The Spy Coast, Tess Gerritsen

The Spy Coast opening lines: She used to be the golden girl. How things have changed, she thought, staring in the mirror.

My blurb:

Maggie’s whole life fell apart when she married Danny. She might have been doing it for love, but she was not sure it was because she loved him, or her country. And it was her country that she worked for. This tough mistress took everything away from her, and so she retired. To a small part of the world, with several friends around her. She built a new life, one she was happy to live. Until one night, everything changed, and a dead body turned up in her driveway.

The Spy Coast

Maggie Bird is many things. A chicken farmer. A good neighbour. A seemingly average retiree living in the seaside town of Purity. She’s also a darned good rifle shot. And she never talks about her past.

But when an unidentified body is left on Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a calling card from old times. It’s been fifteen years since the failed mission that ended her career as a spy, and cost her far more than her job.

Step forward the ‘Martini Club’ – Maggie’s silver-haired book group (to anyone who asks), and a cohort of former spies behind closed doors. With the help of her old friends – and always one step ahead of the persistent local cop – Maggie might still be able to save the life she’s built.

My verdict:

I love a good spy mystery, and this one ticked all the boxes. Love, intrigue and a little hint that something was not quite as it seemed. A great read from Tess Gerritsen and I look forward to more books in the “martini club” series.

About the Author:

Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D. While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight, was published. She also wrote a screenplay, “Adrift,” which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson. Tess’s first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, The Bone Garden, and The Spy Coast. Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles,” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.

Publishing information:

Penguin Random House South Africa sent me this novel to review.

See the links below for blog posts I published on February 4:

• 2022: Minted Yoghurt Dressing
• 2019: Hasselback Butternut
• 2017: A Year In Review 2016
• 2016: Granary Bread
• 2015: February 2015 Showcasing In My Kitchen
• 2012: Food Quiz Number 8 For A Friday
• 2011: Spanish Chicken

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