Author: Allison Montclair
Narrator: Sarah Nichols
Series: Sparks & Bainbridge Mysteries (Book 4)
Publication: Blackstone Publishing (July 26, 2022)
Length: 8 hours and 58 minutes
Description: In London, 1946, Miss Iris Sparks—co-proprietor of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau—has to deal with aspects of her past exploits during the recent war that have come back around to haunt her.
The Right Sort Marriage Bureau was founded in 1946 by two disparate individuals: Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, whose husband was killed in the recent World War, and Miss Iris Sparks, who worked as an intelligence agent during the recent conflict, although this is not discussed. While the agency flourishes in the post-war climate, both founders have to deal with some of the fallout that that conflict created in their personal lives.
Miss Sparks finds herself followed, then approached, by a young woman who has a very personal connection to a former paramour of Sparks. But something is amiss, and it seems that Iris’s past may well cause something far more deadly than mere disruption in her personal life.
Meanwhile, Gwendolyn is struggling to regain full legal control of her life, her finances, and her son—a legal path strewn with traps and pitfalls.
Together these indomitable two are determined and capable and not just of making the perfect marriage match.
My Thoughts: The fourth Sparks & Bainbridge mystery centers on Iris. The ex-lover she threw out recently is back trailing trouble behind him. Andrew, like Iris, was an operative during World War II, but unlike Iris he still is. He has come back to their shared flat hiding from his bosses, his wife, and maybe foreign intelligence agents too.
Meanwhile, at the Right Sort Marriage Agency, Gwen and Iris turn down a young Polish widow who is looking for a new husband because she's pregnant. Gwen has the feeling she's lying about something else. When both Iris and Gwen are followed, they are trying to figure out why.
Then the body of the young widow is found murdered in Iris's apartment and Iris is the prime suspect. And Andrew has disappeared. Iris needs to clear her name but she's on her own. Her old bosses in the intelligence game won't take her phone calls. Her current boyfriend who is a gangster keeps his distance. And Gwen can't help because she has a court appointment soon to resolve the issue of her competence and her lawyer has demanded that she not get involved in any crime solving.
But Gwen can't keep out of it. Friendship, and the fact that she's being drawn into the investigation because she is also being followed and pumped for information, means that she'll have to take her chances with the court.
This was another engaging episode in the Sparks & Bainbridge series. I really like the way the narrator distinguishes the characters.
I bought this one at Chirp. You can buy your copy here.
I bought this one at Chirp. You can buy your copy here.
This one really caught my interest. Like the era and the characters. Thanks for the review.
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