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|date=May 2015
|isbn=9781846973253
|website=http://www.sarasheridan.com
|video=
|cover=Sheridan_Bulldog
|aznuk=1846973252
Daily life in the post-war years is not as prominently described in this book as in the earlier ones: rationing, while still present, is easing and fans of our doughty heroine will already be familiar with the privations regarding little luxuries like new stockings and varied menus. Casual details, like Vesta's habit of using two bars on the electric heater instead of the frugal single bar her two companions require, quickly and subtly set the scene. But even though the war has been over for years, there are still many, many mysteries to uncover – not least the fate of those who risked their lives for their country by crossing enemy lines. Were they killed and dumped in anonymous graves somewhere? Or is it possible that official records conceal more secret and potentially less honourable fates? And with those questions come others: for example, how well can you possibly know someone engaged in the machinations of the Secret Service, no matter how intimately your lives have been entwined? Was anyone truly themselves during the war?
As the book opens Mirabelle discovers she has been left a generous sum of money in the will of Major Bulldog Bradley, a man she ran into a couple of times twelve years before, on condition she agrees to track down one of his war-time associates. The hunt takes her to Paris, still terribly scarred by the Nazi occupation, and as she carries out her investigations she finds she is forced to confront uncomfortable truths about Jack, the man she loved so intensely. She meets his wife, which makes her feel all the misery and frustration of being the other woman, and there is no one she can turn to for comfort: not a single person, not even their closest friends and colleagues, knew of their affair. Once again Mirabelle is in danger and needs to employ all the tactics that stood agents in good stead during the war – skills she didn't actually use much at the time as her role was to write the handbooks and instruction manuals for spies. She is as brave and resourceful as ever, and loses nothing of her strength and courage by accepting help from an unexpected quarter when things get really dire. Mirabelle is a fascinating woman who gets more and more intriguing the more we get to know her, and readers will anxiously await the next instalment of her exploits. Unmissable!
As with all the best books, you could easily read this volume without the previous ones in the series. But there's depth and mystery in our heroine Mirabelle that you don't always find in series about private investigators, so you will gain even more from your reading by discovering how she and her team first met. Bookbag specially especially recommends [[Brighton Belle: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan|Brighton Belle]] and [[London Calling: a Mirabelle Bevan Mystery by Sara Sheridan|London Calling]]. And if you've developed a taste for female detectives, you'll enjoy the Rizzoli and Isles series, which you may already know from your TV. We think [[Keeping The Dead by Tess Gerritsen]] will definitely be worth your attention.  [[Sara Sheridan's Mirabelle Bevan books in chronological order]]
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