Locked in Pursuit (Electra McDonnell Series, 4)
Ellie McDonnell, a skilled safecracker, has been recruited to assist Major Ramsey in military intelligence missions during the London blitz of 1941. Pursuing her crusade to prove false the rumors that her father had been a German spy during WWI, she notices certain oddities in newspaper reports of an armed robbery during a party at a luxurious London home. The criminal underground knows nothing about it; none of the valuable stolen items have turned up in the “usual channels.”
She considers these oddities sufficiently intriguing to report them to Major Ramsey. While she tells herself one must be extra vigilant in wartime, she has a stronger motive: she is in love with Ramsey and wants to know if he feels the same, her memories of their one shared kiss vivid in her mind.
The robbery indeed turns out to have been related to espionage, so Ellie and Ramsey set off on a trail of discovery across London, leading the pair to a range of meticulously described settings from the seediest of the underworld to dazzling social events. Inhabiting all the settings are a variety of characters ranging from the clearly evil to the subtly lecherous to the high-class grace (and perception) of Ramsey’s sister.
This is a most enjoyable read. Not only is the plot fast-moving and satisfyingly twisted, but Ellie’s approach to her perils and enigmas is refreshingly both practical and insightful. This relates closely to the author’s voice, which hits the right note consistently throughout the novel. It draws one into the story with a level of warmth and inclusion that one seldom finds as a reader.
