So few spies reach retirement age. Perhaps that's because the first rule of the game is that everybody dies- well, almost everybody. The quest for information makes for complex and particularly interesting characters, and at least a few of them survive to enjoy the ill-gotten fruit of their labors. Or is it ill-gotten?

The stories in DEATH BY ESPIONAGE come from the imaginations of members of the International Association of Crime Writers and some of the world's best-known authors. Their agents stealthily slip in and out of this collection of twenty stories with settings ranging from a Civil War outpost and Victorian England to Hitler's Fortress Europa and the post-Cold War world. The stories delve into themes of betrayal, revenge, and treachery and demonstrate the mind games and manipulations for which spies are so renowned.

These stories brim with missions behind enemy lines, red herrings, Swiss bank accounts, ingenious entrapments, and coded instructions. There are German spies in America and Allied spies in Europe during World War II. There are Israeli spies and spies in Latin America. There are assassins and seducers, stolen plans and intricate games of cat and mouse. And there are grudges. The universal rule, however, is that no one gets to write their memoirs.

Contents:

• The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Enemy Territory by Edward D. Hoch
• A Part of History by Michael Collins
• Golam by José Latour
• Spy’s Fate by Arnaldo Correa
• "Wangeroog, de Schone..." by Jürgen Ehlers
• What You Don’t Know by Stuart M. Kaminsky
• Tooth Marks by Bob Mendes
• Dr. Sweetkill by John Jakes
• A Curious Experience by Mark Twain
• Winds of Change by John Lutz
• Two Fishers by Guy de Maupassant
• The Little Green Book by Jack Ritchie
• The Story of a Conscience by Ambrose Bierce
• A Demon in My Head by Jean-Hugues Oppel
• A Telephone Call Too Many by Carmen Iarrera
• The Ant Trap by Howard Engel
• Non-Interference by Janwillem van de Wetering
• Charlie’s Game by Brian Garfield