HIGH TREASON AT THE GRAND HOTEL

Oliver offers another whimsical World War I espionage escapade featuring a file clerk/spy-in-training working for British Intelligence.

It’s 1917, and Fiona Figg has recently returned from her first reconnaissance assignment in Ravenswick Abbey, where she went undercover as the fictional Dr. Vogel. Now, she’s being sent to Paris. Her orders from the War Office’s Capt. Reginald “Blinker” Hall are clear: She’s to trail Fredrick Fredricks, a famed South African hunter, acclaimed journalist, and deadly spy for Germany known as the Black Panther. She’s not to use disguises, nor is she to establish contact with Fredricks. Instead, Fiona is to be pretty much herself: a young, recent widow—never mind it was her ex-husband who succumbed to German mustard gas—visiting her great-aunt in Paris, where she’ll be staying at the Grand Hotel. The first clue that things won’t go as planned appears when readers learn that Fiona has stuffed her suitcase with a variety of costumes, wigs, and hats. On the way to Paris, she meets charming, mischievous, elegantly attired Lady Gresha MacLeod, aka the notorious Mata Hari, who, it turns out, is planning a Parisian rendezvous with Fredricks. Also on the train, to Fiona’s consternation, is Capt. Clifford Douglas, also of the War Office, who’s not supposed to know about her mission; worse, he’s staying at the Grand Hotel, as well. Obviously, Fiona’s sleuthing will require camouflage—so she becomes “Harold the helpful bellboy.” Harold, with his fake mustache, trousers that are a bit too long, and shoes two sizes too large, provides Oliver with considerable opportunity for comic relief in this sequel, which occasionally borders on the slapstick. The author also treads into Oscar Wilde territory when flirty chambermaid Berthe sets her sites on Harold. Fiona, as the first-person narrator, gives readers direct access to her frequently acerbic mental asides and social commentary along the way. In between murders and speculation about double agents, Oliver treats readers to an often amusing romp through upscale 1917 Paris, where the partying stands in stark contrast to the squalid conditions that the protagonist experiences in a Parisian jail.

A fun diversion with an entertaining female lead.