Friday, November 16, 2012

Orders from Berlin-Simon Tolkien

Orders from Berlin


Simon Tolkien

Minotaur, Dec 11 2012, $25.99

ISBN 9780312632144



In 1940 Gestapo Chief Reinhard Heydrich has planted a mole inside British MI6. Meanwhile in London, someone shoves former MI6 Chief Albert Morrison over a banister outside his apartment. His horrified daughter Ava watches her dad plunge to his death, but cannot identify the killer due to the darkened streets.



Scotland Yard Detective Chief Inspector John Quaid almost immediately decides Ava’s husband Bertie killed his father-in-law. Quaid’s employee Detective William Trave believes the case is much more than a family matter as he believes the deceased’s previous occupation is involved with his death; especially after he found a strange note in Albert’s pocket and that the MI6 Deputy Chief Alec Thorn visited him earlier on that fatal day. Trave theorizes that the county’s ex spymaster was silenced before he could expose a traitor.



The third terrific Trave historical police procedural actually occurs almost two decades before the previous two investigations (see The Inheritance and The King of Diamonds). Filled with action and taut suspense, readers will believe they are in London during the Nazi air blitz as the raids impact the case. Orders From Berlin is a strong whodunit wrapped inside a powerful espionage thriller.



Harriet Klausner



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