The Cloak and Dagger Club
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by Agatha Christie's real-life Detection Club, a murder among a group of golden age mystery writers meets a second chance romance in this debut novel from author Jackie McMahon.
London, 1930. Lucy Hubbard is on the cusp of achieving her dreams. With her first mystery novel debuting with strong sales and glowing reviews, she's been invited by Horace Hazelmoor, the king of crime fiction, to join his elite group of writers—the Cloak and Dagger Club.
Thrilled at the opportunity, Lucy finds herself swept up into Horace's glamorous world at the Ritz hotel. She's even willing to put up with the inconvenient presence of her former fiancé, Frank Murray, the club's rising star who is on track to eclipse Horace as Britain's most popular crime writer.
But when Horace is found with a knife in his back, Frank is the police's prime suspect. Despite their complicated history, Lucy knows he's not capable of murder. With suspects galore and the danger rising, these two mystery writers must race to solve the crime—and fight their lingering feelings for each other—before the murderer strikes again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A budding crime novelist tries to clear her ex of murder in McMahon's charming debut. The action begins when Lucy Hubbard—whose debut novel, Spoonful of Cyanide, has become a bestseller—arrives at the Ritz Hotel London in 1930 for her first meeting of the Cloak and Dagger Club. Lucy is excited, but finds it difficult to believe that the club's snobbish leader, Horace Hazelmoor, wants to include her. She soon learns that Hazelmoor has ulterior motives connected to Lucy's broken engagement to Frank Murray, a club member whose book sales are soaring. Lucy's tense first club meeting comes to blows, and within days, Hazelmoor is found dead with a knife in his back. The six surviving club members are all suspects, according to police, with Frank at the top of the list. Lucy launches an investigation to try to clear his name, and the novel is at its best when it follows her probe of her fellow club members' sex lives and literary accomplishments. Lucy and Frank's rekindled romance, and the stories of their intertwined childhoods, are less enthralling. Still, McMahon ushers the proceedings to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Fans of golden age mysteries will be satisfied.
