Spies And An Accidental Hitwoman

One of my favorite reads of the year! Here we follow two CIA agents on different missions, whose paths cross and can you trust anyone in a spy novel?

CIA agent Lyndsey Duncan was basically put on timeout (suspension) after it was discovered that she was having a secret relationship with a spy from another agency, MI5–apparently that is frowned up on amongst spies. So she’s called back from her mission, and while not supposed to be active she’s called in because informants, including her first one, are dropping dead. Because the informants had no connections to each other it’s speculated that it has to be a mole and Duncan is to help find them.

Upon her return she meets, and befriends, CIA agent Theresa Warner whose husband, also CIA, was murdered. She’s been labeled the “Red Widow” because people are unsurprising and Warner is on her own mission, and that’s to find out how and why her husband was really killed…

This focused on taking readers inside the CIA headquarters and inside the two CIA agents’ current lives, which I found fascinating! So much so that I read it in a day. I especially loved how the two women are in the same field but one is a widow with a child who deeply loved her husband, and the other is single and without any deep personal connections.

(TW suicide not on page, brief detail/ side character with cancer/ briefly mentions war crimes)

If you’re looking for a fun, entertaining crime novel, and enjoy humorous inner monologue characters like Stephanie Plum, this is a must-read.

Finlay Donovan is having a hard time: Her ex-husband is a bit of a shit, she has two young kids, and is so far beyond deadline on her book manuscript, her agent is demanding she give her something. And that’s how Donovan becomes an accidental hitwoman. Okay, so more specifically, while giving her agent a story in a coffee shop a fellow patron overhears, misunderstands, and hires her to kill someone for her. Whoopsie.

Of course Donovan would never take this job. But it is a lot of money. But no. Okay, but maybe she’ll just go to the place and see who the intended hit is. And that’s how she ends up in so much more trouble than she could have imagined. Lucky for her, the fired babysitter is ready to be an entrepreneur and maybe hitwoman is in her future? No, of course not. But maybe?

I was cracking up from the opening and found myself thoroughly entertained to the finish. Just the right amount of ridiculous to make crime fun! I’m glad it’s the start to the series and look forward to future shenanigans.

(TW date raper/ stalker)