When you think of spies, you think of men, right? James Bond, Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt, even Austin Powers. So when creating Anastasia Phoenix, a seventeen year old kick-butt heroine thrust into the criminal espionage pasts of her parents, I did a lot of research on female spies. I even came across an amazing WWII poster with an elegant woman casually strewn on a couch between soldiers with the slogan “Keep mum, She’s not so dumb!” Epic, right?

So in honor of the release of LIES THAT BIND, and all of the spies Anastasia Phoenix has to face in in this book (and in Book One, PROOF OF LIES), I’ve created a list of my Top 5 Female Spies.

1.) Carrie Mathison in Homeland (Claire Danes)

Like any self respecting child of the 90s, I have loved Claire Danes since My So-Called Life. But she’s long since put away her Manic Panic, and in Homeland portrays one of the most layered, complicated characters ever on television (male or female). In Season 1, she doggedly goes after POW hero Nicholas Brody, often on a reckless solo mission, which helped inspire my character, Anastasia Phoenix’s, singular obsession in finding out what happened to her sister, Keira, no matter what anyone says.

2.) Maya in Zero Dark Thirty (Jessica Chastain)

I lived five blocks from Ground Zero on 9/11, and like any New Yorker at that time, I had numerous dream sequences of being the one to find bin Ladin. “Maybe I’ll run into him at Duane Reade and then I’ll just....” You get the drift. This true story of a female CIA analyst (whose real name is still kept secret) makes me want to hug her, bow to her, and salute her all at once. When researching female spies, much of the anecdotes I found were from wars long gone (and declassified). So to be able to appreciate the real work of a modern day female spy, who isn’t using sex or stilettos to get the job done, was a big inspiration for Anastasia Phoenix.

3.) Sydney Bristow in Alias (Jennifer Garner)

Okay, there is a lot of sex and stilettos in this one, but I still love Sydney Bristow. Seriously, I own the DVD box set. I’m a spy junkie, which is why I wanted to write the Anastasia Phoenix series to begin with, and I would say of all the shows and movies out there, Alias was probably my biggest inspiration. And Bradley Cooper is in it! Like you need another reason to watch it.

4.) Ingrid and Carmen Cortez in Spy Kids(Carla Gugina and Alexa PenaVega)

Proof of Lies has been described by many reviewers as Spy Kids meets Jason Bourne (a comparison I will gladly accept). As a mom myself, I have to give love to Ingrid, a female fictional spy who manages to save the world and raise two children all at the same time. Plus, the story of the Cortiz kids, Carmen and Juni, eventually discovering their parents’ past and getting wrapped up in their espionage world rings very true to my character, Anastasia Phoenix. Only Spoiler Alert—Anastasia’s story is a bit darker, hence the Jason Bourne comparison.

5.) Anna Devane in General Hospital (Finola Hughes)

Oh, yeah, I’m going there. I’m a soap fan. My Puerto Rican grandmother learned to speak English from watching soap operas, and she babysat me every day after school. So I knew Victor and Nikki, Luke and Laura, and Josh and Reva a lot better than I did Bert and Ernie. (Bonus points for anyone who can name the shows associated with these couples in the comments.) Anna Devane, played by the ageless Finola Hughes, is an agent with the fictitious WSB and she’s been given action- packed storylines for decades. She’s who I picture in my mind when I picture Anastasia Phoenix’s mom, and if there’s ever a movie based on Proof of Lies or Lies that Bind, I hope to throw Finola’s name in the casting ring.