Book excerpt: The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love (1905) is an espionage adventure novel by Anglo-French writer William Le Queux. Published at the beginning of Le Queux’s career as a leading author of popular thrillers, The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love is a story of international espionage, mystery, and forbidden romance. Using his own research and experience as a journalist and adventurer, Le Queux crafts an accessible, entertaining tale for readers in search of a literary escape. Known for his works of fiction and nonfiction on the possibility of Germany invading Britain—a paranoia common in the early twentieth century—William Le Queux also wrote dozens of thrillers and adventure novels for a dedicated public audience. Although critical acclaim eluded him, popular success made him one of England’s bestselling writers. In The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love, a British aristocrat named Gordon Gregg is hired by the Czar of Russia to conduct an investigation of various European prisons. Traveling from Russia to Finland, England, and Italy, Gregg hones his skills as an international spy while indulging his taste for adventure and romance—at the risk of his life. In Italy, pursuing a lead, Gregg boards a mysterious yacht, where he discovers a photograph of a beautiful woman. Overwhelmed with attraction, Gregg swears to an oath to find her, whatever the cost. Rugged and individualistic, suave and hopelessly romantic, Gordon Gregg seems a prototype for such heroes as James Bond and George Smiley. The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love is a throwback to the simpler days of entertainment, a bestseller that holds up over a century after it appeared in print. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Le Queux’s The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of Silent Love is a classic work of adventure fiction reimagined for modern readers.