Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore’s '1940s' books on Goodreads (3 books)

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title

Merlin at War (DCI Frank Merlin, #3)

author

Ellis, Mark *

isbn

isbn13

asin

num pages

496 pp

avg rating

4.14

num ratings

180

date pub

Jul 06, 2017

date pub edition

Oct 12, 2017

Lady Clementina's rating

really liked it

my rating

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review

My thanks to the author Mark Ellis for a review copy of this book via Booktasters.

The French Spy (2018) also published under the title Merlin at War i My thanks to the author Mark Ellis for a review copy of this book via Booktasters.

The French Spy (2018) also published under the title Merlin at War is the third in a series of historical mysteries/police procedurals featuring Inspector Frank Merlin and set in World War II London. Besides the mystery threads, this series also weaves in the historical and war scenario (different developments at the point the book is playing out); issues of espionage and diplomacy (which are sometimes interwoven with their cases given the time) as well as the specific scenario in London, home at the time to several governments in exile. I haven’t been reading this series quite in order, but while it doesn’t bother me as much, since we follow developments in the characters’ personal lives and the department besides the mystery/mysteries, it probably makes more sense to read them in order.

In this complex tale (also the longest book I’ve read in the series so far at 500 plus pages), we follow several threads, which play out most over June 1941. In Crete, a small group of English soldiers, making its way to the vessel that is to evacuate them encounters the enemy. A dying officer, Simon Arbuthnot, hands over an important letter to his fellow officer Edgar Powell, but before he can tell him who this is to be given to, he dies. Powell, uncertain what to do, eventually decides to approach his old friend Frank Merlin, now Chief Inspector. Meanwhile in London, Merlin finds himself investigating the case of a botched illegal abortion, which has resulted in the rather cruel death of a young woman. Sometime later, another body is found, of a man murdered in his room. Merlin is at this time very shorthanded for Inspector Johnson has been sent away on another assignment while Constable Cole was already away because of developments in the previous books. Help comes in an interesting form, an American police officer Bernie Goldberg at the moment posted in London who is ‘lent’ to Scotland Yard. Alongside, in the offices of the Free French in London, there are rumours of a possible traitor or spy, leaking information to the Vichy regime, and one of the officers is charged with discovering the spy. These threads unfold and we follow several related characters as also Merlin and his team as they try to solve the two murders they start with and other developments and puzzles that get added on. Matters of inheritance and matters of the heart, dubious business dealings, and espionage are amongst the themes dealt with while in the background we also witness developments concerning the war.

Like the other books I’ve read in the series The French Spy is a well-plotted, engrossing and interesting read, and one which kept me guessing on all its various threads, especially on whether and how they would connect up. The multiple threads are easy to follow along and keep track of (with a large number of characters, a cast of characters would have been helpful, even though I didn’t entirely lose sense of who was who). One follows along with the different links and pieces the detectives pick up, but the picture properly comes together only at the end. There are some clues/observations that one realises the relevance of only in retrospect, which I found good fun. One of the mystery threads (the main one) also involves something which I especially enjoy but I’m not saying what since that’s something that is revealed as the story progresses.

While much of the action takes place in London, there are also parts of the mysteries connected with South America (specifically Argentina), and of course occupied France. We get a glimpse into matters like business and courts (and connectedly corruption and the different form of holdings) in the former, and some rather heart wrenching scenes in the latter involving both ordinary citizens (including little children) and operatives whose information is leaked to the Vichy regime.

I enjoyed the historical background and combination of real-life and historical characters. We see the tensions between the British and Free French—both Churchill and De Gaulle, and then in Syria between De Gaulle and Wavell, who was in charge of operations there. Wavell at the time is at the end of a less than successful stint in the Middle East and is headed to Delhi (He was to serve as Governor General of India, in which capacity, in one of those bookish coincidences he appeared in another book that I was reading at the same time). There is also the obvious animosity between the Vichy regime and the Free French who have very different approaches to the French occupation. In London, the bombings have for the moment ceased and citizens are finding the silence almost unusual though the damage is everywhere to be seen.

Besides the mysteries and historical aspects, we also follow developments in Merlin and his team’s lives; while I have been reading this series back and forth as I mentioned, I still enjoyed seeing how some characters I’d ‘met’ previously came on the scene and how certain relationships developed.

This is a series I’m very much enjoying reading, for the mystery elements and likeable characters, but especially so the historical background and elements, as the different books have cast light on various facets of how things were functioning, particularly the closer interweaving of diplomacy, espionage and regular police work at that time. This book made for another great instalment.

4.25 stars
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date started

May 24, 2023

date read

May 28, 2023

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May 28, 2023

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Lady Clementina > Books: 1940s‎ (3)