Autumn Leaves, 1922: A Kiki Button Mystery

Lunney’s alluring sequel to 2018’s April in Spring, 1921 finds Kiki Button, who spied for the Allies during WWI, back in Paris after a trip home to Australia to bury the mother she never really knew. Under the auspices of writing a gossip column for a London newspaper, Kiki hobnobs with displaced princes, communists, and such real-life notables as Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, and Gertrude Stein. Meanwhile, the mysterious Dr. Fox, her former spymaster, blackmails her into working for him one more time with incriminating photos of a lover of hers who may have spied for the Germans. At the heart of the novel, though, is Kiki’s desire to learn more about her distant mother, who led a much different and more enlightened life when visiting Paris. The key lies in locating a missing diary her mother kept. The many connections to the first book may baffle readers new to the series, but fans of historical spy novels will enjoy getting lost in these richly imagined pages. Lunney is a writer to watch. Agent: Sarah McKenzie, Hindsight Literary (Australia). (Aug.)