Orders from Berlin

Jack Higgins fans will enjoy Tolkien’s exciting third suspense novel featuring Det. Insp. William Trave (after 2011’s The King of Diamonds), a prequel set in the fall of 1940. As Adolf Hitler and Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Gestapo, plot to use a mole in British intelligence to further the Reich’s ambitions, Trave lands a murder case. Albert Morrison, the ousted head of MI6, has been killed, flung down a flight of stairs by someone Morrison’s grown daughter, Ava, who witnessed the crime, could not identify. Trave’s oafish superior, Det. Chief Insp. John Quaid, quickly settles on Ava’s husband, Bertie, as the killer, since Bertie had a pecuniary motive for his father-in-law’s death. Trave isn’t so sure, a feeling that’s only heightened as he tries to learn more about Morrison’s work. Heartfelt evocations of the horrors of war, in particular the effects of the bombing raids on Londoners, show Tolkien has upped his game. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff Literary. (Dec.)