"In 1919 England, in the shadow of The Great War, many look to the spirit world for answers. But it will take an all too earthbound intrigue to draw in the discerning heroine of Anna Lee Huber’s latest mystery...

It’s not that Verity Kent doesn’t sympathize with those eager to make contact with lost loved ones. After all, she once believed herself a war widow. But now that she’s discovered Sidney is very much alive, Verity is having enough trouble connecting with her estranged husband, never mind the dead. Still, at a friend’s behest, Verity attends a séance, where she encounters the man who still looms between her and Sidney—and a medium who channels a woman Verity once worked with in the Secret Service. Refusing to believe her former fellow spy is dead, Verity is determined to uncover the source of the spiritualist’s top secret revelation.

Then the medium is murdered—and Verity’s investigation is suddenly thwarted. Even Secret Service agents she once trusted turn their backs on her. Undaunted, Verity heads to war-torn Belgium, with Sidney by her side. But as they draw ever closer to the danger, Verity wonders if she’s about to learn the true meaning of till death do us part..."

Spiritualists! YAS!

I really enjoyed the second book in Huber's Verity Kent series in which Verity Kent finds herself embroiled in an intrigue related to her time as a Secret Service agent during the war. Verity learns that a former contact may be in danger and that someone has been sharing secrets that should not have been made public, spurring Verity to make a trip to Belgium to discover more. Accompanying Verity is her husband, Sidney, who has recently returned to her after being thought dead for 15 months (read the first book for more on this). For Verity, this jaunt to Belgium is a way to deflect the problems that she and Sidney are having - they were only married for a short time before the war and that war has also changed both of them dramatically. The drama in their marriage was really well done and balanced nicely with the mystery element.

Altogether, Treacherous Is the Night was a great instalment in this post-war mystery series. If you've read any of Simone St. James' historical novels, Huber's newest series will absolutely appeal. The post-war era is one that continually draws my attention, and I think Huber captures that tumultuous time exceedingly well.

Set in England, shortly after WWI, Anna Lee Huber's latest book. Treacherous is the Night, will keep you on the edge of your seat while you anticipate the next double cross. Initially I did not expect to like this book because it started with a visit to a medium who purported to make contact with the dead, something this reviewer finds distasteful. But the story quickly moved past this duplicity when our protagonist, Verity Kent, a strong independent woman and ex-Secret Service agent sets off on a quest to find her former partner, Emilie, a member of the Resistance movement who has gone missing.

Sidney, Verity's husband, tags along. Despite being married for five years this couple barely knows each other since the war intervened on their time together. They are struggling to reconnect and save their marriage but their separate horrifying war experiences may prove too great a barrier. As Sidney observes more and more of the spy network and subterfuge his wife was engaged in during the war his respect for contribution to the war effort deepens. As they adventure through the war torn countryside of Belgium and France they find that they are finally able to share their chilling war experiences with each other. The jeopardy and peril in which the mission takes them forces them to work together and regain their mutual trust.

I do not know if this novel is part of a series but the strong characters and accurate portrayal of post war society makes me hope that we will see move of Verity and Sidney Kent soon!

I received a free copy of this ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: B+/4.5 stars

Treacherous is the Night is the second book in Anna Lee Huber’s latest series of post-WW1 historical mysteries featuring former secret service agent Verity Kent. The events of this story unfold just a few weeks after those of the previous book, This Side of Murder, and if you’ve not read that, look away now, because there is a massive spoiler for the twist in that story in the next paragraph of this review.

For fifteen months, Verity believed herself to be a widow, the husband she’d married on the eve of the war having been killed in action in 1918. But during her investigation into the murders of some of Sidney’s former comrades, she made a game-changing discovery; namely that Sidney wasn’t dead at all, but had allowed everyone to believe him to be while he pursued an investigation of his own to uncover the identity of the traitor among the officers of his battalion.

After Sidney finally revealed the truth, Verity was – and still is – is a mass of conflicting emotions; relief that he isn’t dead; fury that he’d allowed her to mourn for so many months; guilt at some of things she’d kept from him during their brief reunions during the war –and their relationship is still in a state of flux when we rejoin them at the beginning of Treacherous is the Night. They have decided to work at their marriage to see if they can make a go of it, but it’s not going to be easy for either of them.

The story opens when Verity’s good friend and former War Office colleague, Daphne Merrick, asks Verity to attend a séance with her. Spiritualism saw a huge increase in popularity after the First World War as devastated relatives and friends of the fallen sought comfort in the idea of being able to speak to their loved ones one last time. Verity is sceptical of the whole thing – even more so after a cruel trick that was played on her at the house party she attended in the previous book – but she knows Daphne is desperate to contact her brother, Gil, who lost his life in the early days of the war, and reluctantly agrees to accompany Daphne to the session at Madame Zozza’s.

When they arrive, Verity is surprised to see Max Westfield, the Earl of Ryde also in attendance. They exchange friendly greetings during which Verity recalls their unexplored – interrupted – burgeoning attraction, and then Max goes on to explain that he has accompanied his aunt, Lady Swaffham to the séance. When the proceedings get underway, things go mostly as Verity had expected – until the medium greets Verity – “ma compatriote, where are you?”- and tells her that she is the spirit of Emilie, a spy and courier with whom Verity had worked on several occasions on her various missions into France and Belgium during the war.

Verity is flabbergasted and furious at the medium’s audacity at using both Emilie and her own past as part of a cheap trick, but is determined to find out exactly why the woman should have pretended to channel Emilie in order to deliver a cryptic message – “Beware the man hiding behind the mask.” But Madame Zozza’s assistant whisks her away before Verity can approach her, so Verity determines to pay the woman a visit the following morning to find out what she knows. But that proves impossible; she and Sidney arrive in time to witness her house going up in flames, and learn that Madame Zozza perished in the fire.

There’s nothing for it now but for Verity to look into the matter herself – and she can’t deny that she’s been looking for a way to avoid having to think too hard about the state of her marriage and the ways in which both she and Sidney have become different people – people who might no longer be capable of sustaining a relationship. She needs to find Emilie and answers to the numerous questions the medium’s ‘summoning’ has posed, and in order to do that, she must return to Flanders and track down the members of La Dame Blanche, the network of intelligence gatherers and couriers of which Emilie was a member.

Ms. Huber very skilfully balances the novel’s plot – the uncovering of a deadly scheme for revenge as Verity and Sidney search for Emilie – with the gradual peeling away of the various layers of self-protection that Verity and Sidney have erected around their emotions and the exploration and development of their relationship . They’re different people now, they’ve experienced hardship, danger and the horrors of war in different ways, and they’re cagy and reluctant to reveal the extent of their sorrow, anger, doubt and broken-ness to one another. Verity is keeping a particularly guilty secret (which has been alluded to before) and is also unsure of how her husband will react when he learns the true extent of her work as an agent for the secret service. Will he be appalled that his little wife wasn’t home sitting quietly by the fire knitting socks? Will he ever be able to accept that she’s no longer the starry-eyed young woman he married?

Because the story is told through Verity’s eyes, we never get inside Sidney’s head, but Ms. Huber does a pretty good job of showing readers his feelings and reactions through his dialogue and what Verity observes of his facial expressions and body language. We see him coming to understand, appreciate and admire the determined, independent woman Verity has become, and experience his gradually reawakening trust as he allows himself to reveal more of his own fears and insecurities just as Verity reveals hers. Their internal struggles feel very real, and their rapprochement is gradual and not always easy, but it’s superbly done and I became fully invested in their relationship and was rooting for them long before the end.

If you’ve read This Side of Murder, you may be wondering about Max, who was clearly set up as a potential love interest for Verity in that story – which obviously couldn’t go anywhere once Sidney was revealed to be alive after all. Max makes a couple of brief appearances in this story, and has an important role to play in the finale; there is still a frisson of attraction between him and Verity, and Sidney is obviously jealous of their friendship, but with Verity’s commitment to making her marriage work, the attempt to create some sort of uncertainty falls flat, and I’m not quite sure why it was included.

Ms. Huber’s eye for historical detail is excellent, and she makes some shrewd social observations with a light touch, about the about the glamourisation of war, the treatment of its veterans and how the women who had taken men’s roles during it were suddenly expected to go back into their ‘womanly’ boxes and act as if they’d never had that taste of independence and freedom.

Treacherous is the Night is entertaining, well-researched and well-written, and I enjoyed it very much. I was as caught up in the exploration of the Kents’ troubled marriage as I was intrigued by the mystery plot, and would definitely encourage fans of well-written historical mysteries to consider giving this series a try.

Verity and Sydney are trying to figure out the rhythms of their marriage now that Sydney has "returned from the dead." Verity is struggling because he didn't tell her that he wasn't dead and her emotions sent her into a spiral of bad decisions.

When Verity's friend Daphne asks her to attend a seance, Verity is skeptical. Just because most of the world is embracing spiritualism doesn't mean she believes that someone can talk to you after they're dead. Except that Madame Zozza singles Verity out, pretending to be one of Verity's contacts from the war, talking about things that no one knew. When Verity goes back to try and figure out what happened, the spiritualist is dead in a fire.

This sends Verity and Sydney off on an adventure where they will face their demons and have to make some hard decisions about where their marriage is going. It will also uncover men who are working to further the cause of the defeated enemies.

A steady read, this book made me uncomfortable at points because it's depiction of life after war and the peek into the Kents' marriage seemed so real. But definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.



Four stars

This book came out September 25

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Full disclosure, I’ve been a huge fan of Anna Lee Huber for years. I absolutely love all of her books and I can’t get enough of the heroines, mysteries, and of course the covers! The Verity Kent series is no different.

I read the first book in the Verity Kent series earlier this year and I loved it! It was an interesting start to a different type of heroine for Huber. I was eager to see what else was in store for Verity in this latest book in the series.

In 1919 England, in the shadow of The Great War, many look to the spirit world for answers. But it will take an all too earthbound intrigue to draw in the discerning heroine of Anna Lee Huber’s latest mystery.

It’s not that Verity Kent doesn’t sympathize with those eager to make contact with lost loved ones. After all, she once believed herself a war widow. But now that she’s discovered Sidney is very much alive, Verity is having enough trouble connecting with her estranged husband, never mind the dead.

Still, at a friend’s behest, Verity attends a seance, where she encounters the man who still looms between her and Sidney–and a medium who channels a woman Verity once worked with in the Secret Service. Refusing to believe her former fellow spy is dead, Verity is determined to uncover the source of the spiritualist’s top secret revelation.

Then the medium is murdered–and Verity’s investigation is suddenly thwarted. Even Secret Service agents she once trusted turn their backs on her. Undaunted, Verity heads to war-torn Belgium, with Sidney by her side. But as they draw ever closer to the danger, Verity wonders if she’s about to learn the true meaning of till death do us part (summary from Goodreads).

While I might have enjoyed Verity Kent the first time around, the second time around made me love her. In this book we really dive into the complex emotions that many of the characters had about post war life. For instance, in the first book I was not a fan of Sidney.

I didn’t feel like I could trust him and I just felt that he was wrong for Verity. But as we get into the deeper nuances of their marriage and their post war life in this book, it becomes clear what Sidney’s intentions are. Personally I want to now know more about his life in hiding after the war and his war work. I hope that the next book is a little more about Sidney.

What I absolutely loved about this book was exploring post war life. I think in a lot of books there is so much focus on the Great War and it’s effects on people but then the peace treaties were signed and boom it was over. I loved that this book went into the whole fall out from the peace treaties. I especially loved touring the Flemish countryside in this book. It’s easy to forget that it took decades for these small village to rebuild and flourish again after the devastation and I thought the author did a marvelous job depicting that.

The whole time I was reading this book all I could think about was how I wanted to go and tour some of the old battlefields for my next vacation. She did such a marvelous job with her descriptions that I was dying to know more…..and I love the Great War history so I am partial to this time period but Huber’s writing made me love it so much more.

The mystery in this one was a little more like solving a riddle and following bread crumbs rather than an a traditional murder mystery as the previous book in this series. I loved this approach. It made me be more of an active reader and think about possible connections or motives. This was a smart and well written mystery.

This one would probably read ok as a stand alone mystery however why cheat yourself? Read the first one as well…..Verity is fun, mature, sassy, smart, and a different character than those of Huber’s other books. I highly recommend Verity Kent as well as all of Huber’s other works!

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: Treacherous Is the Night (Verity Kent #2) by Anna Lee Huber

Paperback, 304 pages
Expected publication: September 25th 2018 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
ISBN 1496713176 (ISBN13: 9781496713179)
Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own
Recommendation: 5 out of 5
Genre: Historic fiction, mystery, detective novel, spy novel
Memorable lines/quotes:

Fun book about Verity and Simon and them trying to find their way back to each other after being apart. All the while staying 2 steps away from danger.

4.5 Top Pick

Treacherous is the Night by Anna Lee Huber is the second book in the Verity Kent historical mystery series. It picks up right where the first book left off with Verity adjusting to her new life outside of the Secret Service with Sydney, her previously thought dead husband. In this book Verity attends a séance that leads her to Belgium and France with Sydney to investigate a mystery surrounding one of the intelligence agents, Emelie, who she had worked with during World War I. The séance led Verity to believe that Emelie, who was also a friend, may be in some sort of danger. The more Verity looks into finding her agent friend, the more the mystery deepens and the danger increases.

As Verity and Sydney navigate through this mystery as well as their relationship, we begin to learn more about Verity’s past with the Secret Service as well as Sydney’s experiences in the military. Verity and Sydney’s five year wedding anniversary is looming in the near future, but both have not spent more than a few months together in total due to the war. They both have a lot of secrets and past hurts from the war that they need to confide in each other before they can move on with their relationship. It is really nice to obverse how their relationship progresses from not really speaking much in the beginning to building their new normal. It felt very organic and not forced for the sake of a happy ending.

This book is immensely well developed with a great story line and characters with a lot of depth. It is captivating and suspenseful and as the reader you really feel as if you are on the ground with Verity and helping to solve this puzzle. Often mystery novels can be predictable, and I end up guessing who the villain is quickly. However, this one left me guessing until the very end – it was very well developed and had twists and turns that I could not have predicted.

The only one negative I can say about this book is that Verity’s old friend Max, who had a prominent role in the first book, did not have more than a sideline story in this one. I hope the future books with have more of Max in them!

I highly recommend this book for those who love historical settings with mystery and romance. You will learn about the war and the roles of both women and men during it. Add that to the slow romance at the core of the book and the exciting drama surrounding it all – and you have a winner (in my opinion)!

~ Harshita

Calculated risks!

Verity and Sidney Kent may be united but four years of thinking your husband dead means you led a different life. No longer the woman who had a husband to consider, rather a woman grieving and determined to live life, take chances and trying to bury the sorrow.
So it's no wonder Verity and Sidney are experiencing alienation, confusion with seemingly no way of going forward.
Add to this Verity being dragged to a seance where the medium exposes facts that are not to be revealed under the Secrets Act and it seems something more sinister might be looming.
This leads to Verity searching for a traitor, a spy.
Verity and Sidney follow a convoluted trail to Belgium with mistrust and murder dogging their steps. Their journey ranges over sites between Germany and France that Verity knew as an undercover agent. The magnitude of Verity's role as a Secret Service agent working in Europe becomes clearer to Sidney. Not helped is the realization that his "death" drove Verity to such action.
Their situation is made even more tense as two men attracted to Verity during her "widowed" years join them.
Tighter writing than the first in the series, the various undercurrents between the characters and the situations present ramp up to a breaking point that resolves satisfactorily, with just the right British upper crust panache.
A most worthy blend of mystery and spy craft with just the right dash of romance and darkness.

A NetGalley ARC

It is 1919, and the shadows of World War I still loom in this superb second installment in the Verity Kent Mystery Series. TREACHEROUS IS THE NIGHT follows Verity and her “resurrected” husband Sydney as they face ghosts from the war in an attempt to save their marriage and decipher the message that one of Verity’s friends from her time in the Secret Service is trying to send. Readers follow along on the pair’s complex quest to find Emile, survive the dangers presented, and solve a murder mystery while they’re at it.

Verity is not the woman she was five years ago, and she fears that time and experiences have taken a toll on her marriage to Sydney. Though she is a strong, self-sufficient woman, her insecurities about her war service and indiscretion weigh heavily on her, and she fears that she and Sydney cannot get past them. Of course, Sydney is on rocky ground himself having to face the repercussions of his actions during the war. Not having spent much time together during the war, they do not know each other well, and one wonders if they can ever trust each other and move on. Should they not, Max Westfield is standing in the wings ready to explore the attraction he and Verity felt in THIS SIDE OF MURDER. There is a lot of character development and growth within these pages.

These are relatively heavy circumstances to circumvent, but Huber seamlessly weaves the domestic plot thread with intrigue, history, and murder mystery. The author’s eloquent and elegant prose and vivid descriptions of the landscape, people, and thoughts paint striking images of a post-WWI world that drew me into the story. The history is obviously well researched, and I can always count on learning something from reading Huber’s books. There is plenty of peril and tension, with twists, turns, and clues, to keep me reading past my bedtime. All of the various threads come together to make a most satisfying read.

TREACHEROUS IS THE NIGHT is one of my best reads of the year. I highly recommend this intelligent historical mystery to any reader.

I received an ARC of this title from the author and publisher and voluntarily shared my thoughts here.

I was fortunate to receive this novel from Net Galley for a honest review. I liked the characters. Full of mystery and intrigue. I enjoyed the sartorial descriptions in the novel. And reading about different automobiles.

Several weeks after Verity Kent's husband, Sidney, returned from the dead, having allowed Verity to believe him dead in WWI, the relationship is tense and strained. Even though Verity sympathizes with Sidney's mission to uncover and bring to justice traitors in his regiment, the fact that he deceived her for so long rankles. Both Verity and Sidney have been irrevocably changed by the war, and neither is sure that the marriage can be salvaged.



Spiritualism is a craze in England, and while Verity understands hoping to reach lost loved ones, she is not a believer. A friend persuades her to attend a seance and to Verity's surprise, an agent she worked with during the war, Emilie, purports to contact her. Not only does Verity not believe in Spiritualism, but she is also reasonably sure that Emilie is still alive. And how does the medium know so much about Verity's work with the Secret Service? When Verity returns to the medium's house the day after, she finds the home engulfed in flames and the medium killed in the fire. Verity and Sidney set off to find Emilie in the ruins of Europe and find out the meaning of the cryptic message sent through the medium. The journey takes them through Belgium and France, and it becomes clear that they are being followed. Much more is at stake than they could ever imagine.

I liked the first in this series, This Side of Murder, but Huber has brought us a much more nuanced portrait of the dangers and horrors of WWI and its aftermath in Treacherous is the Night. Verity was much more involved in the Secret Service than we knew and was deeply embedded in espionage behind the lines, placing herself in danger with every step. Emilie was her guide and companion on many missions, and the two formed a deep bond. Sidney has his own horrific memories of trench warfare, but so does Verity. The two must navigate murky waters on this journey and learn to trust each other again.

I highly recommend Treacherous is the Night for anyone who has an interest in WWI and its aftermath. Huber has written an involving and emotionally wrenching story, and her extensive research adds to its effectiveness. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington for an advance digital copy. The opinions are my own.

This is the second in Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent Mysteries, and with this one, it becomes a series to love. As in the first book, This Side of Murder, the immediate after-effects of WWI are ever present, physically and emotionally. Sidney and Verity Kent, who married young just as war began, were separated first by the war, and then by word of Sidney’s death. After more than a year it turned out that Sidney was very much alive, but now they find that neither they nor their marriage are what they remembered. There is also someone else, who entered Verity’s life while she thought Sidney had died in the fighting, so she is uncertain and troubled about what the future holds, but hopes the marriage will last.

As in the first book, a séance is pivotal to the plot, and this one launches Verity and Sidney into a search for both a woman in the Belgian resistance Verity worked with as a Secret Service agent during the war and an unknown enemy who seeks a terrible revenge. They travel to the continent, and thus begins a dangerous and complex journey looking for the agent Emilie, and also seeking an introspective revelation of how the war has changed them. They must find the courage to share their sometimes shattering war experiences and feelings before they can learn who they have become and whether their relationship can successfully adapt and grow as something new, and they must do it with the man Verity met while Sidney was “dead” all too close at hand while they do so.

Huber has done her research and writes so realistically about the devastation of the post-war landscape in Belgium and France that it’s painful to read. I kept thinking how lucky we are in the US not to have had a war fought on our own land in N. America for more than a century.

I can’t wait for the next installment in this saga. The plot is complex and laid out brilliantly in a way that keeps one on edge right to the end. The characters have great depth, and it’s impossible not to care about them. The setting is fascinating to learn about, and be reminded of the costs of conflict between nations, especially when most of the people who must fight and suffer are good people trapped in the web of their nations’ war. I highly recommend this book and the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for a Digital ARC of this book, which I received in return for an unbiased review.

This is the second book of the Verity Kent Mystery Saga. Being a post WWI book deals with the aftermath of The Great War and gives tribute to the silent fighters, those who worked in intelligence services for the allies. Most novels that I have come across about WWI emphasized much on the carnage of the trenches and the psychological effects. This book addresses those topics in a more subtle way without resting importance to the horrors lived by those who were lucky enough to survive, and how they either come to terms with what they lived and go on with their lives, or succumb into hatred, depression and despair.

This book is about honor and forgiveness, loyalty and friendship while exploring the human side of a conflict. Verity and Sidney learn about their lives during their time apart and how those years shape them. They must forgive, reconcile and love the person they have become and accept their relationship in this new terms.

Here are some quotes from the book:

“...you will not be forced to sacrifice your honor in the quest for what is right.”

“What I want is for you to stop assuming that absolute forgiveness happens overnight. It's a process.”

“Too quick a reconciliation would have seemed false.”

“I was not so narrow-minded as to not recognize that many of the enemy were good men caught up in the same cog of war that had entrapped us all. “

Highly recommend this book!

I was very excited to read this novel. Not only was I unable to figure out the mystery until it was revealed but the relationships of Ms. Huber's characters had be hooked from the first chapter. Another amazing novel for the author and I am anxious to read the next in the series.

Thanks Kensington Books and netgalley for this ARC.

Love that Verity gets to solve this mystery with her husband. Classic great historical mystery that will keep my attention til the end of time.

4 stars

Really good second entry to a great series. So enjoy reading about life/events surrounding WW1. Seemed to be well researched. Hope to read lots more about these characters.

Armistice Day, the formal end of The Great War was November 11, 1918. This November will mark the 100th anniversary of the end of that war. Treacherous Is The Night is a great book to read to remember those who fought and helped in the war and to learn a little more about a time 100 years ago.

Treacherous Is The Night is the newest Anna Lee Huber book. I have loved her Lady Darby series and I loved her first book, This Side of Murder, in her new Verity Kent series. Treacherous Is The Night is the second book in that series. During the war Verity worked as a spy in the Secret Service. She often worked with La Dame Blanche, also a spy collecting information organization and often consisting of women. Verity learns that someone knows of her work in the Secret Service, which was suppose to be a secret. A woman who worked with the La Dame Blanche may also be dead which Verity won’t believe. Though her marriage is struggling she leaves for Belgium to try and discover who knows about her secret work and to help her friend.

Treacherous Is The Night did a great job is showing how war affects people. Those who fight and must come to terms with the things they had to do and the things they saw. Those who stayed behind but still had to put their lives on hold as they also found ways to help and as they waited for soldiers to hopefully return home to them. I really like Verity. She learned to be strong during the war as she gathered information for Britain. She has learned to stand up for herself and what she wants. But she is also vulnerable. With the return of her husband Sidney she finds herself working for her marriage. They must both discover the new person each other has become and the heartbreak and forgiveness that follows.

I really enjoyed Treacherous Is The Night. I was as caught up in whether or not Sidney and Verity work out their problems as I was about the mystery. I loved learning more about World War I and especially the La Dame Blanche and the great strong women who found a way to take part in fighting for what they loved.

This is a captivating, suspenseful and beautifully written tale set in the aftermath of WWI. It moves quickly and is filled with twists and turns. There is so much rich period detail that is so well done that you feel as if you are there. This author does a lot of research and I always learn something new when I read her work. The characters are so well written that you would like to introduce yourself and make them your friend. I particularly like Max and can’t wait for him to get his HEA. Once I began my read, I couldn’t put it down!

If you read the first book in the series, This Side of Murder, you saw Verity’s reaction to a séance. So, just imagine her reaction when her best friend, Daphne, asks her to attend a séance with her. Verity did her best to decline the request, but Daphne is a very persuasive lady, and Verity ends up at the séance. Two big surprises await her there – (1) is the fact that Max is attending with his aunt and (2) the medium ‘channels’ one of Verity’s contacts from her days as an operative during the war. Verity doesn’t believe for a minute that the reading is true, but how could that medium possibly know about Emelie. Verity is very shaken when she leaves the séance – and even more shaken when she returns to the medium’s home the next morning to find the house burning and the medium dead.

Verity immediately begins to dig into the matter and finds a trail of breadcrumbs. As she and Sidney follow them, the danger increases. They leave England and head across the channel to some of the more horrific scenes of the war – and to the areas where Verity spent a lot of time acting for the crown. The crumbs are sparse and it takes Verity a lot of effort to follow them and find the solution to the mystery – and the madman at the end of the journey.

With the backdrop of the mystery and its solution, Verity and Sidney are still trying to figure out how to make their marriage work. Their fifth anniversary is approaching, but they’ve not spent more than a couple of months of that time together. Sidney was shipped off the war three days after they married and he had very few leaves where he could come home. Then, the unthinkable happened – Sidney died – and Verity went into deep, deep mourning for him. She didn’t care whether she lived or died and she took some big risks – some of them in her spying. She is keeping secrets from Sidney and until they clear the air, they’ll never come together. She’s afraid he’ll hate her if she tells him all. So, it is really nice to see them forgive each other and get back to that love you just knew they always had for each other. Although – I still think Sidney got off a bit easy for what he put her through. All in all, I loved the character development between Verity and Sidney and Verity’s struggle with reconciling her wartime work and settling into a normal life.

I loved the mystery with Emelie because it was really well done and kept me guessing until the end. There are just so many things that I loved about this book that there is no way I can mention all of them here. I can say, however, if you want to be thoroughly entertained and learn something in the process, this book is for you! I can hardly wait for their next adventure!

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"I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher."

Sidney is not only alive, he's helping Verity with an investigation of what's happened to members of LaDame Blanche, the Belgian intelligence network she worked with in WWI. Don't worry if you didn't read the first one (which was great), you will immediately find yourself immersed in post-WWI Europe. A medium (so perfect!) at a party makes Verity concerned about Emilie. A determined and forward thinking (and really smart) woman, she takes off for Belgium to look for answers. Huber hits all the right notes with these characters as well as with the setting. This is an engaging and highly readable mystery. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm looking forward to the next one. For fans of historical mysteries.