Under the Paper Moon
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Kate Quinn’s The Rose Code meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this intrigue-filled debut, as two former spies who shared more than just missions during WWII reunite in 1948 Los Angeles. Can they let go of heartbreak long enough to team up for one last operation in this tightly-plotted, emotionally rich postwar mystery?
It’s 1942, and as far as her father knows, Evelyn Bishop, heiress to an aeronautics fortune, is working as a translator in London. In truth, Evelyn—daring, beautiful, and as adept with a rifle as she is in five languages—has joined the Office of Strategic Services as a spy. Her goal is personal: to find her brother, who is being held as a POW in a Nazi labor camp. Through one high-risk mission after another she is paired with the reckless and rebellious Nick Gallagher, growing ever close to him until the war’s end brings with it an act of deep betrayal.
Six years later, Evelyn is back home in Los Angeles, working as a private investigator. The war was supposed to change everything, yet Evelyn, contemplating marriage to her childhood sweetheart, feels stifled by convention. Then the suspected cheating husband she’s tailing is murdered, and suddenly Evelyn is back in Nick’s orbit again.
Teaming up for a final mission, Evelyn and Nick begin to uncover the true nature of her case— and realize that the war has followed them home. For beyond the public horrors waged by nations there are countless secret, desperate acts that still reverberate on both continents, and threaten everything Evelyn holds dear...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Screenwriter Steinberg's fizzy debut balances quick-witted romance with colorful bursts of two-fisted action. Beautiful socialite Evelyn Bishop has retired to 1948 Los Angeles after spying on Germany for the United States during WWII. While she's initially grateful for the change of pace, Evelyn soon realizes she can't return to a life of charity galas and doubles tennis, so she sets up shop as a private eye. Her first client, Collette Palmer, wants to know whether her husband, George, is cheating on her. The seemingly straightforward job spirals out of control when Evelyn finds George's bullet-riddled corpse in his mistress's apartment. What's more, she learns that Nick Gallagher, a troubled fellow spy whom she grew close to during the war, is back in Los Angeles and was working as George's private security. With Evelyn and Nick equally in the dark about George's death, they agree to investigate it together, potentially rekindling their romantic flame just as Evelyn begins to question her betrothal to her childhood sweetheart, James. Steinberg's screenwriting experience serves her well in a plot that often feels plucked from a black-and-white rom-com. While the narrative unfolds predictably, there's plenty of bounce and bite in the execution. Readers will be eager to see what Steinberg does next.
