The Nine Lives of Otto Katz

Spies should be glamorous - James Bond in a Savile Row suit rather than Harry Palmer in a grubby mac …In those terms, Otto Katz was perfect. He was a Hollywood playboy who hobnobbed with Fritz Lang, he inspired the character of Victor Laszlo in Casablanca, he was a drinking buddy of Bertolt Brecht and among his lovers he claimed Marlene Dietrich. He was even known to Noel Coward . ( The Times ). If you were to imagine the perfect spy, you may well be picturing Otto Katz. He was charming, suave, and utterly ruthless. In the golden years of the spy game, from Hitler’s rise to power, through the Second World War, and on into the Cold War, Otto Katz was at the centre of Russia’s web of international intrigue. His fingerprints can be found on one world changing event after another. Using recently released FBI, MI5 and Czech files, Jonathan Miles has created an action-packed story of the life (or lives) of one of the world’s most successful spies. At the same time, he paints a vivid portrait of the shadow world that exists behind the headlines where the actions of a man like Katz can, and do, change the course of history.