Anglophiles, book lovers and those who savor stories featuring amateur sleuths in the style of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple will find much to enjoy in The Undercover Bookshop by Katherine Reay.
Crafted with great charm and suspense, the story takes place amidst the 1950s Cold War. Gemma Brown leaves bustling London in search of a quiet life in Great Rollright, an idyllic, tiny enclave nestled in the English Cotswold. Gemma--single, in her 20s and an avid reader of mystery novels--establishes a neighborhood bookstore that acclimates her to local culture. This includes gossip about Ursula Beurton, a mysterious woman; an immigrant from Germany who lives a solitary life that keeps her largely to herself. She even shops out of town.
When Gemma enters a baking competition that spirals into a hapless catastrophe, the vicar’s wife suggests Gemma seek out Ursula, the best baker in town. When Ursula agrees to help Gemma in the kitchen, the two spark a friendship that unearths details about Ursula that allude to her being a Soviet spy. Is this conclusion just a biproduct of Gemma’s over-active, mystery-loving imagination? Gemma joins forces with the vicar’s wife and the local policeman as they all go on a fact-finding mission to learn more about Ursula. This leads them back to their own town with larger, much more dangerous implications than they ever dreamed.
Reay’s (The English Masterpiece; Of Literature and Lattes) engrossing, well-plotted mystery is made even richer as the heroine is greatly appealing and the character-in-question is based on a real-life, historical person.
The Undercover Bookshop by Katherine Reay
Harper
Muse, $18.99 paperback, 978-1400352579, 300 pages
Publishing Date: October 6, 2026
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more about Katherine Reay HERE
