Author: M. L. Huie
Series: A Livy Nash Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (January 7, 2020)
Description: A page-turning new historical mystery for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope series and Kate Quinn's The Alice Network.
How far would you go for vengeance?
It's V-E Day 1946 in London. World War II is long over, and former spy Livy Nash is celebrating with her third drink before noon. She went to war to kill Nazis. Dropped behind enemy lines as a courier, she quickly became one of the toughest agents in France. But her war ended with betrayal and the execution of the man she loved. Now, Livy spends her days proofreading a demeaning advice column for little ladies at home, and her nights alone with black market vodka.
But everything changes when she meets the infamous Ian Fleming. The man who will create the world's most sophisticated secret agent has an agenda of his own and sends Livy back to France with one task: track down the traitor who killed the only man she ever loved. Livy jumps at the chance, heading back to Paris undercover as a journalist. But the City of Lights is teeming with spies, and Livy quickly learns just how much the game has changed. With enemies on every corner and ever-shifting alliances, she'll have to learn to fight a new war if she wants to conquer the past once and for all.
My Thoughts: Livy Nash spent her war as a courier dropped in France to be part of the Resistance. She had many hard times culminating with being arrested by the Nazis, imprisoned, and tortured. She watched the man she had come to love stood up in front of a firing squad and shot just before a shell hit that kept her from being killed too.
She's been back in England for a while, working as a copy editor for a third rate publication, and drinking herself into oblivion to try to forget her loss. When Ian Fleming who runs a spy agency loosely disguised as a news bureau comes to her and offers her a job and a chance to get revenge on the man who betrayed her and her lover, Livy is eager to go. Besides the adrenaline rush of war is the only thing that makes her feel alive.
She's sent back to France where she quickly discovers that the political landscape is shifting and new alliances are being formed making old friends into new enemies.
The story was packed with action. Livy was a sort of female James Bond with her derring-do. I liked the way she played all the different parties off against each other to find her own solution to the job she was sent to do.
Fans of fiction set in World War II and spies will enjoy this fast-paced story.
Favorite Quote:
Livy pretended to read over the familiar document as Fleming waited. Did she really want this again? A life of secrets? But wasn't that better than what she had now -- no life at all? Her war had ended in ore pain than she'd ever known, and it had all begun with signing this very same piece of paper. Livy's mind raced, remembering the end of the war, her war.I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.
This sounds really good. I enjoy WWII historical fiction, and the mystery aspect sounds like it really adds to the story.
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