Ten best spy novels

At the Independent, Samuel Muston complied a list of the ten best spy novels.

One title on the list:

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE BY IAN FLEMING

The finest book in the Bond franchise. Russian counter-intelligence agency Smersh, with its comically foul boss Rosa Klebb, is out to kill James. No prizes for guessing who comes out on top.

Read about the other novels on the list.

From Russia with Love also made John Mullan's lists of ten of the best chess games in fiction, ten of the best punch-ups in fiction, and ten of the best breakfasts in literature, and a list of eleven presidents' favorite books. It is one of Keith Jeffery's five best books on Britain's Secret Service.

--Marshal Zeringue