Marcus Berkmann

The completely ludicrous – and sometimes believable – world of the First World War spook

A review of Secrets in a Dead Fish, by Melanie King. It's John Le Carré - but a Janet and John version

Illustration, from World War I in Cartoons, Mark Bryant, Grub Street.
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There can’t have been this many books about the first world war since — just after the first world war. One publishing craze of the 1920s was books about spying, in which retired war spooks gave away their trade secrets and told tall stories about dead-letter drops and invisible ink.

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Marcus Berkmann
Marcus Berkmann’s Berkmann’s Pop Miscellany is out in June.
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