"The Monk (The DS Cross Mysteries #5)
By Tim Sullivan, Finlay Robertson

DS George Cross wishes everything in his life would stay in their places. Now his mom is back in his life after leaving Cross and his dad when Cross was just a small child. Cross had contacted her just to let her know that he grew up into a successful detective and to his horror his mom thought he wanted her to be part of his life now. Not a good turn of events for Cross and his "set in his ways" approach to life.

At least he is busy with the brutal murder of a monk. The usual Cross gang is back and it is this group of characters, along with Cross, that make the series so good to me. They are a joke-y bunch, it helps to have a sense of humor when dealing with violent crimes, even if it is a dark sense of humor. During the investigation almost everyone gets a dressing down from Cross at some point or another for a quip or pun that Cross feels is inappropriate. But then almost anything a person says or does is libel to be under disapproving scrutiny from Cross since he sees no need to ever deviate from his ideas of what should and should not be done, said, or thought.

The mystery of the monk becomes complicated quickly but this team is up to the job. The monk seemed to have no past or at least no past he had ever wanted to discuss once he became a monk. But there is so much more to this simple monk than was known and the game is on to find out why anyone would want to kill this particular monk. Knowing the motive will further the investigation and open more lines of inquiry. I know this is a "murder" story but I loved the humor in the story although I am glad that Cross couldn't see me snickering from his side of the audiobook.

Published
April 27, 2023

Thank you to my library and Libby for this audiobook."

"The Last Secret Agent: My Life as a Spy Behind Nazi Lines
by Pippa Latour; Jude Dobson

Even during the first nineteen years of Pippa Latour, her life was amazing. She endured great losses during that time but she also had people who cared for her safety, education, and future and as she lived in a wide variety to situations, she was always learning. She wasn't just learning academics, she was learning life skills that would serve her well and save her life and the lives of others once she became a spy in French occupied territory.

A math wiz with a photographic memory and adept at many languages, Pippa didn't want to just be doing office work for her side in the war. She wanted to be in the action, doing things out there, making a real difference and challenging herself. She'd never been one to watch the world go by, she was a woman of action from a very young age. She was also resourceful, used to living with hardship as a way of life, when necessary, and very accustomed to the dangers of war and sacrifice.

After going through SOE training, Pippa parachuted into occupied France alone. Now twenty three, Pippa had the skills she needed to be a roving wireless operator. Sadly, her lifespan from this point on had a end date. Six weeks was the average lifespan of a wireless operator in this area but there were hopes that Pippa's youth, slight build, ability to blend in, and many talents, could allow Pippa to get the job done while surviving the perils she would face.

I'm amazed at Pippa's accomplishments with almost no resources. She presented herself as a fourteen year old granddaughter of farmers, selling soap all along the area of her seventeen wireless radios. She was selling soap to German soldiers, having to pass checkpoints regularly using her counterfeit papers, acting the part of a naive fourteen year old while sleeping in the woods each night. She had to scrounge for the little food she could find and although she parachuted into France weighing about one hundred pounds, several months later she weighed about seventy five pounds. Pippa was biking about eighteen miles a day, playing her part and being responsible for the death of enemy soldiers, not by her own hand but because of the intel she was able to transmit.

Pippa never spoke of any of this to anyone other than those who knew of her back when she was working as a spy. Finally, in her last years she was ready to tell her story because she wanted the truth to be known. She also insisted that all the women of the SOE be recognized for all they did. I'm in awe of Pippa Latour and although I have studied so much about the work of these agents, men, women, and the resistance fighters they worked with, I continue to learn so much more thanks to people like Pippa telling their stories. I'm so glad she told her story before she died and that I got to know about this amazing woman.

Pub May 13 2025

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC."