Charles Cumming (born 1971) is a British writer of
spy fiction
Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...
.
Early life and education
Cumming was born in 1971,
in
Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
, Scotland, the son of Ian Cumming (b. 1938) and Caroline Pilkington (b. 1943).
He was educated at
Ludgrove School
Ludgrove School is an English independent boys preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed as a master at Elstree School, which sent b ...
(1979–1984),
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
(1985–1989) and the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
(1990–1994), where he earned a first class honours degree in English Literature.
In 1995, Cumming was approached for recruitment by the United Kingdom's
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
(
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
) but did not go on to work for them.
Career
Cumming's first novel, ''A Spy by Nature'', was published in the UK in June 2001. The novel's hero, Alec Milius, is a flawed loner in his early 20s who is instructed by
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
to sell doctored research data on oil exploration in the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
to the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
).
In August 2001, Cumming moved to
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
.
His second novel, ''The Hidden Man'' (2003), tells the story of two brothers investigating the murder of their father, a former SIS officer, at the hands of the
Russian mafia. ''The Hidden Man'' also examines the clandestine role played by SIS and the CIA during the
Soviet–Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...
.
His third novel, ''The Spanish Game'' (2006), marks the return of
anti-hero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform action ...
Alec Milius, who becomes involved in a plot by the paramilitary
Basque nationalist organization
ETA
Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
to bring down the Spanish government. ''The Spanish Game'' was described by ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' as one of the six finest spy novels of all time, alongside ''
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...
'', ''
Funeral in Berlin
''Funeral in Berlin'' is a 1964 spy novel by Len Deighton set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by ''The IPCRESS File'' (1962) and '' H ...
'' and ''
The Scarlet Pimpernel
''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...
''.
''Typhoon'', published in the UK in 2008, is a political thriller about a CIA plot to destabilise China on the eve of the
Beijing Olympics. The story spans the decade from the
transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong
Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admini ...
in 1997 to present-day Shanghai. In particular, the author highlights the plight of the
Uyghur Muslim population in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, a semi-autonomous region of China. The novelist
William Boyd described ''Typhoon'' as "a wholly compelling and sophisticated spy novel – vivid and disturbing – immaculately researched and full of harrowing contemporary relevance." ''Typhoon'' was listed by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2009.
Cumming's fifth novel, ''
The Trinity Six'', a thriller about the discovery of a sixth member of the
Cambridge spies
''Cambridge Spies'' is a four-part British drama miniseries written by Peter Moffat and directed by Tim Fywell, that was first broadcast on BBC Two in May 2003 and is based on the true story of four brilliant young men at the University of C ...
ring, was published in 2011. ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' named ''The Trinity Six'' as one of the Notable Books of 2011.
''A Foreign Country'', his sixth novel, concerning the disappearance of the first female Chief of MI6, was published in 2012. It is the first in a trilogy of novels about disgraced MI6 officer Thomas Kell. The novel is being developed into a television series by Bluegrass Films. ''A Foreign Country'' was named the first
Scottish Crime Book of the Year at the inaugural Bloody Scotland Festival in Stirling in September 2012. It won the
CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association for best thriller of the year. The award is sponsored by the estate of Ian Fleming.
It is given to a title that fits the broadest definition of th ...
for the best thriller of 2012.
A sequel, entitled ''A Colder War'', in which Kell investigates a traitor inside western intelligence, was published in 2014. The novel won the CrimeFest eDunnit Award for Best Crime eBook of the Year.
The third novel in the Thomas Kell series, ''A Divided Spy'', was published in 2016.
Cumming's ninth novel, ''The Man Between'', was published in 2018. Released in the United States as ''The Moroccan Girl'', it tells the story of a writer who agrees to spy for
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
while attending a literary festival in Morocco. This was followed up in 2020 by ''BOX88'', a thriller set in both the present day and in 1989. The protagonist, Lachlan Kite, is recruited into a top secret UK and US intelligence network while attending Alford, a fictional public school modelled on
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
. A sequel, ''JUDAS62'' was published in the UK in 2021. Now a university student, Kite is sent to the Russian city of
Voronezh
Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the ...
in 1993 to extract a chemical weapons scientist. In the present day he mounts an operation against the
FSB in Dubai.
Cumming's novels have been translated into fourteen languages. His work is published in the United Kingdom by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
, in the United States by
Mysterious Press
The Mysterious Press is an American publishing company specializing in mystery fiction based in New York City. The company, founded in 1975 by Otto Penzler, has been associated with various publishing companies over the years, most recently with ...
and in Spain by Salamandra.
Cumming was also an assistant editor of ''
The Week
''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's ed ...
'' from 1996–2013.
Personal life
Cumming lives in west London.
He has two children from his marriage to Melissa.
He has since remarried.
He is one of the trustees of The Pierce Loughran Memorial Scholarship fund, which provides tuition fees for the
Yeats
William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
Summer School in
Sligo
Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...
, Ireland. He is also the founder and President of the
José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play.
Capablanc ...
Memorial Chess Society.
Bibliography
*''A Spy by Nature'' (2001), , the first Alec Milius novel
*''The Hidden Man'' (2003),
*''The Spanish Game'' (2006), , the second Alec Milius novel
*''Typhoon'' (2008),
*''The Trinity Six'' (2010),
*''A Foreign Country'' (2012), , the first Thomas Kell novel
*''A Colder War'' (2014), , the second Thomas Kell novel
*''A Divided Spy'' (2016), , the third Thomas Kell novel
*''The Man Between'' (2018), , published in the US as ''The Moroccan Girl'' (2019)
*''BOX 88'' (2020),
*''JUDAS 62'' (2021),
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumming, Charles
1971 births
People educated at Eton College
Scottish thriller writers
English thriller writers
English spy fiction writers
Living people
People educated at Ludgrove School
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh