Book signing
Canadian author · Nanaimo, British Columbia
History leaves clues.I turn them into thrillers.
Meet Mackenzie Gordon—naval architect, reluctant intelligence agent, and the woman at the centre of an airship conspiracy rooted in the real summer of 1930.
The Mackenzie Gordon Thrillers · Book One
Now available
Double Agent Within
A forgotten airship. A deadly secret. A woman hunted in the skies above.
Summer 1930. As Britain’s R-100 prepares for its daring flight to Canada, Scottish naval architect Mackenzie Gordon is pulled into an espionage plot reaching from Glasgow’s shipyards to the storm-wracked Atlantic.
Grounded in the history of a remarkable machine, this is a story of courage, sabotage, betrayal—and one engineer who knows exactly where to look when everything begins to fail.
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“A novel with captivating characters, twists, and spectacularly immersive detail.”
The author behind the intrigue
About James
James Burwash is a Canadian author and independent researcher based in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
After a career in accounting, James turned to the mysteries he had always loved to read and began writing historical spy fiction. His Mackenzie Gordon thrillers pair real people, places, and machines with the hidden conversations history never recorded.
His research into the R-100’s 1930 flight to Canada has grown beyond the novels into talks, short videos, museum connections, and an ongoing effort to bring this remarkable Canadian story back into public memory.
James BurwashPublished by Lock & Key Publishing
Meet the author
Upcoming appearances
Book signings and conversations in British Columbia, Orkney, and Glasgow.
Book signing
Indigo Park Royal
West Vancouver, British ColumbiaAuthor signing
The Orcadian Bookshop
Kirkwall, Orkney · 1–3 p.m.Author event
Chapter One
Glasgow, ScotlandBook event
Ladysmith Book Show
Ladysmith, British Columbia
Documentary series · Work in progressBehind the fiction
The R-100 Historical Journey
The real people, machines, and places behind the novels matter just as much as the plot.
James’s continuing project follows the R-100 from its design and construction in Britain to its celebrated 1930 flight to Canada, uncovering the engineers, crew, and forgotten stories along the way.
- Historical notes, real people, and a growing glossary
- A ten-part R-100 documentary series in development
- Research supporting the Mackenzie Gordon series
In the media
“Intrigue and history intertwine.”
James joins Jennifer Palma on Global News to discuss the historical story behind Double Agent Within.Watch Palma’s Picks