A Question of Betrayal: An Elena Standish Novel

At the start of bestseller Perry’s excellent sequel to 2019’s Death in Focus, likewise set in 1933, Peter Howard, of British Military Intelligence, offers fledgling British spy Elena Standish, a gifted photographer who’s fluent in German and Italian, a new assignment. Aiden Strother, one of the service’s most important assets, is gathering information in Italy, but his handler there is unreachable at a crucial moment. Having learned that Strother’s cover has been blown, Howard wants Elena to go to Trieste, posing as a photographer, to warn Strother to get out safely with as much data as possible. Elena accepts the responsibility, even though she feels Strother betrayed her trust six years earlier when he was posing as a Nazi sympathizer and cost her her position at the Foreign Office. Meanwhile, Elena’s older sister, Margot, adds to the intrigue by traveling to Berlin for the wedding of a childhood friend to a Gestapo officer. Perry expertly blends character development with plot surprises. This prolific author shows no sign of losing steam. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald Maass Literary. (Sept.)