Fire Must Burn

A jaw-dropping twist and sophisticated character development mark Montclair’s exciting seventh mystery featuring Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge, proprietors of London’s Right Sort Marriage Bureau (after An Excellent Thing in a Woman). In 1947, the Brigadier, Sparks’s former superior in British intelligence, asks for her help with a sensitive assignment. Anthony Danforth—whom Sparks knew at Cambridge in the 1930s—has recently arrived in England from Shanghai and been assigned to a high-ranking position under the British Foreign Secretary. The Brigadier suspects him of being a traitor. To get more information, he asks Sparks to enlist Danforth—a bachelor—as a client of her and Bainbridge’s matchmaking business, then pair him up with a covert operative who could ascertain his true loyalties. Convinced that her country is at risk, Sparks agrees, but things get more complicated when somebody close to the operation is nearly killed. Montclair’s wit, top-notch pacing, and obvious affection for her characters ensure that readers will be on tenterhooks for the next installment. This is a treat. Agent: Mitchell Waters, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (Jan.)