Review of "The Spy Coast" A Thriller" by Tess Gerritsen

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Purity, Maine has a population of three thousand people, five of them senior citizens with deep secrets. Maggie Bird, Declan Rose, Ben Diamond, and married couple Ingrid and Lloyd Slocum are retired CIA agents, laying low to evade detection by old enemies.


Maggie Bird


Declan Rose


Ben Diamond


Ingrid and Lloyd Slocum

The former agents have periodic 'book club' evenings, which are more about the food, drinks, and gossip than the reading. Martinis might be followed by moussaka and goulash, after which the friends settle down to gab.


Martinis


Moussaka


Goulash

The retirees have been living quietly for years until Maggie - who lives in a farmhouse and raises chickens - comes home to find a trespasser in her kitchen. The intruder, a young, lithe, Slavic-looking woman, introduces herself as Bianca, and says, "I'm here because we have a problem. Diana Ward has dropped off the radar."



Bianca explains that a hacker accessed CIA files for a mission called Operation Cyrano, and admits, "I'm afraid your names may have been leaked, and that's why we're tracking you all down, to check on your welfare. Diana might be in trouble." Bianca then urges, "Help us find her, Maggie. You must know where she's gone. You worked together."

The words Operation Cyrano send shock waves through Maggie, and thinking of Diana, Maggie responds, "I don't give a f**k what happens to her." Maggie then sends Bianca on her way and thinks that's that. But she's very wrong.



That night, while Maggie is at a book club meeting, Bianca's body is dumped in Maggie's driveway. Bianca's hands are bruised and black, and her fingers are bent and twisted at grotesque angles.

Purity Police Chief Jo Thibodeau, who's called to the crime scene, checks Maggie's alibi for the time of the homicide. Declan, Ben, Ingrid, and Lloyd confirm that Maggie was at a meeting of their reading group, which they call the Martini Club. Afterwards, when someone takes a shot at Maggie, the club members insist they'll help look for the shooter. Jo realizes there's something very odd about these oldsters, all of whom are expert investigators.



Meanwhile, Maggie knows she has to leave town and find the enemies who are out for blood.



The current police investigation and Martini Club inquiries alternate with flashbacks to the past. Twenty-four years ago, when Maggie was posing as an import analyst in Bangkok, she met a young British doctor named Danny Gallagher. Danny was doing charity work in Thailand, and he and Maggie bonded over bowls of spicy beef noodle soup. The twosome then embarked on a long-term, long-distance relationship, though Maggie kept mum about her real work.



After Maggie had been involved with Danny for six years, she got embroiled in Operation Cyrano, a very dangerous mission that had unexpected consequences. Now it seems someone wants revenge.

In the present, Maggie travels to Bangkok, where she gets information about who's targeting her. A kidnapping and additional killings lead to an exciting and unexpected showdown.



This is a clever, well-crafted thriller that combines a police procedural with an espionage novel. I got a kick out of the CIA retirees, who know their way around Walthers and rifles......





......as well as curry and Persian rice and lamb. I look forward to additional books in the Martini Club series.


Chicken Curry


Persian Rice and Lamb

Thanks to Netgalley, Tess Gerritsen, and Thomas & Mercer for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Raging Storm: A Two Rivers Mystery" by Ann Cleeves

In this addition to the "The Two Rivers' series, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn investigates the murder of an adventurer. Venn is a cerebral and introspective detective who thinks hard about every aspect of his work.

This is the third book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.

*****

Jeremy (Jem) Rosco grew up in the North Devon town of Greystone, where - as a youth - he loved to sail. No one in Greystone anticipated Jem would become the youngest person to sail around the world single-handed, and go on to visit both Poles and the Amazon. Over the years, Jem became a world famous adventurer, frequently seen on television.



After being away from Greystone for many years - during which he became wealthy and renowned - Rosco strolls into Greystone's Maiden's Prayer pub one rainy night, toting nothing but an oilskin bag. Rosco has two pints of rough cider, says he's staying in town to await a visitor, and retreats to the little cottage he's rented.



For several weeks after that Jem drops into the Maiden's Prayer pub every evening, has a couple of pints, chats with the locals, and drifts back out. Then one day, Jem doesn't show up for his two pints.

Later, during a tempestuous storm, an alarm goes out for the Greystone lifeboat, helmed by Mary Ford.



Mary loves her position as lifeboat captain, but can only be on call when her father is visiting. Mary's school-age son Arthur has a serious degenerative illness called Jasper Lineham Disease, and the boy needs constant monitoring.



Mary and her lifeboat crew are launched into the water, and find Rosco's naked body in a dinghy anchored in Scully Cove - a waterway with spiritual significance to the citizens of Greystone.



Jem has been brutally stabbed, and Detective Inspector Matthew Venn and his team, Detective Sergeant Jen Rafferty.....



.....and Detective Constable Ross May, come to Greystone to investigate.



Greystone has particular significance to Venn, because it's one of the hubs of a strict religious sect called the Barum Brethren. Venn grew up as a member of the Brethren, but rejected the order's beliefs as a teenager. Still, Venn feels he has an understanding of the Brethren that might help with the police inquiries.

Matthew also gets incidental assistance from his husband Jonathan.....



.....whose schoolteacher friend Guy taught Jem Rosco many years ago. In fact Guy helped young Jem join the Greystone sailing club, which led to Rosco's fame and fortune, and maybe to his death.



The detective team proceeds to interview Greystone residents, collect evidence, and look into Rosco's life elsewhere. The squad learns that Rosco had a number of women in his orbit, including a high school girlfriend, an ex-wife, a housecleaner, and a current lady friend. The investigators also discover that Jem was a bit wily and manipulative, and that some people envied his fame and success.



Things get murkier when another body is discovered in Scully Cove, though it's not immediately clear whether this was an accident, suicide, or murder. In any case, Venn realizes something is very wrong in town, and after a violent incident, Matthew figures out exactly what it is, and why Rosco was killed.



Meanwhile, Jen Rafferty and Ross May must meld their police careers with their private lives: Jen is a single mom to two teenagers, and Ross and his wife Mel are ambitious and upwardly mobile. In this regard, Ross sees his colleague Jen as a professional rival, and he's constantly trying to 'best' her as a detective. (This gets quite annoying. 😏)

The book is a good police procedural with a roster of engaging characters. As always, it's interesting to peek into the lives of the Barum Brethren, who must meld their traditional values with their lives in the modern world.



I enjoyed the story and look forward to the future investigations of Venn and his colleagues.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ann Cleeves, and Minotaur Books and Macmillan audio for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Dead and Gone: A Detective Annalisa Vega Mystery" by Joanna Schaffhausen

In this third book in the 'Annalisa Vega' series, the police detective investigates the death of a private detective. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

As the story opens, Chicago Police Detective Annalisa Vega.....



.....and her police partner Nick Carelli have been investigating the Chicken Bandit case. Vega and Carelli work well together, in part because they were once married, and - now that Nick has changed his cheating ways - are giving the relationship another chance.



The Chicken Bandit, a man who wears a chicken mask, has been holding up corner stores and late-night delis, and he's proven very hard to catch.



Tired from night patrols, Vega and Carelli are preparing for work one morning when Annalisa gets a call from the boss, Commander Lynn Zimmer. Zimmer summons Annalisa to Rosehill Cemetery for "a probable homicde, special circs.'



At the Rosehill graveyard, a man is hanging from a tree, with the word PIG painted on his shirt. Zimmer identifies the victim as Sam Tran, an ex-cop who's been a private investigator for 10 years. Zimmer mentions Sam was a good friend, and puts Annalisa on the case....leaving Detective Carelli to chase the Chicken Bandit.



As Vega begins her inquiries into Sam's death, she learns the PI had three open cases. Annalisa speculates that Sam's murder may be related to one of the open inquiries, which include the following:

⦿ By coincidence, Annalisa's niece Quinn, a co-ed at Illinois University, is being harassed by a stalker who's sending anonymous notes and drawing dick pics on her door. So Quinn's father Vinny (Annalisa's brother) hired Sam to track down the perp.



⦿ A twenty-year-old homicide claimed the lives of Stephen Powell and Kathy Morrison, a couple engaged in an extramarital affair. Stephen and Kathy were brutally bludgeoned in a motel room, and the crime was never solved. Recently, Kathy's husband Brad Morrison employed Sam to look into the cold case.



⦿ A young mom named Nina Osteen, whose mother Charlotte disappeared over thirty years ago, hired Sam to find Charlotte.



Annalisa proceeds to look into Sam's open investigations, and by chance, even encounters the Chicken Bandit. All this puts Annalisa's life in grave danger, and I must say, I wish Annalisa wasn't such a maverick and always called in backup. This 'bravery' may be a family trait since Annalisa's niece Quinn has the same bad habit of walking head-on into danger. 😏



In the midst of all this, Annalisa has a lot going on in her personal life. In the past, a scandal led to Annalisa putting her father and brother in prison, and the Vega family is still reeling from the aftermath. Moreover, unexpected discoveries lead Annalisa to do some deep thinking about her relationship with Nick.



By the end of the book Annalisa has solved all the cases and is considering a new future for herself. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Thanks to Netgalley, Joanna Schaffhausen, and Minotaur Books for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Secret Hours: An Espionage Novel" by Mick Herron

Amidst the ongoing jealousy and rivalry between the British government and the British Intelligence Service, the Prime Minister, who nurses a huge grudge against the spy service, institutes a program called Monochrome.

Monochrome is designed to sniff out wrongdoing in the secret service, but the Prime Minister is no match for MI-5's 'First Desk' - a formidable and intelligent woman who immediately (and hilariously) neuters Monochrome.



Thus the Monochrome panel, whose members are Griselda Fleet, Malcolm Kyle, and others, spends years interviewing people, to no avail.



The 'witnesses' blather on and on, but know nothing useful about the spy service, and their testimonies are never intended for the 'final report.'





Sadly, Malcolm - a young man with lofty ambitions - sees his career going down the drain while he languishes on the Monochrome panel.



Then one day, while Malcolm is ambling around the supermarket with a shopping cart, a young woman crashes into him, upending Malcolm's groceries.



Several people come over to help, and when everything is back in place, Malcolm finds a file under his food. The file turns out to contain information about a top secret intelligence operation called OTIS. The supermarket incident freaks Malcolm out, but - after much rationalizing - Malcolm and Griselda Fleet decide Monochrome will investigate OTIS.



OTIS turns out to be a spy operation in Berlin, after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Monochrome panel is beginning to interview the first OTIS witness when Monochrome is shut down hard, for good. It's clear the government does not want OTIS to become public knowledge. Nevertheless, Griselda and Malcolm fabricate a loophole so they can hear the witness's whole story, which is riveting.



Meanwhile,  a sixtysomething former spy called Max Janacek is on the run after an attempted abduction in the middle of the night. Max, who has some skills, manages to evade his kidnappers, retrieve his flight kit, and embark on a quest to find out who's after him.



In case you ever need to make a fast getaway, here are the contents of a flight kit: a passport with a fake name; a grand in cash; two prepaid credit cards worth 5,000 Euros; one change of clothing; a basic toiletries kit that includes hair dye and tinted contact lenses; and a pair of insoles that will alter your gait enough to fool a computer. (You're welcome. 🙂)



All of the threads come together at the book's climax, and the ending made me smile. I just love that First Desk.

Good espionage thriller, highly recommended.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Gerard Doyle, who does an excellent job.

Thanks to Netgalley, Mick Herron, and RB Media for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars