Nuclear brinksmanship. Psychological warfare. Spies, double agents, femme fatales, and dead drops.

The Cold War --- a terrifying time when nuclear war between the world's two superpowers was an ever-present threat, an all-too-real possibility that could be set off at the touch of a button --- provides a chilling backdrop to this collection of all-new short stories from today's most celebrated mystery writers.

Bestselling authors Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson --- the only American writers to be commissioned to pen official James Bond novels --- have joined forces to bring us 20 masterful tales of paranoia, espionage and psychological drama. In Joseph Finder's "Police Report," the seemingly cut-and-dry case of a lunatic murderer in rural Massachusetts may have roots in Soviet-controlled Armenia. In "Miss Bianca" by Sara Paretsky, a young girl befriends a mouse in a biological warfare laboratory and finds herself unwittingly caught in an espionage drama. And Deaver's "Comrade 35" offers a unique spin on the assassination of John F. Kennedy --- with a signature twist.