Charles Cumming

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Charles Cumming (born April 5, 1971, Ayr, Scotland) is a British writer of spy fiction. The son of Ian Cumming (1938-) and Caroline (Ramsay) Pilkington (1943-), he was educated at Ludgrove School (1979-1984), Eton College (1985-1989) and the University of Edinburgh (1990-1994), where he graduated with 1st Class Honours in English Literature. The Observer has described him as "probably the best of the new generation of British spy writers who are taking over where John le Carre and Len Deighton left off".

In 1995, Charles Cumming was approached for recruitment by the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). A Spy By Nature, a novel partly based on his experiences with MI6, was published in June 2001. The novel's hero, Alec Milius, is a flawed loner in his early 20s who is recruited by MI5 to sell doctored research data on oil exploration in the Caspian Sea to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Film rights to A Spy By Nature are owned by Kudos (production company), the creators of Spooks and Hustle. A screenplay adaptation has been written by Howard Brenton.

In August 2001, Charles Cumming moved to Madrid. His second novel, The Hidden Man (2003), tells the story of two brothers investigating the murder of their father, a former SIS officer, at the hands of the Russian mafia. The Hidden Man also examines the clandestine role played by SIS and the CIA during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Charles Cumming's third novel, The Spanish Game (2006), marks the return of anti-hero Alec Milius, who becomes involved in a plot by the paramilitary Basque nationalist organization ETA to bring down the Spanish government.

Charles Cumming is a contributing editor of The Week, and regularly writes book reviews for The Mail on Sunday. He is married and lives in London.