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7 Spy Books for People Who Think James Bond Needs to Lighten Up
James Bond has saved the world more times than anyone can count.
He's mastered the art of espionage, driven impossibly expensive cars, escaped elaborate death traps, and somehow managed to keep his tuxedo looking respectable through most of it.
But does international espionage always have to be so serious?
What if secret agents were allowed to have a little fun?
What if the glamorous undercover assignment came with an embarrassing misunderstanding? Or your partner was the last person on earth you wanted to work with? Or the CIA decided the ideal recruit was a perfectly ordinary woman who'd never fired a gun in her life?
Because sometimes the best spy stories aren't about looking cool while saving the world.
They're about surviving the mission, outsmarting the bad guys, and finding something to laugh about along the way.
If you love secret identities, international conspiracies, dangerous assignments, and clever characters who refuse to take themselves too seriously, these seven books deserve a place on your reading list.
The stakes are serious. The spies? Not necessarily.
1. The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter
Imagine waking up on a Paris sidewalk with absolutely no memory of who you are.
Now imagine a ridiculously handsome stranger telling you to run because someone is trying to kill you.
Naturally, you assume you're a secret agent.
Unfortunately, you're not. You're the identical twin sister of a rogue spy, and apparently nobody trying to murder you cares about the distinction.
Your only hope is a grumpy, devastatingly attractive operative who agrees to help you disappear. Which means pretending to be newlyweds while fleeing across Europe, dodging bullets, and trying very hard not to fall for each other.
Because nothing says romance quite like international espionage and a criminal organization determined to kill you.
Try it if you love: James Bond's glamorous international adventures, but wish the secret agents had more banter, romantic tension, and hilariously inconvenient feelings.
2. Merit Badge Murder by Leslie Langtry
Merry Wrath used to be a CIA operative conducting dangerous missions around the world.
Now she leads a Girl Scout troop in Iowa.
It's a bit of a career adjustment.
After her identity is accidentally exposed, Merry is forced into early retirement and a quiet new life. Unfortunately, her plans for peaceful anonymity collapse when an enemy agent turns up dead at scout camp.
Soon her former CIA handler is back in town, the local detective is investigating, and Merry's new roommate is a former KGB operative.
Apparently, espionage is easier to leave than the Girl Scouts.
Try it if you love: dangerous secret agents, ridiculous situations, quirky supporting characters, and the idea that a former CIA operative might find small-town life more hazardous than international espionage.
3. The Spy and I by Tiana Smith
Dove Barkley is a cybersecurity analyst, not a secret agent.
Someone should really tell the assassins.
When dangerous criminals mistake Dove for her twin sister, she discovers that her supposedly ordinary sibling has been keeping one rather enormous secret.
She's a spy.
Now Dove is caught in an international conspiracy, working alongside her sister's infuriatingly attractive CIA partner, and trying to prevent a catastrophe while figuring out whom she can trust.
The problem with pretending to be a spy is that the people shooting at you don't necessarily know you're pretending.
Try it if you love: mistaken identities, sisterly secrets, dangerous missions, and a healthy dose of romantic chemistry alongside the espionage.
4. Easy as Spy by Brittany E. Brinegar
Book 2 in the Spycatcher Sisters series
Being a CIA agent sounds like a pretty fantastic career choice. International travel. Secret identities. Getting paid to sneak around places you're not supposed to be.
Unfortunately, there's one tiny detail standing between Samantha and Lizzie Sawyer and their dream jobs.
The final exam.
And the CIA doesn't believe in multiple-choice questions.
Instead, the sisters are sent on separate undercover assignments with no backup, no handlers, and absolutely no communication with each other. Lizzie gets a sun-drenched Brazilian soccer stadium, where she's having the time of her life photographing suspicious handoffs. Samantha gets a freezing German forest, where she's beginning to suspect that espionage involves considerably more thermal underwear than the recruitment brochure suggested.
Then Samantha climbs into her extraction car and discovers the driver isn't CIA.
He does, however, have a very large gun.
Suddenly, passing the exam is the least of their problems. When Lizzie uncovers evidence that the Blackout Exam is actually a hit list, the sisters must break every rule in the CIA handbook to survive.
Apparently, saving each other's lives is an automatic failing grade.
Try it if you love: James Bond's international missions, dangerous conspiracies, and glamorous spy lifestyle—but think the whole thing would be more entertaining with two sisters who are having entirely too much fun getting into trouble.
New to the Spycatcher Sisters? Start with If I Spy Young to follow Samantha and Lizzie's adventures from the beginning.
5. Never Say Spy by Diane Henders
Aydan Kelly is a middle-aged bookkeeper who dreams of a peaceful life in the country.
Then she gets carjacked by a man who shouldn't exist.
Her rescuer, an RCMP officer, seems like good news until his investigation implicates her in an international espionage conspiracy.
Suddenly, the woman whose résumé says bookkeeper is being treated like a dangerous operative, and the people pursuing her are considerably less interested in accounting than they are in making her disappear.
Unfortunately for them, Aydan is tougher than she looks.
Try it if you love: action-packed espionage with an unconventional heroine, sharp humor, real danger, and a protagonist who refuses to let the bad guys ruin her plans.
6. The Spy Who Left Me by Gina Robinson
Treflee Miller has a problem.
Her husband is a spy.
He's also about to become her ex-husband, which is probably for the best considering he's considerably better at covert operations than marriage.
A Hawaiian vacation should provide a welcome escape from the whole mess.
Instead, she discovers that her soon-to-be ex is working undercover nearby, and suddenly her tropical getaway involves dangerous assignments, high-speed chases, and the deeply inconvenient realization that her husband is still extremely attractive.
Apparently, divorcing a secret agent is almost as complicated as being married to one.
Try it if you love: Bond-style action, tropical settings, romantic complications, and secret agents whose personal lives are considerably messier than their missions.
7. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman
Emily Pollifax is a widow, a garden-club member, and a perfectly respectable woman from New Jersey.
She's also bored.
So she decides to become a CIA agent.
Naturally.
What begins as a seemingly straightforward assignment in Mexico City quickly becomes a dangerous Cold War adventure involving international enemies who have seriously underestimated their newest opponent.
Because while Mrs. Pollifax might not look like the world's most formidable secret agent, she's resourceful, determined, and considerably more capable than anyone expects.
Try it if you love: classic espionage adventures, unexpected heroines, clever problem-solving, and the delightful idea that the CIA's most surprising recruit might be someone's grandmother.
Who Says Saving the World Can't Be Fun?
Secret agents don't have to be brooding loners with expensive watches and tragic backstories.
Sometimes they're twins caught in a case of mistaken identity. Sometimes they're former CIA operatives supervising Girl Scouts. Sometimes they're bookkeepers, frustrated wives, or widows who simply wanted something more exciting than another garden-club meeting.
And sometimes they're two sisters who think getting paid to travel the world, sneak into forbidden places, and chase international criminals sounds like the best job imaginable.
The missions are dangerous. The conspiracies are real. The bad guys are definitely shooting back.
But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun along the way.
Sorry, James. We might have found a more entertaining way to save the world.
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