by Piper Bayard
of Bayard & Holmes

I write with a partner who is a 47-yr veteran of Intelligence Community field operations. My friends know to unplug their Alexas and their Smart TVs when I’m in a room. Sometimes, I even ask them to turn off their phones and put them alongside mine in their microwave oven before a conversation continues.… Read the post

By Piper Bayard
of Bayard & Holmes

Now that we know how to bug a room (see Writing Spies: Bugging a Room), it's important to look at the other side of the equation. How can our characters know if a room is bugged?… Read the post

By Piper Bayard
of Bayard & Holmes

Writing espionage is a balancing act between being authentic and being so accurate that we embarrass political leaders, get people killed, and/or end up with some angry FBI Special Agents on our doorstep. As a general rule, while the non-violent embarrassment of political leaders who are asking for it can be rewarding, writers, like all smart and decent people, want to avoid harming any of our own people or having uncomfortable conversations with the FBI.… Read the post