Tag: Ashley Weaver

Historical Mystery Review: Ashley Weaver’s LOCKED IN PURSUIT (Electra McDonnell #4)

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Locked_In_PursuitIf you like your mysteries with a strong dose of romantic interest, then Weaver’s latest in her Electra McDonnell series will please you mightily. It certainly did this reader.

The usual cast returned, to my satisfaction: Electra “Ellie” and her Uncle Mick, petty criminals until recruited by British Intelligence and the aristocratic Major Ramsay, the usual villainous suspects, in this case German spies and collaborators, and a few new intelligence heroes to add to the Major’s team. We also once again meet Felix, master forgerer, and Ellie’s best friend and possibly something MOAR, except foiled because we finally FINALLY have an acknowledgement of feelings on Ellie’s and the Major’s part. Things end up in an emotionally thornier place than ever, but I’ll take it. For the deets, the publisher’s blurb will suffice:

Safecracker Ellie McDonnell hasn’t seen Major Ramsey—her handsome but aloof handler in the British government—since their tumultuous mission together three months before, but when she hears about a suspicious robbery in London she feels compelled to contact him. Together they discover that a rash of burglaries leads back to a hotbed of spies in the neutral city Lisbon, Portugal, and an unknown object brought to London by a mysterious courier.

As the thieves become more desperate and their crimes escalate, it becomes imperative that Ellie and Ramsey must beat them at their own game. Fighting shadowy assailants, enemy agents, and the mutual attraction they’ve agreed not to acknowledge, Ellie and Ramsey work together to learn if it truly takes a thief to catch a thief.   (more…)

Mini-Review: Ashley Weaver’s PLAYING IT SAFE (Electra McDonnell #3)

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Playing_It_SafeI have arrived at my last Electra McDonnell WWII-spy-thriller-mystery-romance and all I can say is: there better be a book #4…because, woo-ee!!, what an ending, satisfying in many ways and anticipating so much. Thank you, Ashley Weaver. I think. *drums fingers* wondering when the next book will be out…

Book #3 sees our intrepid Miss Electra “Ellie” McDonnell reunited with the handsome, still-waters-run-deep, stony-exterior-hides-fires-beneath Major Gabriel Ramsey on another mission to ferret out German spies. In this case, Ellie and Ramsey find themselves in Sunderland, German bombs going off, rife with traitors and spies. Ellie is out of her London element, family, and away from love-triangle-love-interest Felix Lacy (I’m staunchly Team Ramsey, btw). The publisher’s blurb will fill in the details:

As the Blitz continues to ravage London, Ellie McDonnell—formerly a safecracking thief, but currently determined to stay on the straight and narrow to help her country—is approached by British Intelligence officer Major Ramsey with a new assignment. She is to travel under an assumed identity to the port city of Sunderland and there await further instructions. In his usual infuriating way, the Major has left her task as vague and mysterious as possible.

Ellie, ever-ready to aid her country, heads north, her safecracking tools in tow. But before she can rendezvous with the major, she witnesses an unnatural death. A man falls dead in the street in front of her, with a note clutched in his hand. Ellie’s instincts tell her that the man’s death is connected in some way to her mission.

Soon, Ellie and the major are locked in a battle of wits and a race against time with an unknown and deadly adversary, and a case that leads them to a possible Nazi counterfeiting operation. With bombs dropping on the city and a would-be assassin shadowing their every move, it will take all of Ellie’s resourcefulness and Major Ramsey’s fortitude to unmask the spymaster and avert disastrous consequences—for England and for their own lives.  (more…)

Mini-Review: Ashley Weaver’s THE KEY TO DECEIT (Electra McDonnell #2)

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Key_to_DeceitThough I took a little break to read Barry’s Funny Guy and managed to get the plague and be lights-out on reading for a few days, I was eager, through coughing fits and fever-haze, to return to intrepid Electra’s war-time adventures and two love interests, shady but charming Felix Lacy and stiffly sexy Major Gabriel Ramsey. I don’t know where you stand, dear readers, but I’m Team Ramsey. Sadly, The Key to Deceit leaves the question open. Along with the return of the characters I’ve come to love (even Kimble is growing on me), adorable Electra, and violet-eyed Major, we have a more tightly-held-together and better-paced spy narrative. Let the blurb speak for itself as to the details:

London, 1940. After years of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor—well, to themselves, anyway—Ellie McDonnell and her family have turned over a new leaf as they help the government’s war effort. It’s true that the straight-laced Major Ramsey didn’t give them much choice, but still, Ellie must admit she doesn’t miss breaking and entering as much as she might have thought. What she does miss is the challenge of unlocking an impossible code and the adrenaline rush that comes from being somewhere she shouldn’t.

So when Major Ramsey turns up unannounced with another job, she can’t say no. A woman’s body has been found floating in the Thames, with a bracelet locked onto her wrist, and a cameo locket attached to it. It’s clear this woman was involved in espionage, but whose side was she on? Who was she reporting to? And who wanted her dead?  (more…)

Review: Ashley Weaver’s A PECULIAR COMBINATION (Electra McDonnell #1)

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Peculiar_CombinationWell it certainly took me long enough to get to this ARC of Weaver’s Electra McDonnell series. And why did I foolishly wait so long? Who knows: titles in the TBR are like the lone sock you lose in the wash and then mysteriously “find” months later. But I’m glad I did because I enjoyed it thoroughly, enough to look forward to the next two books. For now, here are the blurbish details to orient us:

FIRST RULE: DON’T LOSE YOUR CONCENTRATION.
Electra McDonnell and her family earn their living outside the law. Breaking into the homes of the rich and picking the locks on their safes may not be condoned by British law enforcement, but with World War II in full swing, Uncle Mick’s locksmith business just can’t pay the bills anymore.

SECOND RULE: DON’T MAKE MISTAKES.
So when Uncle Mick receives a tip about a safe full of jewels in an empty house, he and Ellie can’t resist. All is going as planned—until the pair is caught red-handed. But instead of arresting them, government official Major Ramsey has an offer: either Ellie agrees to help him break into a safe and retrieve blueprints crucial to the British war effort, or he turns her over to the police.

THIRD RULE: DON’T GET CAUGHT.
Ellie doesn’t care for the major’s imperious manner, but she has no choice. However, when they break into the house, they find the safe open and empty, and a German spy dead on the floor. Soon, Ellie and Major Ramsey are forced to put aside their differences to unmask the double agent, and stop Allied plans from falling into enemy hands. (more…)