Ashenden (or The British Agent)

Best know for his novels "Of Human Bondage" and "The Moon and Six Pence", Maugham also wrote short stories and plays. Having spent his first 10 years in Paris and later studied in Heidelberg, he was fluent in several European languages, and in 1897 graduated in medicine from St Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London. Although he never practiced medicine, he credited his experience for exposure to "life in the raw", which he later incorporated in his writings. Like Ian Fleming, he was a British spy during World War I, which informs this collection of 16 loosely connected short stories recounting the exploits of the spy Ashenden and his spymaster R, a Colonel with British intelligence. It is considered one of the first modern spy thrillers and influenced subsequent writers, like John le Carré, Ian Fleming, and Eric Ambler. Remarkable for its realism, it is even said to have been required reading for new intelligence agents! - Summary by ASharma