Louise’s Dilemma

Set in 1943, Shaber’s mild third novel of suspense (after 2012’s Louise’s Gamble) takes widow Louise Pearlie from her desk at the Research and Analysis Branch of the OSS in Washington, D.C., into the field. A censor has relayed to the OSS a postcard with a seemingly innocuous message. Written in English and mailed from occupied France via neutral Lisbon to a man in Maryland, it contains an American place name with a German spelling. Fearing it’s a coded communication, Louise’s bosses order her to take the obvious first step of interviewing the addressee, Leroy Martin, but her clueless and ham-fisted partner, Lt. Arthur Collins, makes her job harder. The inquiry later becomes a murder investigation. Louise is able to thwart a Nazi plot because the bad guy unwisely decides to spare her life. Series fans will appreciate the attention to period detail (e.g., the OSS’s filing system was devised by the Yale scholar who edited Horace Walpole’s letters). Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary Agency. (Dec.)