My personal favorites? Cold War Berlin, followed by Damascus, Prague, Cape Town, and Kuala Lumpur. Each has its own 'ambiance' and each has its own target set. There are more but not quite as fine as these.
It's partly my fault. I didn't give instructions; they could pick a city for any reason. Was it the best for finding good candidates? Because it was easiest to hide in? Because you had good experiences there? Believe me, they were a little miffed at the lack of direction.
Best cities for spies are those who don't have a hostile local service able to devote massive resources to surveil you. Worst cities are those like New Delhi which has an effective CI presence which regular caught our operatives in the act.
There’s always Budapest. One of the world’s great cities, it was at the center of so much intrigue during the Cold War. I experienced it only as a pre-teen in the mid-Seventies for an entire summer, but for a precocious and curious budding man of international intrigue, that was plenty. It gave me many memories and lessons I never forgot.
Budapest! How could I have left that off the list? You had a whole summer there! I'm jealous. I had a tie to the country for a year's assignment and got to visit, and fell in love with it. That was in the late 1990s. Finding its way after the dissolution of the Soviet Republic, flooded with international organized crime, heady times.
I spent a few weeks there in 2015 as well. Awesome city. And I set my first Alex Martel thriller there, the one that precedes Perfect Shot but hasn’t yet been published. My dad was born there.
Great city for spies? I kind of hope I never know, trusting others is such an effort already! Where I’d set a spy novel? How about I share the qualities of a vague region where the USA is competing with other world powers for cooperation on global issues (like intellectual property rights or climate change) and those other global powers maybe even have more prestige in this vague country because those other powers don’t have troops where we have troops, so its an international city as welcoming to Russian and Chinese businessman as British (so, obviously none of those places) and to make the story interesting, there’s facial recognition cameras everywhere, and bad drivers, and always everywhere delivery drivers with helmets that cover their face… (don’t guess, i got to keep it vague because I suspect this message will be intercepted!)
The problem (?) is there are sooo many interesting places to set a spy story. The difficulty comes in when you try to convince a publisher to take a chance on a book set in some corner of the world that many Americans don't care about (sigh. This is a real problem.)
There would be American spies in American cities looking for foreign spies. My spy would be undercover dressed as Wild Bill Hickok recreating the Aces and Eights murder daily while playing poker in a bar. Everybody expects spies in Berlin. Nobody expects them in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Well... the FBI is responsible for looking for foreign spies operating in U.S. cities. I imagine they might go undercover to do this. No comment on their attire :-)
My personal favorites? Cold War Berlin, followed by Damascus, Prague, Cape Town, and Kuala Lumpur. Each has its own 'ambiance' and each has its own target set. There are more but not quite as fine as these.
Great suggestions. I hear Berlin of the moment is pretty jumping, too.
It is. Probably the most active spy town in Europe right now. I was there in the '70s & 80s. The others in the 90s and after 9/11. Retired in 2013.
Wow, that's a wide variety. No consensus, but I can see how each is the "best" for different reasons.
It's partly my fault. I didn't give instructions; they could pick a city for any reason. Was it the best for finding good candidates? Because it was easiest to hide in? Because you had good experiences there? Believe me, they were a little miffed at the lack of direction.
Sometimes a lack of direction can be eye-opening.
Best cities for spies are those who don't have a hostile local service able to devote massive resources to surveil you. Worst cities are those like New Delhi which has an effective CI presence which regular caught our operatives in the act.
Well, yes, but where's the fun in that?
You can also find out too late that their service has upped it's game :-)
That's why we should try to penetrate the local services.
There’s always Budapest. One of the world’s great cities, it was at the center of so much intrigue during the Cold War. I experienced it only as a pre-teen in the mid-Seventies for an entire summer, but for a precocious and curious budding man of international intrigue, that was plenty. It gave me many memories and lessons I never forgot.
Budapest! How could I have left that off the list? You had a whole summer there! I'm jealous. I had a tie to the country for a year's assignment and got to visit, and fell in love with it. That was in the late 1990s. Finding its way after the dissolution of the Soviet Republic, flooded with international organized crime, heady times.
I spent a few weeks there in 2015 as well. Awesome city. And I set my first Alex Martel thriller there, the one that precedes Perfect Shot but hasn’t yet been published. My dad was born there.
You know Cyprus isn’t a city. Don’t let them get away with it!
Oh, and I vote Valletta, Malta. I mean, a former British colony (a former everyone’s colony, actually), and they were cool with Qaddafi investing.
Girl, I'm going to have to consult with you before the next story.
EAGLE EYE
Love this list and these professional perspectives!
Why, thank you!
Great city for spies? I kind of hope I never know, trusting others is such an effort already! Where I’d set a spy novel? How about I share the qualities of a vague region where the USA is competing with other world powers for cooperation on global issues (like intellectual property rights or climate change) and those other global powers maybe even have more prestige in this vague country because those other powers don’t have troops where we have troops, so its an international city as welcoming to Russian and Chinese businessman as British (so, obviously none of those places) and to make the story interesting, there’s facial recognition cameras everywhere, and bad drivers, and always everywhere delivery drivers with helmets that cover their face… (don’t guess, i got to keep it vague because I suspect this message will be intercepted!)
The problem (?) is there are sooo many interesting places to set a spy story. The difficulty comes in when you try to convince a publisher to take a chance on a book set in some corner of the world that many Americans don't care about (sigh. This is a real problem.)
There would be American spies in American cities looking for foreign spies. My spy would be undercover dressed as Wild Bill Hickok recreating the Aces and Eights murder daily while playing poker in a bar. Everybody expects spies in Berlin. Nobody expects them in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Well... the FBI is responsible for looking for foreign spies operating in U.S. cities. I imagine they might go undercover to do this. No comment on their attire :-)