One final turn

This is the fifth and final history-romance-espionage novel in the Electra McDonnell series by Ashley Weaver (Locked in Persuit, 2024), starring a woman raised by her locksmith uncle and an extended family of thieves, and trained in the arts of breaking and entering, safe-cracking, picking locks and pockets, and searching for potential marks. His Majesty's Military Intelligence recruited Electra ("Ellie") to use her special talents for the war effort at series' start. The novels, narrated wittily and with sharp observations by Ellie, are set in war-torn England, especially focusing on the London Blitz. In this book, Weaver changes locale, as Ellie moves to Lisbon to find her cousin and other escapees from a German POW camp, bringing her simmering on-again, off-again romance with boss Major Ramsey with her. There's a definite swoon factor from the love and espionage angle here--readers will be reminded of Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) and Curtiz's Casablanca as Electra uses all her skills to once again thwart the secret plans of the Nazis. A rip-roaring finale for a terrific series. Fans of this series may want to try Weaver's Amory Ames series, the first installment of which, Murder at the Brightwell (2014), received an Edgar nomination.

Burglar-turned-spy Electra McDonnell plunges deep into her complicated past in the satisfying fifth and final series entry from Weaver (after Locked in Pursuit). Before Electra was born, her life was already convoluted: her father was murdered, and her pregnant mother was convicted of killing him. Electra was subsequently raised by criminals before the British military recruited her to run intelligence during WWII. It's in that capacity that Electra has learned that her father was a German spy, which may have been the reason he was killed. Furthermore, her cousin Toby, who'd been captured by the Germans early in the war, is still alive and headed for Lisbon. Electra is sent to Portugal to track Toby down under the supervision of a new handler, since her former one, Major Ramsey--for whom Electra is nursing romantic feelings--dismissed her from his team for fumbling a case. Weaver manages to tie up the series' loose ends without shortchanging the core chase plot. Readers will miss Electra and her cohort, but Weaver has given them a worthy send-off. (June)

On a mission in neutral Portugal during World War II, skilled safecracker Electra McDonnell and upper-class British intelligence officer Major Ramsey find their intense bond reaching its peak in the conclusion of Weaver's series. Ellie, born into a family of safecrackers, was recruited by Ramsey to help retrieve documents crucial to the war effort, and together they've embarked on a series of dangerous missions. Raised by her Uncle Mick after her mother died while in prison for murdering her father, Ellie feels that Mick's sons, Toby and Colm, are her true brothers. Toby hasn't been seen since the Battle of Dunkirk, but he turns out to have escaped from a prisoner-of-war camp and is believed to be crossing the Pyrenees. British intelligence wants to find him, learn more about his escape route, and help other fugitives while also learning from them what they learned in France. The operation is led by Captain Archie Blandings with Major Ramsey's support, even though Ramsey dismissed Ellie after their last mission and their budding romance ended. Ellie is keeping a dangerous secret from Ramsey: She's searching for evidence of her mother's innocence. Arriving in Lisbon, Ellie and Archie stay at a hotel popular with spies and refugees. They set out to find Archie's Turkish informant, who's murdered soon after revealing that the person they need to speak to has gone underground. Ellie, Archie, and Ramsey frequent nightclubs to uncover someone who might help them find Toby, where Ellie catches the attention of a Nazi officer while pretending to be Archie's lover. What follows is a series of intense and dangerous attempts to rescue Toby and his fellow escapees. Espionage and fast-paced action take a backseat to the finale of a blazing, star-crossed love story. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.