06/01/2022
In Montclair's fourth "Sparks & Bainbridge" mystery (after A Rogue's Company), Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge, owners of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau, are caught up in a murder once again. Both Iris and Gwendolyn are trying to heal from their difficult pasts, Iris from being a spy in World War II and Gwendolyn from losing her husband and her sanity. When a woman is murdered in Iris's apartment, which is paid for by her former lover, Iris becomes the prime suspect, and both women must work together to find the real culprit despite encountering difficulties in their friendship. Montclair continues to develop Iris and Gwen as characters, portraying their struggles with mental health and relationships with empathy. The snappy dialogue, charming characters, and high stakes will have readers racing through this novel to discover who is truly responsible for the crime. Montclair portrays 1940s speech and culture well, with many allusions to postwar concerns. VERDICT This will appeal to mystery readers who enjoy humor, historical fiction, and well-written crime-solving teams.—Tristan Draper
2022-04-27
After solving four murders, a war widow and a former spy are forced to tackle espionage on the homefront.
Iris Sparks feels guilty about her World War II service as a spy whose shattered ankle prevented her from going overseas. Gwen Bainbridge, her partner in The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, has been trying to recover custody of her son ever since her husband was killed in the war and her depression caused his aristocratic parents to have her committed. The duo’s troubles start when Iris is followed by a woman who turns out to be Helena Jablonska, a Polish widow seeking their services in finding a new husband. Gwen can tell that she's pregnant, though, and so turns her down. Returning to her flat, Iris finds her former lover and fellow spy Maj. Andrew Sutton sitting on the sofa. He says he needs somewhere to hide, and since he's paid the rent on the flat through the end of the year, he refuses to leave, even when her current lover, gangster Archie Spelling, turns up. Iris flees to Gwen’s home, and while she’s gone, a woman is murdered in her flat. The police assume that the dead woman is Iris until DS Michael Kinsey, who'd once been engaged to her, goes to inform Gwen of her death and finds her alive. " 'What's wrong, Mike?' asked Iris, looking at him with concern and, it has to be said, amusement. 'You look like you've seen a ghost.' " Iris becomes the main suspect, but she’s so well schooled in interrogation techniques that the police get nothing from her except the identity of the dead woman: Helena Jablonska. After Gwen calls Iris’ former boss and strings are pulled, she’s released, but now she and a reluctant Gwen must enter the world of espionage to find a killer.
A believable postwar tale with troubled heroines who must juggle lovers, spies, and an unexpected villain.
