New York, 1917. Notorious spy, Fredrick Fredricks, has invited Fiona to Carnegie Hall to hear a famous soprano. It’s an
opportunity the War Office can’t turn down. Fiona and Clifford are soon on their way, but not before Fiona is saddled with chaperon duties for Captain Hall’s niece. Is Fiona a spy or a glorified babysitter?
From the minute Fiona meets the soprano aboard the RMS Adriatic it’s treble on the high C’s. Fiona sees something—or someone—thrown overboard, and then she overhears a chemist plotting in
German with one of her own countrymen!
And the trouble doesn’t stop when they disembark. Soon Fiona is doing time with a group of suffragettes and investigating America’s most impressive inventor Thomas Edison.
When her number one suspect turns up dead at the opera and Fredrick Fredricks is caught red-handed, it looks like it’s finally curtains for the notorious spy.
But all the evidence points to his innocence. Will Fiona change her tune and clear her nemesis’ name? Or will she do her duty? And just what is she going to do with the pesky Kitty Lane? Not to mention swoon-worthy Archie Somersby . . .
If Fiona’s going to come out on top, she’s going to have to make the most difficult decision of her life: the choice between her head and her heart.
Purchase
Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in
WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is bringing new titles in the Fiona Figg series to Boldwood, the first of
which, Chaos in Carnegie Hall, will be published in November 2022.
My thoughts: I hadn’t read the previous books in this series, but it doesn’t matter, it works just fine as a standalone or as the beginning of Fiona’s collaboration with Kitty Lane.
Sent to New York on the trail of a German spy, Fiona becomes embroiled in several murders, a different potential spy, Thomas Edison, suffragettes, Dorothy Parker’s Algonquin set and escorting her boss’ annoying neice to college. She’s accompanied by the devoted, if long suffering, Clifford, rather against her will. And her beloved Archie keeps popping up everywhere – is he a double agent?
With a wardrobe full of disguises, some subterfuge, a cute but not fully toilet trained dog, Poppy, and some help from a crinkly concierge, Fiona decides to untangle all the various threads, solve the murders, and of course find out what Frederick Fredericks is up to. She might even get to enjoy the sights of the Big Apple.
Lots of fun, and a bit silly, full of real famous names, and some artistic licence, this was an enjoyable historical crime caper.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 