The Undercover Bookshop
During the winter of 1950 in the small Cotswold village of Great Rollright, amateur sleuth Gemma Brown starts to suspect that the town’s best baker, Ursula Beurton, is a Soviet spy, tumbling her headlong into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that ends with a decision that will lead her to the Undercover Bookshop and change her life forever.
Recently moved to the English Cotswolds, Gemma Brown desperately wants to create the kind of idyllic life she’s read about in her favorite mystery novels, with herself as the leading lady. But fitting in proves difficult as Gemma is more adept at solving mysteries and setting up the village’s first bookstore than she is at baking cakes or grasping social niceties. Nevertheless, she finds a friend in Peggy, a young woman recently moved to town herself, and Ursula Beurton, who is not only the village’s best baker but an enigmatic figure who sparks controversy in the small-town gossip network.
As Gemma spends more time with Ursula, she begins to suspect all those novels are affecting her thinking. The oddities she starts to notice must be her imagination because, if not, they point to something far more dangerous than winning the local baking contest or being placed on the church committee. Could her neighbor be a real spy?
Following her instincts and a few skills learned through fiction, Gemma soon becomes embroiled in an international intrigue involving the village’s mysterious benefactor, Lady Marchmont, MI5, and the KGB. In an unexpected twist, however, Ursula asks Gemma for a favor which may endanger all their lives as their next chapter unfolds in Gemma’s new venture, the Undercover Bookshop.
Reviews and Endorsements:
“THE UNDERCOVER BOOKSHOP feels like a warm, possibly arsenic-laced hug straight from Agatha Christie. Lonely Londoner Gemma Brown relocates to a Cotswolds village yearning for the community her WWII-ravaged childhood denied her, and quickly finds solace in her new general store job, a budding romance with the local PC, and a book club ravenous for Gemma’s favorite mystery novels. But when the mysterious local neighbor who offers friendship and baking lessons starts to set off alarm bells (why is she leaving coded messages in tree knots? why does a housewife need a two-way radio?) Gemma has to wonder if her mystery-loving imagination is running away from her…or if she’s found a real-life Soviet spy. Katherine Reay’s latest is cozy and yet still thrilling, a real page turner!”
—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Astral Library
“Smart, swoony, and filled with intrigue, Katherine Reay’s The Undercover Bookshop is as satisfying as a hot shepherd’s pie on a cold night. I devoured it.”
—Martha Hall Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls
“In The Undercover Bookshop, Katherine Reay has created an unexpected heroine the reader can’t help but fall in love with as well as a charming and idyllic post-war English village. Except in Great Rollright, all is not what it seems. Torn from the pages of history books and inspired by real people and events, The Undercover Bookshop is both cold war thriller and sweet romance with a wistful undercurrent of searching for a place to call home. Think Murder She Wrote meets Agatha Christie with a surprising twist that will make you question how well you think you really know your friends. Highly recommend!”
—Karen White, New York Times bestselling author of That Last Carolina Summer
“In this charming yet cleverly plotted mystery set in a 1950 Cotswold village, an amateur sleuth’s suspicion that her neighbor may be a Soviet spy spirals into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. With a knack for crafting irresistibly propulsive storylines and deeply satisfying conclusions, Reay delivers a tale you’ll race through to uncover every last twist.”
— Jenni L. Walsh, USA Today bestselling author of Death Was Not on the Guest List
“Brace yourself for adventure, intrigue, and espionage! Inspired by the true story of the world’s most notorious and storied Soviet female spy, The Undercover Bookshop is a gripping, page-turner of a novel.”
—Marie Bostwick, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Club for Troublesome Women
