Dear Reader,
Ava Glass, today’s guest author, is a pseudonym for an internationally bestselling author who has sold over two and a half million copies of her books
worldwide. She is a former civil servant and journalist who once worked closely with spies. She lives in the south of England.
Her new book Alias Emma, is set against the backdrop of London, a city of spies. Where Russian agents, intent on righting an old wrong, have one man to kill. Emma Makepeace intends to keep him alive. You can drop an email (authors love to hear from readers), to Emma at: avaglassbooks@gmail.com
Enter her drawing to win one of five copies of Alias Emma. Email: AtRandom@randomhouse.com
Me and a Spy
Long before I wrote Alias Emma, I worked for one of the British government departments responsible for security and counter-terrorism. I wasn't a spy, but my job involved working with people who probably were. I am aware that sounds a bit vague, but I can assure you that spies did not walk up and introduce themselves as spies. Quite the opposite. Everyone had a job, and none of those jobs was "spy" and yet a significant portion of them were.
You can't really ask if someone actually is a spy. It serves no purpose, anyway. The response is always a tilted head look of cool curiosity, followed by something like, "If I were, and I told you that, I'd be a rather terrible spy."
This is why I didn't know Ellie was a spy when I met her. Back then, I'd only just started working in the office and my security clearance still hadn't come through. I had very little to do while I waited. In this setting, Ellie's sudden interest in me was a relief. She was friendly and chatty, about twenty-six years old, with wavy blonde hair, and an open smile. She asked a lot of questions about my family and my background, my relatives in the US, and how I ended up working for the government after a career as a journalist.
"Your brother was in the military? How interesting. When was that? Was anyone else in your family in the military? Oh I see! And your uncle?"
In the light of her attention I grew loquacious and helpful. Information poured out of me. I didn't really notice how little information she offered about herself, or how one-sided our conversations were. She had a knack for asking the kinds of questions that threw me slightly off kilter and meant I was always, somehow, explaining myself. But I liked her. She was charming and funny, and for several weeks we were office pals, grabbing coffee or lunch and a chat.
Until one day without warning, she disappeared. Her name evaporated from the office email system. It was as if she'd never existed.
That same week, I received my full security clearance.
No one ever told me Ellie was investigating me, but I have no doubt at all that she was the first spy I met.
I'm sure she never thought about me again, but I've thought about her often since then and wondered if she still works in intelligence. She was so young and coolly confident in such a dangerous and opaque world. I have a feeling she's gone far.
– Ava Glass
Enter to win one of five copies of Alias Emma. Email: AtRandom@randomhouse.com
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.

THE HEIST by (Fiction) C. W. Gortner and M.J. Rose
To catch a leopard wear diamonds.
A year after The Bait, Ania Throne is on the prowl. Gone into hiding, she's planned her next move to perfection, intent on winning her dangerous game of cat-against-cat with the Leopard. But Ania doesn't know that even the best-laid heists have hidden flaws. Jerome Curtis has taken a job at a Hollywood movie studio to try and put his life back together. When a familiar face from the past shows up unexpectedly, Jerome realizes that much as he's tried to forget her, there's no escaping Ania. And this time, what she's about to do could be her doom. The heist is on. From the glamour of late 1950s Hollywood to a desperate chase in the ravines of Los Angeles, two leopards must hunt each other to the end. And only one of them can bring down its prey.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE HEIST to read more and to email authors C. W. Gortner and M.J. Rose, you'll get a reply.
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