The Riddle of the Sands (The Riddle of the Sands #1) by Erskine Childers

   The Riddle of the Sands (1903), can fairly claim to be the first real spy novel. It is also reckoned by many to be still the best.
   The story begins in a small boat off the coast of South Jutland and is set against the bitter rivalry between Britain and the Kaiser's Germany, then thirsting for colonies and seeking to expand its navy. The intricacies of the tale build to considerable tension and the heroes' travails amid the currents and sand-bars of a treacherous shore-line are paralleled by the machinations of an ingenious and fiendish enemy.

   Erskine Childers' (1870-1922) strongly pro-British and anti-German thriller had an ironic sequel. Childers was executed by British firing squad after being court-martialled for his part in the Irish rebellion.   Both he and his wife were small-boat gun-runners. But his son became President of the Irish Republic from 1973 until his death in 1974.

Genres: Mystery - Classics - Espionage - Thriller - Historical Fiction - Adventure - War - Suspense