When I don’t care for a book, I always say, this one wasn’t for me, but others may love it. I hate when I have to say that about a debut, but Shaina Steinberg’s historical mystery, Under the Paper Moon, didn’t work for me at all. I found the protagonist, Evelyn Bishop, too indecisive when it came to her love life, and her love life seemed to take over the book, rather than the mystery itself. By the time I finished, I didn’t really care about any of the characters.
Evelyn Bishop, daughter of Logan Bishop, the wealthy owner of Bishop Aeronautics, spent World War II in Europe. While her father thought she was working as a translator, she was actually working as a spy for the OSS. She signed on after her brothr, Matthew, was captured. Knowing he was a POW in a Nazi camp, she took assignment after assignment, hoping to find him and bring him home. She was teamed up with Nick Gallagher, falling in love with him, despite his reckless behavior. But, she can’t forgive an act of betrayal, although he swore he was just trying to protect her.
By 1948, both Evelyn and Nick are back in Los Angeles. They’ve opened detective agencies, but when Evelyn follows a suspected cheating husband, the man is killed. Nick had tried to keep her from following him, but now the two are tangled up in a murder investigation. And, it’s a case with ties back to their years working for the OSS.
While the author tries to tell a story about black market profiteers and traitors during the war, there was too much emphasis on Evelyn’s personal life for my taste. The author’s note explains that she tried to reimagine a satisfying life for her grandmother, who was never able to live the life she wanted. She created Evelyn to take her grandmother’s role. It was a nice idea, but none of the characters had enough depth that I cared.
As I said, this World War II and post-war novel may work for other readers.
Shaina Steinberg’s website is https://www.shainasteinberg.com/
Under the Paper Moon by Shaina Steinberg. Kensington Books, 2024. ISBN 9781496747808 (hardcover), 304p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I read a galley on NetGalley in order to review the book for. a journal.
I never like a book that I didn’t care for any of the characters. Will avoid it!
As I said, Carol, this is just my opinion. I think someone mentioned it here earlier, and liked it.
I enjoyed parts of this book. And parts of it didn’t work for me. I feel like Evelyn’s indecision came from the author setting out to have the story end one way, but it ultimate made the conflict about her future feel forced. I enjoyed parts of the book, but I really struggled with parts of it, too.
Thank you, Mark. Then, it wasn’t just me. Thank you for letting me know what you thought. I agree with you.