The Price of Silence: An Anthony Brooke Espionage Thriller

Set during WWI, Gordon-Smith’s exciting sequel to 2013’s Frankie’s Letter opens with the discovery of the bodies of kindly, well-regarded Edward Jowett, a bank officer, and his wife in a locked room in their comfortable London home. Jowett apparently shot his wife and then himself. When, a short time later, a Belgian priest overhears a suspect conversation in which the name Jowett is mentioned, British secret agent Dr. Anthony Brooke investigates. Aided by his resourceful and well-educated wife, Tara, and his fellow spies, Brooke uncovers some good old-fashioned clues, such as partial words on a scrap of paper found in a dead woman’s hand, with Tara recognizing the significance of a colon. Brooke later makes a daring foray into German-occupied Belgium, where he must rescue an orphan girl who may hold the key to solving the mystery of the Jowetts’ deaths. The trail eventually leads Brooke to a vicious nest of blackmailers and a gang of murderous criminals. Gordon-Smith smoothly inserts well-researched historical color into the derring-do plot. (Nov.)