Blackshirt Conspiracy: An Agents of Room Z Novel
In October 1936, Hugh Clifton, leader of the Confidential Investigation Section of Department Z, known as Z3, has an inside view of Sir Oswald Mosley’s organized band of fascist Blackshirts. An operative within the inner workings of the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists for more than a year, Clifton is acting as a private investigator, weaving together pieces of information about three intrigues—the possibility of a traitor within the Blackshirt organization, the murder of a farmer who’s been sending suspicious reports about the yet-to-be-crowned King Edward VIII to the Blackshirts’ newspaper, and the woman who may bring down the British monarchy: Wallis Simpson. And his investigations bump him up against not only Blackshirt higher-ups, but also their opponents—Communists and the 35 Group of Christians against Fascism.
Blackshirt Conspiracy is the second in Monaghan’s Agents of Room Z series of alternative fiction. The book delves into a fascinating period of British history, when, as the author writes, the poor, downtrodden, and badly housed were marching with groups they believed would address their grievances, the heir to the British throne was considered to be a threat because he was “too malleable, selfish, and pro-Nazi,” and the tithe wars pitted tenant farmers against the Catholic Church. But as alternative fiction, it does not follow the actual path of history, taking readers down unexplored roads.
The storyline is effectively scheming. With suspicions everywhere, who can be trusted? Who stands for what? And the plot twists neatly in the end. But the massive cast of characters and, as Clifton himself notes, “plots within plots within plots” make for a disjointed read. At times, one wonders who’s on first and whether they’re zigging or zagging.
