THE KEY TO DECEIT by Ashley Weaver
World War II novels with female heroines are having a moment, propelled by the success of Kate Quinn’s THE ALICE NETWORK. London
safecracker Electra McDonnell joins the genre with a clever, original and heartwarming wartime premise.
THE KEY TO DECEIT
brings us to London in August 1940. Great Britain is grappling with war in North Africa and the aftermath of the Dunkirk evacuation. European allies fell like dominoes to Hitler’s advance. Everyone knows that an invasion of the British homeland is imminent.
Electra is a thief by trade, having been raised by her safecracking and lockpicking Uncle Mick. But after being caught in the midst of a burglary, the McDonnells have an arrangement with the mysterious Major Ramsey who occasionally needs their specific skills. Basically, Electra and Mick can either help the major or go
to jail.
Ramsey calls in Electra to remove a locked bracelet from the wrist of dead woman. It turns out that the woman was part of a ring of young women paid to photograph industrial locations in London. Obviously,
the photographs will be incredibly useful to Hitler’s invasion plans. The film is to be delivered to a Nazi spy, pulling Electra and Ramsey into a race to find the film—and the ring’s mastermind—before everything falls into the enemy’s hands.
The drama is peppered along the way with Electra’s personal tug-of-war between Ramsey and unreformed con artist Felix Lacey. It’s a subtle game, with Electra in the middle grappling with her confusing feelings for both men. At the same time, Electra is also pursuing information about her late mother, a convicted killer, with the intent of clearing her name.
THE KEY TO DECEIT enjoys a snappy and uncomplicated writing style, a plucky and clever heroine, lots of wry humor, and page-turning momentum. The construction is clean; no rambling sideshows or dangling threads.
This is the second book in the Electra McDonnell series but reads as a standalone. Highly recommended.
