Hil asked for spy novels?
I can't recommend Alan Furst highly enough: he writes dense, smart novels set in and around WWII. Usually they involved complicated political situations and uncertain loyalties. He knows his Soviet history really well, so there's often stuff where the Communists are simultaneously fighting the Nazis (or the Franco-ists in Spain) while at the same time positioning themselves for post-war power. Possibly my favorite is Dark Voyage, which is about a Dutch shipmaster who gets strongarmed into working for British intelligence during the war.
The down side of Furst is that the women are usually kind of 2-D and weirdly othered to the men. Even when they have agency, they're pretty opaque and incomprehensible, and almost always operate as sexual objects. That said, he's still really really good.
Spy Novels? THE RUSSIA HOUSE. Love it love it love it (and the movie, though it takes a slightly different angle). It's also a great romance novel (and moreso in the movie), IMO.
If you have never read Eric Ambler you might consider him - at least the stuff before 1970. A Coffin for Dimitrios, Cause for Alarm
Also for one of the all time great anti-heroes, though it is in the caper genre rather than spy - "The Light of Day".
Anyone ever read anything by Allan Mallinson? I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to get my historical war story fix once I run out of Sharpes (I've been rationing myself to one a month and will finish the series in December), and I happened across his name while looking at my LibraryThing recommendations.
Incidentally, I'd be glad for any other recommendations in the Age of Sail/Flintlock vein. Of the ones I've read so far, here's my scorecard:
O'Brian-Aubrey/Maturin - LOVE
Cornwell - Sharpe - Love, and have read the Starbucks and plan to get around to his other historical series (what's the plural of series--serieses?) in due course
Forrester - Hornblower - Meh. Boring. Didn't like Hornblower.
MacDonald - Flashman - I can see how they're brilliant, but they're not my thing.
And, in newer/more obscure series....
Campbell - Matty Graves - Love
Humphreys - Jack Absolute - Good swashbuckling fun
Susan, I remember hearing that Georgette Heyer's "An Infamous Army" is supposed to have one of the best descriptions of Waterloo ever. If you haven't read it - is that possible? - you should.
I have it on my shelf, but so far I've had trouble getting through the first few chapters to even GET to the Waterloo part. I know it's heresy, but Heyer is hit-or-miss for me. I like her "Spanish Bride," though, which is Peninsular War/Waterloo.
Mary Jo Putney wrote a good romance that took place (partially) during the Peninsular War, Shattered Rainbows.
Read that one, and it is very good.
I first read one of the sequels to that book, One Perfect Rose, and then read Shattered Rainbows afterwards. I thought OPR was a really touching story, even though it could have gone down a very turgid melodramatic road--the key plotpoint was that the hero had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was running away from both the diagnosis and his ducal responsibilities. Instead, it turned out to be a very poignant book.
