Spitfire

The Livy Nash Mystery Series, Book 1

By: M. L. Huie

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

A new historical mystery for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal’s Maggie Hope series and Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network

How far would you go for vengeance?

It’s V-E Day 1946 in London. World War II is long over, and former spy Livy Nash is celebrating with her third drink before noon. She went to war to kill Nazis. Dropped behind enemy lines as a courier, she quickly became one of the toughest agents in France. But her war ended with betrayal and the execution of the man she loved. Now, Livy spends her days proofreading a demeaning advice column for little ladies at home, and her nights alone with black market vodka.

But everything changes when she meets the infamous Ian Fleming. The man who will create the world’s most sophisticated secret agent has an agenda of his own and sends Livy back to France with one task: track down the traitor who killed the only man she ever loved. Livy jumps at the chance, heading back to Paris undercover as a journalist. But the City of Lights is teeming with spies, and Livy quickly learns just how much the game has changed. With enemies on every corner and ever-shifting alliances, she’ll have to learn to fight a new war if she wants to conquer the past once and for all.

©2020 M. L. Huie (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

A good story badly told

This book had real potential. The story was a good one with an interesting take on the postwar period but (and its a ginormous but) two things ruined it. I don’t know if the author is American but the book was littered with American terms (walk up? Stoop? 🤷🏼‍♀️). Even worse was the narration. The main character is supposed to be from Blackpool but was portrayed in a strange Home Counties drawl and every sentence ended in a rising inflection as if it was a question. Distracting beyond tolerance.

Good but not the best

Found this an interesting concept, with some good twists and turns but the narrator’s style was irritating to the point I nearly gave up listening. I also found the americanisms irritating in an English story - faucets and sidewalks among many others - would still be irritating even if I read, rather than listened, to the book.