espionage

Bookouture Blog Tour for MURDER MOST BRITISH by Helena Dixon

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I truly enjoy this “Secret Detective Agency” series, so I was thrilled to be part of the blog tour for the latest installment, Murder Most British.

Here’s the scoop:

Big Ben chiming in the distance, chilly walks along the river Thames, cocktails at the Ritz… and a government secretary dead? Only Jane Treen can solve the case!

London, 1941. Miss Jane Treen is faced with another mysterious disappearance within her Secret Detective Agency’s team. Tabitha Moore, a government typist, was on her way to meet Jane with vital information about some secret codes. But she didn’t turn up for work and has seemingly vanished without trace. Then Jane and her colleague, handsome codebreaker Arthur Cilento, receive a call: a body has been found, and it matches Tabitha’s description…

It quickly becomes clear that Tabitha’s death was not due to ongoing air raids on the city: the silk scarf tied tightly around her neck suggests otherwise. The prime suspect is Tabitha’s fiancé Leo Cavendish, a dashing government official, but there are plenty of others with a motive too. Jane and Arthur scrutinise those around Tabitha at work and at home, including a charming newsreader reporting on government affairs, a jealous pianist in love with Leo, and a known womaniser and gambler fond of causing trouble.

Together, Jane, Arthur and her fluffy ginger cat Marmaduke hole up in her London townhouse, with black coffee in plentiful supply and a roaring fire in the grate. But just as they begin to piece together the puzzle, someone else is found dead. It’s clear they need to step up and catch the killer on the loose in the big smoke, before it’s their turn next…

If you love twisty crime novels, top-secret intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Helena Dixon’s totally gripping cozy novel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright!

Here’s a bit about Helena Dixon:

Helena Dixon is a Black Country woman living in Devon. Married to the same man for over forty years she has three daughters, two grandsons, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She is allergic to adhesives, apples, tinsel and housework. She was winner of The Romance Prize in 2007 and Love Story of the Year 2010 as Nell Dixon. She now writes historical 1930’s and 40’s set cozy crime. Helena enjoys hearing from readers and you can read her news and contact her via her website, visit her blog, find her on Twitter/X @NellDixon and friend her on Facebook or follow her on instagram or Threads.

I think I love this series so much because it, in part, reminds me of the Maggie Hope series by Susan MacNeal. I always love a plucky, intelligent heroine!

Thank you for my copy and for making me part of the tour!

Spotlight on: Ace, Marvel, Spy! by Jenni Walsh

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In our house, we love tennis, so I was excited to hear about this book, which highlights a female tennis player who was also a spy! Here’s the scoop:

ACE, MARVEL, SPY!

By Jenni Walsh 

Harper Muse; On-Sale January 14, 2024

Prepare to be transported to the most thrilling moments of Alice Marble’s legendary tennis career, where you’ll relive iconic matches and witness her relentless pursuit of justice, equality, and love. Through captivating snapshots from her rise to fame, ACE, MARVEL, SPY! brings to life her journey on and off the court, highlighting the battles she fought for a fairer world and the passion that drove her every move.Alice’s major tennis accomplishments include:

  • Winning over 18 championships across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles 
  • Speaking out against the gender wage gap in tennis
  • Leading the U.S. Wightman Cup team to victory in 1933 and 1937-1939
  • Advocating for Althea Gibson to cross the color line
  • Being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1964
  • Coaching Billie Jean King 

Perhaps most interestingly, under the guise of playing tennis in Switzerland in 1945, Alice served as an Allied spy to uncover a Nazi gold and money laundering ring. You can read more about Alice’s mission here.With a hint of romance, history, and tennis, ACE, MARVEL SPY has it all, and it is the perfect companion for the upcoming Australian Open!

Trailblazer, superstar, activist, and spy: Alice Marble is a true American icon.

Alice strives to have it all.

At seventeen, Alice Marble has no formal tennis skills and no coach. What she does have is an ability to hit the ball as hard as she can and a strong desire to prove herself. With steadfast determination and one sacrifice after another, Alice plays her heart out on the courts of the rich and famous, at national tournaments, and—the greatest of them all—at Wimbledon, rising to be one of the top-ranked players in the world.

But then her world falls apart.

With the outbreak of war with Germany, Alice’s tennis career and life come to a screeching halt, and for the first time, she is forced to confront who she is without tennis. As she seeks to understand her new place in the world and how she can aid in the war efforts, a telegram arrives with devastating news from overseas. Heartbroken and lost, she feels like she can only watch as the war wreaks havoc in every area of her life.

Until an unexpected invitation arrives.

Alice is given the chance to fight back when the US Army sends her a request: Under the guise of playing in tennis exhibition games in Switzerland, she would be a spy for them. Alice aches for nothing more than to avenge what the war has taken from her and to prove herself against this new opponent. But what awaits her might be her greatest challenge yet.

From her start as a promising athlete with worn-out shoes to her status as a glamorous international star, Alice Marble’s determination to control her own life and destiny fuels a story of achievement, discipline, loss, and love.

Jenni L. Walsh’s Ace, Marvel, Spy brilliantly showcases the life of Alice Marble, a real-life tennis sensation known for her extraordinary talent and indomitable spirit. This fast-paced and action-packed historical novel spans multiple international settings and is enhanced by discussion questions that prompt readers to reflect on Alice’s challenges and triumphs, making it an ideal choice for book clubs.

Advance Praise for ACE, MARVEL, SPY:

“Jenni L. Walsh captures the thrill of being on the court in a vivid and detailed portrayal of Alice Marble’s rise to sporting greatness, as well as her struggles to fulfill her dreams both on and off the court. ACE, MARVEL, SPY is a smashing success!”

—Billie Jean King, sports icon and equality champion

Check it out!

The Last Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal

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I love the Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal, so I was thrilled to get the latest installment. These mysteries are so interesting as I learn a lot about espionage during WWII. I love the character of Maggie and how she is a strong, independent woman and so smart! Susan MacNeal has great pacing in her works and is definitely a writer who does her research.

Here’s the scoop — and is this really the LAST book in this series??? I guess we will wait and see….

Description

All will be revealed in this no-holds-barred finale of the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated Maggie Hope series as the intrepid spy teams up with fashion designer—and possible double agent—Coco Chanel to bring down the physicist behind Nazi Germany’s nuclear program.

“Intrepid Maggie Hope’s high-stakes mission is fraught with danger and moral questions. . . . A heartfelt story.”—Cara Black, New York Times bestselling author of Three Hours in Paris

Maggie Hope has come a long way since she was Mr. Churchill’s secretary. In the face of tremendous danger, she’s learned espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance. But things are different now that she has so much to lose, including the possibility of a family with John Sterling, the man who’s long held her heart.

British Intelligence has ordered Maggie to assassinate Werner Heisenberg, the physicist who may deliver a world-ending fission bomb for Germany. She’s shaken. An assassination is unlike anything she has ever done. How can the Allies even be sure Nazi Germany has a bomb? Determined to gather more information, Maggie travels to Madrid, where Heisenberg is visiting for a lecture.

At the same time, couturier Coco Chanel, a spy in her own right with ambiguous loyalties, has requested a mysterious meeting with the British ambassador in Madrid—and has requested Maggie join them. As the two play a dangerous game of cat and mouse, Maggie tries to get a better understanding of Heisenberg, but is faced with betrayal and a threat more terrifying than losing her own life.

Maggie desperately wants to find her happily-ever-after, but as the war reaches a fever pitch, the stakes keep rising. Now, more than ever, the choices she makes will reverberate around the globe, touching everyone she loves—with fateful implications for the future of the free world.

So so so good!!! Thank you for my review copy!

OXBLOOD by Annalisa Grant

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Description via Net Galley —

Review: The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent by Susan Elia MacNeal

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Maggie Hope is at it again!

I’ve loved all the books in this series and was so excited to see that a new one was out this month (and doubly excited that I got it from Net Galley!).

In this installment, Maggie is dealing with depression and trying to decide what further paths to take with her life. She adopts a rather unique cat. She tries to get out more. She throws herself into her job as a trainer at her spy training camp. Something is just missing. Then mystery finds her again when three ballerinas, including her dear friend Sarah, are taken ill and two die. Who or what has poisoned them? Added to this are interspersed chapters of Maggie’s mother, German spy Clara Hess, who is being interrogated and whose execution is planned. Also, there is a subplot following the planning for and bombing of Pearl Harbor.

A lot is going on in this book, though I didn’t find that overly confusing. My favorite chapters, though, were the ones with Maggie in them. I want her to have her adventures, but also to find happiness. When the book ended, I could see where the next one would start up, so this book seemed less like a separate story than part of a larger work in several volumes.

I love reading about WWII and I really enjoy Maggie’s character, so I’ve recommended these books to several friends. I look forward to the next book in this series, which I’m pretty sure is in the works!

Quick YA Review: CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein

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Since I had recently read ROSE UNDER FIRE, I went back and read CODE NAME VERITY, which comes first (though it can be a stand alone book). This is an extraordinary depiction of a friendship during WWII, told from the writings of a British female POW, held by Germans for spying, and then from the perspective of her friend, the female pilot who flew them there. Their story is heart-breaking and haunting, and stayed with me long after I finished reading.

An intense read, I’d recommend it to older YA readers and definitely to adults who enjoy historical fiction of the WWII era.

I can’t say more without giving it all away. I’ve debated for weeks how to even write this review, and settled on this very short blurb!

See this book on Amazon where I got mine.

Review: HIS MAJESTY’S HOPE by Susan Elia MacNeal

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I have really enjoyed the Maggie Hope cozy mystery series by Susan Elia MacNeal and was thrilled to get the latest one through Net Galley. In this third installment (the previous two were reviewed earlier), expert mathematician and British spy Maggie is being dropped over enemy lines into WWII Germany. In a parallel story, her mother’s daughter (Maggie’s half-sister) is working as a nurse and discovers that children with developmental and physical disabilities are being secretly sent to gas chambers by the Nazi’s and vows to work against the Nazi’s (and her mother). In yet another storyline, Maggie’s dear friend David is being pressured by his parents to marry, but he is gay. And finally Maggie’s former fiance who everyone thinks is dead awakes and finds himself in a German hospital.

What will happen? Will Maggie survive behind enemy lines? Will Elise, her half-sister, save the children? Will Maggie and Elise meet? Will David have to renounce the man he loves and enter into a marriage of convenience? And will Maggie find herself in a love triangle with John, her lost love, and Hugh, her current flame? Of course, you need to read to find out!

I really enjoy this series. It’s a historical cozy, my favorite kind, and Ms. MacNeal certainly does her research! I have chatted with her on Twitter and Facebook and even asked if she time travelled in order to get the details so right (FYI – she doesn’t). The Maggie Hope books are fun to read and are one of my favorite genres (WWII). I particularly like how the story continues across books. I recommend them to those who like cozies, especially of this period. Looks like another book will be coming out next year!

Thank you to NG and Bantam Publishers for my copy!

Quick Review: “The Midwife’s Revolt” by Jodi Daynard

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“The Midwife’s Revolt” was a Net Galley find for me. It tells the story of Lizzie Boylston, a young woman left widowed at the start of the Revolutionary War, as she struggles to get by, to deal with the war and her farm, and to basically survive in 1770’s Massachusetts. Lizzie is friends with Abigail Adams and holds their relationship quite dear. In time she is pulled into intrigue and acts as a spy (dressed as a boy). Lizzie is a strong character, and this book follows her daily life (she is a midwife), her trials and tribulations, her relationships with her family and friends, and even has a little romance, intrigue and mystery added in. I felt while reading it that I was reading a fictionalized account of a person’s diary for that time period. Daynard has done her research here in accurately depicting a detailed picture of everyday life in the 1770’s in New England. At 440 pages it took a bit to get through, but I felt I was travelling along with Lizzie through the war, and read a bit each day.

A great historical novel for those who like this period and genre!

Thanks, Net Galley and Opossum Press for my copy.


Quick Review: “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary” by Susan Elia MacNeal

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A few months ago I read “Princess Elizabeth’s Spy” by Susan Elia MacNeal (see my review here: https://drbethnolan.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/quick-review-princess-elizabeths-spy-by-susan-elia-mcneal/ . I really enjoyed this period cozy mystery about Maggie Hope, a code breaker and typist to Churchill during WWII. I decided to go back and read the first book in this series: “Mr. Churchill’s Secretary”. I purchased the book from Amazon for my enjoyment (technically my husband purchased it for me because I ordered through his account while he was in Europe on business – lol).

This book introduces Maggie Hope, a British-born but American-raised twenty-something, living in London and working as a typist during WWII. Maggie has a host of friends, both male and female, all with their own subplots/developments. Her parents are deceased for many years and she has been raised by her aunt in Boston. Maggie is a math whiz, and she yearns to be a code breaker. Instead she is a typist. The more Maggie works, though, the more she uncovers. Is there a spy amongst them? What really happened to her father? And is there a coded German message right in front of their faces?

I really enjoyed this first story of the series! MacNeal is a strong writer and I enjoyed how much I learned from reading this novel. This is a cozy mystery in that it is not overly violent or graphic; however, there is a wealth of (what I presume is well-researched!) information about London during WWII, espionage, and life in the 1940’s.

I look forward to more Maggie Hope mysteries from Ms. MacNeal.