His first novel, Citizen Orlov, was named a Book of the Month by Apple Books. It won the 2024 IBPA Silver Medal for Mystery/Thriller
and the 2024 IPPY Bronze Medal for Suspense/Thriller.
Payne previously worked in national security for the British government.
He holds a Master of Arts degree in Novel Writing from Middlesex University, London.
Payne's new novel is Hotel Melikov.
[Q&A with Jonathan Payne]
At CrimeReads the author tagged six favorite espionage novels with charmingly clueless protagonists, including:
Graham Greene, Our Man In HavanaRead about the other titles on the list.
Greene’s hilarious, absurd thriller follows James Wormold, a struggling British vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba, who is recruited by MI6 to provide intelligence in exchange for cash he desperately needs. In order to keep the money flowing, Wormold begins to invent his intelligence, including by photographing vacuum cleaner parts and telling London they’re aerial photographs of secret military bases. When real life begins to imitate Wormold’s inventions, things begin to get very strange.
Alec Guinness gives a great turn as Wormold in Carol Reed’s 1959 movie adaptation.
Our Man in Havana also made Francesca Kay's list of the ten top books about the Cold War, Jesse Armstrong's top ten list of comic war novels, Allegra Frazier's top five list of books to remind you of warmer climes, Pico Iyer's list of four essential novels by Graham Greene and Alan Furst's five best list of spy books; it is one of Stella Rimington's six favorite secret agent novels.
--Marshal Zeringue