Get ready for a pulse-pounding, laugh-out-loud ride through 1960s London as Maggie Flynn, unexpected MI5 operative and single mum, unravels the intelligence agency's most treacherous secrets.
***
Maggie Flynn isn’t your typical 1960s mum.
She’s a spy, a covert operative for MI5, stalking London’s streets in myriad disguises.
Widowed and balancing her clandestine career with raising a very angsty teenage daughter, Maggie finds comfort and purpose in her profession – providing a connection to her late husband, whose own covert past only surfaced after his death.
But Maggie’s world spins out of control when a chance encounter with a mysterious Russian agent triggers a chilling revelation: he knew her husband. And what’s worse, the agent suspects someone on home soil betrayed him.
As Maggie searches for answers, she’ll question everyone – and everything – she thought she could trust. In the dangerous world of espionage, can she outsmart those determined to keep her silenced?
Review
Not what I expected from the title.
Set in the 1960s Maggie Flynn is Mrs Spy. She is widowed and has a daughter and errant mother living with her. She's no Jane Bond and is far from glamourous in her role as a watcher. Something a middle aged woman is suited to, as no one gives her a second glance, especially in her many wigs.
She's fairly content with her lot apart from a nasty bunion causing her grief. Then she has to mind a Russian agent with whom she has an interesting conversation, which leads her to believe her husband was much more than a watcher himself.
I loved the social history aspects of this book. From Maggie trying to obtain Beatles tickets for her daughter to her taking her shopping on the Kings Road. It all seemed fairly low key and pedestrian when the plot took a bit of a sinister turn and my interest was piqued. There were some truly nail biting parts that followed and I would have liked more of those.
Maggie is a strong character and that shows through from her transition from a watcher to actually spying.
However, I didn't find this book laugh out loud as the blurb suggests. There were amusing scenes of domesticity with her daughter and mother and some very true to life observations of a middle aged lady's ailments.
I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review. The book is published on 15 May 2025.
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