If you read Tess Gerritsen’s The Spy Coast, you probably read it two years ago when it first came out. If you haven’t read it, you might want to pick it up before March when The Summer Guests, the second book in her Martini Club series, is released. And, no, just because this thriller features a small group of retired spies, it’s nothing like Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age series or Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club mysteries.
Maggie Bird retired from the CIA sixteen years ago, but it was only two years ago that she moved to Blackberry Farm in Purity, Maine. She’s content with her life as a chicken farmer, with good neighbors, and a handful of friends who meet regularly for a book club. When a young woman named Bianca shows up unexpectedly, asking if Maggie knows the whereabouts of Diana Ward, a retired agent who just disappeared off the grid, Maggie is worried. Maggie’s last job before retirement involved Diana. But, when someone leaves Biana’s dead body in Maggie’s driveway, she knows that case may have been compromised.
It’s Maggie’s neighbor who calls her when police cars show up in her driveway. Maggie’s at the book club, her refuge with four other retirees from the CIA. But, she returns home only to find Acting Police Chief Jo Thibodeau has a lot of questions. Maggie and her friends are willing to answer Jo’s questions about that evening, but none of them will explain why they know so much about evidence at a crime scene. As a lifelong resident, Jo’s suspicious of this small group of newcomers to Purity.
When someone shoots at Maggie, and Jo asks more questions, Maggie knows it’s time to leave Maine and look for answers in her own past. With help from her friends, she disappears, gathering threads from the past as she looks for answers to the current violence.
The Spy Coast combines flashbacks to Maggie’s earlier career with her current life in Maine. I appreciated the daily life in Purity, but her spy activities were necessary for this book. There were just comments about her connection to the other retirees, members of “The Martini Club”, that resonated with me. “We’re three old soldiers, refusing to admit our gears are starting to rust.” Or, when the entire group of five worked together, there was this statement. “Retired does not mean useless. Everyone has brought their individual tricks of the trade.”
We’ll see what happens when we return to Maine in The Summer Guests.
Tess Gerritsen’s website is https://www.tessgerritsen.com/
The Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen. Thomas & Mercer, 2023. ISBN 9781662515125 (hardcover), 364p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I bought a copy of the book two years ago.
Retired spies.Hmmm. Seems interesting. I’ve been enjoying books with senior citizens as main characters getting into all sorts of trouble, and solving crimes too.
Good book, with a little too much earlier spy stuff, but loved the contemporary time frame, Harvee.
Jackie read a lot of Tess Gerritsen’s early, medical stuff, but quit reading them a while back. She asked me to get this for her (as it wasn’t available on Kindle from the library) and I did, but I was the one who started reading it first. But so many other things came in between and I never got back to it. She figured she w2ould wait until book two came out, and now’s the time.
It also resonates with Cindy Dees’ Helen Warwick series about a retired spy, though in that case, she has to deal with her obnoxious grown children as well as people trying to kill her. The second book in that series is out too – SECOMD SHOT and DOUBLE TAP.
–
I’m a big fan of Rizzoli & Isles on TV, Jeff, but I just don’t read medical thrillers.
Sounds good!. I missed posting yesterday, Having a lot of pain in my left hand and had a long appointment with my new rheumatologist. Next week, I have an appointment everyday., Might miss posting again. I miss all of you!
Feel better ,Carol.
It’s more important to take care of yourself, Carol. We’ll be here when you get back.
Oh dear. I’m not happy that you have so many troubles, and am hoping this new rheumatologist can help. What a dreary week you have ahead of you!
Don’t know what is wrong with your hand, but if it is arthritis or the like, try Voltaren cream. We had a prescription but itis now over the counter. It really helps.
This sounds like something to try, although a lot will depend on how good the second one is!
I’m on hold for the next one at the library, Kim, but I’m way down on the waiting list, so it will be a while.