Christian Crime Fiction with a historical twist.

Speranza, 'hope', is a secret society of women working together to help/rescue women. "I believe in God even when He is silent." is their motto.

Sophie Williams has always worked alone. Her career as Robin Hood, returning stolen art to its original owner, shifts when she is forced to work with others to accomplish her goals. The women she meets are a variety of characters that keep the twists happening. Adding Mac to this spiced up the danger.

An interesting tour of castles throughout Europe make this a high tension travelogue.

This book has a complicated storyline, which at times had me confused. It is worth pressing on to enjoy seeing the comradeship and friendship of many. A firm remind of God's presence at all times.

"The Crown Conspiracy" is a Christian suspense. Sophie is talented at mimicking other people's paintings down to the last detail. She uses this skill and her talent for disguises to return stolen artwork to its rightful owners. To pay the bills, she works for her best friend at an art gallery. When the friend receives a long-lost painting as an inheritance from her mother, the media finds out. A lot of people want that painting, especially as there's a clue on each painting that leads to treasure. When her best friend is kidnapped, Sophie's determined to follow the clues, retrieve the other missing paintings, and save her friend.

She's used to working alone, but a small, diverse group of talented women show up to help. Turns out her friend is a part of a group of women who work to protect each other and vulnerable women and children. And she needs help as at least one man is willing to kill to get the paintings. Another man steals from her even as he occasionally helps protect her from the other painting seekers. Though they kiss intensely at times, I wouldn't really call him a love interest as he's intent on his own interests.

It was really fun to have women saving the day and outwitting the bad guys for once. They used their intelligence, talents, and determination to overcome all obstacles. The characters were engaging and reacted to events in realistic ways. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable suspense and look forward to the next in this series.

An interesting book with some bits of history and art and a smidgen of romance, set in Germany. I’m always intrigued by secret societies and Speranza is right up my alley. Throw in a few castles and I’m sold. I like the story and the characters, wonderful suspense. I have some question marks about the groups of women living in the snow in the park. I live in Germany and groups of women and children who do not choose to be homeless would be in emergency shelters. Even if they weren’t, they’d go to the winter emergency shelters. Then there are several mentions of needing money for medical bills and university. In Germany medical bills are paid for by your insurance and university is free. Then there’s a trip in a helicopter. The way it is written, you’d think that Venice is just beyond Munich instead of some 400 km down the road. Never mind it’s winter, there’s snow and you have to fly over some pretty high mountains - with no doors! Lastly, German words are used, but some of them are misspelled. Too bad, paying a little bit more attention to the details would give such an authentic flavor.

This book is a mix of Dan Brown and James Bond. It’s suspenseful, there are secret messages to be decoded, treasures to be found and people to be rescued. The main characters pretty much go non-stop (I got pretty tired imagining everything they were doing), the bad guys always find them and the good guys always get out of scrapes. They have a team that can hack into anything and find whatever information is needed. It emphasizes the power of teamwork. It’s very enjoyable seeing how inventive they are in getting away. I find the story itself well thought-out and not your everyday suspense novel. There are lots of details and watching it unfold is part of the fun. Unrealistic? Without a doubt. Fun to read? Absolutely.

Thank you NetGalley and Tyndale House for providing me with an ARC. I was not required to leave a positive review and all opinions are my own.

THE CROWN CONSPIRACY by CONNIE MANN is a nail biting thriller that takes us from the Fortier gallery in Munich, to the cathedrals in Cologne, the canals in Venice and the Alps,as we follow Sophie Williams, a.k.a. Robin Hood, in her quest to obtain the missing paintings of princess Johanna of Neuhansberg and her two children, as well her best friend and boss Lise Fortier who has disappeared.
Mac McKenzie is an art investigations expert who has been employed by Prince Benedict to find the missing paintings.
The Speranza (hope) symbol, that first came to light in the Middle Ages and depicts women helping women, plays a big part in the story, as young girls start disappearing from homeless shelters…..
We see the courage and faith of those who work to make the world a better place.
I found the novel exciting and fast paced, and the characters interesting - altogether an enjoyable read.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Tyndale House Publishers. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

Sophie network of women helping other women bring us a mystery of art thief.
Sophia is a master at recognizing art and the history behind them. Then her
friend disappears from her art gallery. Brings us a captivating story of adventure
to find the missing items and her friend. Interesting era in history to read.
Given arc by Net Galley and Tyndale for my voluntary review
June 4, 2034