The Czar's Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love

William Le Queux

May 2021 · Graphic Arts Books

About this ebook

The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love (1905) is an espionage adventure novel by Anglo-French writer William Le Queux. Published at the beginning of Le Queux’s career as a leading author of popular thrillers, The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love is a story of international espionage, mystery, and forbidden romance. Using his own research and experience as a journalist and adventurer, Le Queux crafts an accessible, entertaining tale for readers in search of a literary escape. Known for his works of fiction and nonfiction on the possibility of Germany invading Britain—a paranoia common in the early twentieth century—William Le Queux also wrote dozens of thrillers and adventure novels for a dedicated public audience. Although critical acclaim eluded him, popular success made him one of England’s bestselling writers. In The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love, a British aristocrat named Gordon Gregg is hired by the Czar of Russia to conduct an investigation of various European prisons. Traveling from Russia to Finland, England, and Italy, Gregg hones his skills as an international spy while indulging his taste for adventure and romance—at the risk of his life. In Italy, pursuing a lead, Gregg boards a mysterious yacht, where he discovers a photograph of a beautiful woman. Overwhelmed with attraction, Gregg swears to an oath to find her, whatever the cost. Rugged and individualistic, suave and hopelessly romantic, Gordon Gregg seems a prototype for such heroes as James Bond and George Smiley. The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love is a throwback to the simpler days of entertainment, a bestseller that holds up over a century after it appeared in print. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Le Queux’s The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love is a classic work of adventure fiction reimagined for modern readers.

About the author

William Le Queux (1864-1927) was an Anglo-French journalist, novelist, and radio broadcaster. Born in London to a French father and English mother, Le Queux studied art in Paris and embarked on a walking tour of Europe before finding work as a reporter for various French newspapers. Towards the end of the 1880s, he returned to London where he edited Gossip and Piccadilly before being hired as a reporter for The Globe in 1891. After several unhappy years, he left journalism to pursue his creative interests. Le Queux made a name for himself as a leading writer of popular fiction with such espionage thrillers as The Great War in England in 1897 (1894) and The Invasion of 1910 (1906). In addition to his writing, Le Queux was a notable pioneer of early aviation and radio communication, interests he maintained while publishing around 150 novels over his decades long career.