Charles McCarry is an American writer primarily of spy fiction

Spy fiction

Spy fiction, literature concerning the forms of espionage, was a sub-genre derived from the novel during the nineteenth century, which then evolved into a discrete genre before the First World War , when governments established modern intelligence agencies in the early twentieth century...

.

Life

McCarry served in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

, where he was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes (newspaper)

Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...

, has been a small-town newspaperman, and was a speechwriter in the Eisenhower administration. From 1958 to 1967 he worked for the CIA, under deep cover in Europe, Asia, and Africa. However, his cover was not as a writer or journalist. He is married with four grown sons. His family is from The Berkshires

The Berkshires

The Berkshires , is a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.Also referred to as the Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, and recreation.-Definition:The term...

 area of western Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, where he currently lives.

He is an admirer of the work of W. Somerset Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...

, especially the Ashenden stories. He was also an admirer of Richard Condon

Richard Condon

Richard Thomas Condon was a prolific and popular American political novelist whose satiric works were generally presented in the form of thrillers or semi-thrillers...

, author of The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate , by Richard Condon, is a political thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for the Communist Party....

, Prizzi's Honor

Prizzi's Honor

Prizzi's Honor is a 1985 American black comedy film directed by John Huston. It stars Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner, Robert Loggia and Anjelica Huston.The film was adapted by Richard Condon and Janet Roach from Condon's novel of the same name...

 and numerous other novels.

McCarry was editor-at-large for National Geographic and has contributed pieces to The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

, The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

, and other national publications.

Work

His novels are currently being reprinted by Overlook Press, starting with Tears of Autumn, republished in 2005. Charles N. Brown

Charles N. Brown

Charles Nikki Brown was the co-founder and editor of Locus, the long-running news and reviews magazine covering the genres of science fiction and fantasy literature. He was born on June 24, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended City College until 1956, when he joined the military ; he served in...

, the publisher of Locus

Locus (magazine)

Locus, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field", is published monthly in Oakland, California. It reports on the science fiction and fantasy publishing field, including comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genre. It is considered the news organ and trade...

, which primarily addresses the science-fiction publishing world, wrote in the July 2006 issue: "Two Charles McCarry hardcover reprints from Overlook... aren't really SF or fantasy, but they are two of the best spy thrillers ever written and form a secret or alternate history of the 20th century."

McCarry is best known for a series of books concerning the life of super spy Paul Christopher. Born in Germany before WWII of a German mother and an American father, Christopher joins the CIA after the war and becomes one of its most effective spies. After launching an unauthorized investigation of the Kennedy assassination, Christopher becomes a pariah to the agency and a hunted man. Eventually he spends ten years in a Chinese prison before being released and embarking on a solution to the mystery that has haunted him his entire life: the fate of his mother who disappeared at the beginning of WWII. The books are notable for their historical detail and depiction of spycraft, as well as their careful and extensive examination of Christopher's relationship with his family, friends, wives, and lovers.

Also notable are two books dealing with Paul Christopher's American cousins, Horace and Julian Hubbard: The Better Angels and Shelley's Heart. These novels tell the story of a U.S. President who approves the assassination of the leader of an oil-rich Arab nation who has acquired nuclear arms and intends to pass them onto a terrorist organization. When news of this threatens to ruin the President's chances for re-election, the Hubbards conspire to steal the election. In Shelley's Heart, the conspiracy is revealed and the newly re-elected President is impeached and placed on trial in the Senate. Both books indicate an extensive knowledge of Washington politics on the part of the author.

McCarry's most unusual book in the series, also concerning the Christopher family, is Bride of the Wilderness. Set in the 17th century, it's a historical romance concerning one of Paul Christopher's ancestors, the English-born Fanny Harding. After the death of her father, she travels to America and is abducted by Indians during the French-Indian Wars and eventually marries one of her captors, a French officer named Philippe de Saint-Christophe (or Christopher).

The film Wrong is Right

Wrong Is Right

Wrong Is Right is a black comedy thriller about the theft of two suitcase nukes, featuring the plot conventions of media bias, reality television, government conspiracy, and Islamic terrorism...

(1982) starring Sean Connery

Sean Connery

Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...

 was loosely based on his novel, The Better Angels.

Novels featuring Paul Christopher or his family

In terms of reading sequence, the events in The Secret Lovers come after The Miernik Dossier and before The Tears of Autumn despite the publication sequence. Those who wish to follow the events in order should thus read The Secret Lovers before reading The Tears of Autumn.

• The Miernik Dossier
  The Miernik Dossier
  The Miernik Dossier is American author Charles McCarry's first novel. It introduces the character of American spy Paul Christopher, who would become a recurring character in many of McCarry's novels.- Style :...
  
  (1973) Christopher investigates a possible Soviet spy in Geneva
• The Tears of Autumn
  The Tears of Autumn
  The Tears of Autumn is American author Charles McCarry's second novel, and the second novel in the Paul Christopher series.- Plot :...
  
  (1974) Christopher investigates the JFK Assassination
• The Secret Lovers
  The Secret Lovers (novel)
  The Secret Lovers is American author Charles McCarry's third novel, and the third novel in the Paul Christopher series.- Plot :Shortly after delivering an important manuscript to American agent Paul Christopher, a European agent is killed mysteriously by a hit-and-run driver...
  
  (1977) Christopher discovers a secret plot within the CIA
• The Better Angels (1979) Christopher's cousins steal a Presidential election
• The Last Supper
  The Last Supper (novel)
  The Last Supper , by American author Charles McCarry, is the fourth novel in the Paul Christopher series.- Plot :The Last Supper fills a great deal of back story to the Paul Christopher saga...
  
  (1983) Introduction to Christopher's parents in pre-WWII Germany; Christopher is imprisoned in China
• The Bride of the Wilderness (1988) Historical novel concerning 17th century Christopher ancestors
• Second Sight (1991) Released from a Chinese prison, Christopher meets a daughter he did not know he had
• Shelley's Heart (1995) Sequel to The Better Angels: Christopher's cousins cause a Presidential impeachment
• Old Boys (2004) Christopher's old associates discover a plot involving terrorists and the fate of Christopher's mother
• Christopher's Ghosts (2007) The story of Christopher's first love in pre-WWII Germany

Other novels

• Lucky Bastard (1999) A comic novel in which a likable but amoral, devious and oversexed politician (meant to invoke Bill Clinton) is controlled by a female eastern-bloc subversive.
• Ark (2011) Earth's wealthiest man attempts to save humanity from a coming apocalypse.

Non-Fiction

• Citizen Nader (1972)
• Double Eagle: Ben Abruzzo
  Ben Abruzzo
  Benjamin L. Abruzzo was an American hot air balloonist and businessman. He helped increase the reputation of Albuquerque as a center of lighter-than-air and hot-air ballooning.-Biography:...
  
  , Maxie Anderson, Larry Newman (1979)
• The Great Southwest (1980)
• Isles of the Caribbean (National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, 1980, co-author)
• Paths of Resistance: The Art and Craft of the Political Novel (1989, with Isabel Allende, Marge Piercy, Robert Stone and Gore Vidal)
• Inner Circles: How America Changed the World: a Memoir (1992, by Alexander Haig
  Alexander Haig
  Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
  
   with Charles McCarry)
• From the Field: A Collection of Writings from National Geographic (1997, editor)

External links

• http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/personalities/birnbaum_v_charles_mccarry.php A 2004 interview with McCarry in The Morning News
  The Morning News (online magazine)
  The Morning News is a U.S.-based daily online magazine founded in 1999 by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack. It began as an email newsletter and in the fall of 2000 evolved into a news-oriented weblog with a New York focus...
  
  
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0565010/ IMDb page for Charles McCarry.
• http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/the-great-american-spy-novel/792/
• http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/570mubbw.asp A review essay by P.J. O'Rourke.