sid Bashir, 009. Together, they represent the very best and brightest of MI6. Skilled, determined and with a licence to kill, they will do anything to protect their country. The fate of the world rests in their hands... Tech billionaire Sir Bertram Paradise claims he can reverse the climate crisis and save the planet. But can he really? The new spies must uncover the truth, because the future of humanity hangs in the balance. Time is running out... It's been the honour of a lifetime to write this novel, and I am so excited to introduce readers to my new Double O heroes.

A Wild & True Relation opens during the Great Storm of 1703, as smuggler Tom West confronts his lover Grace for betraying him to the Revenue. Leaving Grace's cottage in flames, he takes her orphaned daughter Molly on board ship disguised as a boy to join his crew. But Molly, or Orlando as she must call herself, will grow up to outshine all the men of Tom's company and seek revenge - and a legacy - all of her own. Woven into Molly's story are the writers - from Celia Fiennes to Hester Thrale to George Eliot - who are transfixed by her myth and who, over three centuries, come together to solve the mystery of her life. The novel remakes the eighteenth-century Heroical novel and challenges women's writing and women's roles throughout history.

I was over the moon to receive these kind words about A Wild & True Relation from Hilary Mantel: 'This book is a rarity - a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.' I have been working on A Wild & True Relation for the past fourteen years, and this novel – and its setting of Devon – are very close to my heart. Releasing this story into the hands of readers feels particularly special.

I was born in Camden in 1989 and grew up in London. I write at the same desk I used as a child when visiting my grandfather's house. My grandfather, the actor George Baker, was an actor who appeared in several James Bond films, notably as Sir Hilary Bray in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I was very close with George and it was his loss, alongside my close relationship with my grandmother, who is a Holocaust survivor, that inspired Testament, my first novel. I now live in Edinburgh, where I am a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. As a reader, some of my favourite authors are Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Deborah Levy, Virginia Woolf and Georgette Heyer; and Ian Fleming, John le Carré, Lee Child, Walter Mosley, Elmore Leonard and Raymond Chandler.