Master of Lies - Piers Blofeld, at Heffers

Based on extensive research and newly released documents, Piers Blofeld builds the vivid and compelling proposition that Anthony Blunt was not simply "the fourth man" in the infamous Cambridge spy ring, but actually the greatest spy-master of all.

The discovery of a mysterious Agent Josephine in new archive material suggests an almost limitless treachery, towards both friends and country alike. Blunt's treason led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people and shaped post-second world war history. It’s likely he was in charge of the inquiry into his own crimes.

This re-examination encompasses the ferment of communism in 1930s Oxbridge, the Second World War, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean’s chaotic defection to Russia in 1951(stage-manged by Blunt) and the decades of obfuscation that followed.

Blunt managed to sustain his glittering career as an art historian, Keeper of the King's and then the Queen's pictures and subsequently Knight of the Realm. Meanwhile, he stayed in the shadows, protected by his many friendships with the great and the good.

Piers Blofeld is a literary agent and, apart from a brief stint as a story consultant in the video games industry he has worked in publishing for the whole of his career. A regular commentator on the mysteries of the book business he has had his own column in Writing Magazine for the last five years. Born and bred in Norfolk, his surname made it all but inevitable he would nurture a fascination with supervillainy and spying. Master of Lies is his first book.

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