Appointment in Paris

Jane Thynne

IN April of 1940, Britain is on a knife edge… Neville Chamberlain’s government is teetering, Paris is in increasing danger of falling to Hitler’s forces, and the danger from hidden fifth columnists is ringing alarm bells at MI5 headquarters in London.

The ending of what many have called the ‘Phoney War’ means a Nazi invasion of Britain is becoming a very real threat, and fears of ‘the enemy within’ would seem to be justified when the body of a captured German officer is found in the grounds of a stately home which has become not just a prisoner holding camp but the site of the biggest bugging operation ever mounted against a British enemy.

After the huge success of last year’s historical gem, Midnight in Vienna, a classy murder mystery steeped in the febrile atmosphere and dark suspicion of the pre-war months, author, journalist and broadcaster Jane Thynne (pictured below) returns with her unlikely – and utterly charming – partnership of MI5 agents Harry Fox and Stella Fry. Best known for her much-loved Clara Vine wartime espionage thrillers, Thynne has also written two acclaimed dystopian novels, Widowland and Queen High, under the pen name of C.J. Carey, and now she brings us the perfect blend of mystery, menace, thrills, chills and escapism with these entertaining, edge-of-the-seat spy adventures.

In the spring of 1940, Britain is in political turmoil, a German invasion may now be only weeks away, and the worst possible time for the body of a man wearing the uniform of a Luftwaffe captain to be found in the grounds of Trent Park, the stately home at Cockfosters which is now being used as a prison to house high level German PoWs.

Trent Park’s true purpose, however, is intelligence, gathered covertly from prisoners by secret listeners who record ‘every conversation, every chance remark, every quiet confidence’ and the inmates have no idea.

To make matters worse, the morning after the discovery of the officer, one of the listeners, German-born Robert Handel, goes missing, along with a gun from the firing range. Horrified that this could blow the highly confidential operation wide open, the authorities know the missing man must be tracked down.

Cue Harry Fox – the former MI5 Watcher is currently suspended and working as a private investigator. A ‘patriot who couldn’t fight,’ Harry is desperate to assist the war effort but at 41, he is over the conscription age. Then his former boss gets in touch with a job for him… he must locate the missing man who may well be hiding amongst London’s émigré community.

But his boss stipulates that the job must also be shared with Harry’s former associate, Stella Fry, who is currently working at the GPO Film Unit in London, editing scripts for documentaries and information films. A fluent German speaker, Stella was a fellow student with Handel at Oxford University and this new mission will take her across the Channel, from far from events in London, and into more danger than she had ever imagined

Appointment in Paris delivers the same winning formula that captured the hearts and minds of readers in Harry and Stella’s debut outing… a gritty, suspense-packed story filled with Thynne’s trademark richly detailed world-building and intelligent plotting, and featuring a seductive cast of real and fictional characters including secret British agent and author Noël Coward, crime writer Agatha Christie, controversial American Ambassador Joe Kennedy, and a maverick Winston Churchill.

Against a gloriously vibrant and authentic backdrop of Britain in its ‘darkest hour,’ and with fascinating insights into the real-life work of the ‘secret listeners’ at Trent Park in North London whose work led to major intelligence breakthroughs, our dynamic duo run the gauntlet of death, danger, false identities and diplomatic complexities in a hostile world.

It’s a time of uncertainty and fear, when the relationship between Britain and the United States was strained by the reluctance of some high-ranking Americans to help the war effort in Europe… and when the dark arts of espionage and subterfuge were flourishing in the shadows of the international stage. And aiding the hunt for hidden traitors are the likeable, dyslexic detective Harry and his ‘partner in crime’ Stella, a strong, highly intelligent and brave woman whose hunt for the truth takes her from London to Paris in the frantic, fear-filled days before the Nazis arrived.

With Thynne’s meticulous research underpinning every inch of the twisting, turning plot, bristling with menace and malice, and with romance only ever a heartbeat away, Appointment in Paris is an autumnal reading treat that historical fiction fans will relish!
(Quercus, hardback, £20)