Mother Daughter Traitor Spy

Buy now! Hardcover on sale September 20, 2022

June 1940. France has fallen to the Nazis, and Britain may be next — but to many Americans, the war is something happening “over there.” Veronica Grace has just graduated from college; she and her mother, Violet, are looking for a fresh start in sunny Los Angeles. After a blunder cost her a prestigious career opportunity in New York, Veronica is relieved to take a typing job in L.A. — only to realize that she’s working for one of the area’s most vicious propagandists.

Overnight, Veronica is exposed to the dark underbelly of her new home, where German Nazis are recruiting Americans for their devastating campaign. After the FBI dismisses the Graces’ concerns, Veronica and Violet decide to call on an old friend, who introduces them to L.A.’s anti-Nazi spymaster.

The women go undercover to gather enough information about the California Reich to take to the authorities. But they longer they stay, the more the Grace women realize that the plots they’re investigating are far more sinister than they feared — and even a single misstep could cost them everything.

Inspired by the real mother-daughter spy duo who foiled Nazi plots in Los Angeles during WWII, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy is a powerful portrait of family, duty, and deception that raises timeless questions about America — and what it means to have courage in the face of terror.

The Hollywood Spy

Buy Now! Hardcover on sale July 6, 2021

Los Angeles, 1943. As the Allies beat back the Nazis in the Mediterranean and the United States military slowly closes in on Tokyo, Walt Disney cranks out wartime propaganda and the Cocoanut Grove is alive with jazz and swing each night. But behind this sunny façade lies a darker reality. Somewhere in the lush foothills of Hollywood, a woman floats, lifeless, in the pool of one of California’s trendiest hotels. When American-born secret agent and British spy Maggie Hope learns that this woman was engaged to her old flame, John Sterling, and that he suspects her death was no accident, intuition tells her he’s right. Leaving London under siege — not to mention flying thousands of miles — is a lot to ask. But John was once the love of Maggie’s life… and she won’t say no.

Maggie is shocked to find Los Angeles as divided as Europe itself — the Zoot Suit Riots loom large and the Ku Klux Klan casts a long shadow. As she reels at the hatred in her home country, she can’t help but wonder what it will be like to see her lost love once again. But there is little time to dwell on memories once she starts digging into the case. As she traces a web of deception from the infamous Garden of Allah to the iconic Carthay Theater, she discovers things aren’t always the way things appear in the movies — and the political situation in America is more complicated, and dangerous, than the newsreels would have them all believe.

Nominated for a 2022 Macavity Award by Mystery Readers International and Mystery Readers Journal for Best Historical Mystery

The King’s Justice

(Bantam Dell/Random House, February 25, 2020)
Paperback February 2, 2021

London, December 1942. As the Russian army repels German forces from Stalingrad, Maggie Hope takes a much-needed break from spying to defuse bombs in London. But Maggie herself is an explosion waiting to happen. Traumatized by her past, she finds herself living dangerously — taking huge risks, smoking, drinking, and speeding through the city streets on a motorbike. The last thing she wants is to get entangled in another crime.

But when she’s called upon to look into the theft of a Stradivarius, one of the finest violins ever made, Maggie can’t resist. Meanwhile, there’s a serial killer on the loose in London, targeting conscientious objectors. Little does she know that investigating this dangerous predator will pit her against a new evil — and old enemies. Only Maggie can uncover the connection between the robbery, the murders, and a link to her past.

The Prisoner in the Castle

(Bantam Dell/Random House, August 7, 2018)
Paperback July 30, 2019

World War II is raging, and former spy Maggie Hope knows too much.

She knows what the British government is willing to do to keep its secrets.

She knows the real location of the planned invasion of France.

She knows who’s lying. She knows who the double-crossers are. She knows exactly who is sending agents to their deaths.

These are the reasons Maggie is isolated on a remote Scottish island, in a prison known as Killoch Castle, out of contact with friends and family.

Then one of her fellow inmates drops dead in the middle of his after-dinner drink — and he’s only the first. As victims fall one by one, Maggie will have to call upon all her wits and skills to escape — not just certain death… but certain murder.

For what’s the most important thing Maggie Hope knows?

She must survive.

The Paris Spy

(Bantam Dell/Random House, August 8, 2017)

Maggie Hope has come a long way since serving as a typist for Winston Churchill. Now she’s working undercover for the Special Operations Executive in the elegant but eerily silent city of Paris, where SS officers prowl the streets in their Mercedes and the Ritz is draped with swastika banners. Walking among the enemy is tense and terrifying, and even though she’s disguised in chic Chanel, Maggie can’t help longing for home.

But her missions come first. Maggie’s half sister, Elise, has disappeared after being saved from a concentration camp, and Maggie is desperate to find her — that is, if Elise even wants to be found. Equally urgent, Churchill is planning the Allied invasion of France, and SOE agent Erica Calvert has been captured, the whereabouts of her vital research regarding Normandy unknown. Maggie must risk her life to penetrate powerful circles and employ all her talents for deception and spycraft to root out a traitor, find her sister, and locate the reports crucial to planning D-Day in a deadly game of wits with the Nazi intelligence elite.

Debuting at #10 on the Washington Post Hardcover Bestseller List for the week of August 20,2017

Debuting at #14 on the New York Times Hardcover Bestseller List for the week of August 27, 2017

Debuting at #16 on the Publisher’s Weekly Hardcover Bestseller List for the week of August 21, 2017

Nominated for a 2017 Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel!

The Queen’s Accomplice

(Bantam Dell/Random House, October 4, 2016)

England, 1942. The Nazis’s relentless Blitz may have paused, but London’s nightly blackouts continue. Now, under the cover of darkness, a madman is brutally killing and mutilating young women in eerie and exact re-creations of Jack the Ripper’s crimes. What’s more, he’s targeting women who are reporting for duty to be Winston Churchill’s spies and saboteurs abroad. The officers at MI-5 quickly realize they need the help of special agent Maggie Hope to find the killer dubbed “the Blackout Beast.” A trap is set. But once the murderer has his sights on Maggie, not even Buckingham Palace can protect the resourceful spy from her fate.

Mrs. Roosevelt’s Confidante

(Bantam Dell/Random House, October 2015)

December 1941. Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill arrives in Washington, D.C., along with special agent Maggie Hope. Posing as his typist, she is accompanying the prime minister as he meets with President Roosevelt to negotiate the United States’ entry into World War II. When one of the First Lady’s aides is mysteriously murdered, Maggie is quickly drawn into Mrs. Roosevelt’s inner circle — as ER herself is implicated in the crime. Maggie knows she must keep the investigation quiet, so she employs her unparalleled skills at code breaking and espionage to figure out who would target Mrs. Roosevelt, and why. What Maggie uncovers is a shocking conspiracy that could jeopardize American support for the war and leave the fate of the world hanging dangerously in the balance.

Debuting at #7 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of November 15, 2015

The Prime Minister’s Secret Agent

(Bantam Dell/Random House, July 2014)

World War II rages on across Europe, but Maggie Hope has finally found a moment of rest on the pastoral coast of western Scotland. Home from an undercover mission in Berlin, she settles down to teach at her old spy training camp, and to heal from scars on both her body and heart. Yet instead of enjoying the quieter pace of life, Maggie is quickly drawn into another web of danger and intrigue. When three ballerinas fall strangely ill in Glasgow—including one of Maggie’s dearest friends—Maggie partners with MI-5 to uncover the truth behind their unusual symptoms. What she finds points to a series of poisonings that may expose shocking government secrets and put countless British lives at stake. But it’s the fight brewing in the Pacific that will forever change the course of the war—and indelibly shape Maggie’s fate.

Debuting at #10 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of July 20, 2014

His Majesty’s Hope

(Bantam Dell/Random House, May 2013)

Maggie embarks on a clandestine mission behind enemy lines where no one can be trusted, and even the smallest indiscretion can be deadly.

World War II has finally come home to Britain, but it takes more than nightly air raids to rattle intrepid spy and expert code breaker Maggie Hope. After serving as a secret agent to protect Princess Elizabeth at Windsor Castle, Maggie is now an elite member of the Special Operations Executive — a black ops organization designed to aid the British effort abroad — and her first assignment sends her straight into Nazi-controlled Berlin, the very heart of the German war machine. Relying on her quick wit and keen instincts, Maggie infiltrates the highest level of Berlin society, gathering information to pass on to London headquarters. But the secrets she unveils will expose a darker, more dangerous side of the war — and of her own past.

Debuting at #18 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of June 2, 2013

Nominated for a 2013 Left Coast Crime Award for the Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award!

Nominated for a 2014 International Thriller Writers Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original Novel!

Named one of AudioFile Magaz ine’s Best of the Year for 2013

Named one of the 2013 staff favorites from Crimespree Magazine

Princess Elizabeth’s Spy

(Bantam Dell/Random House, October 2012)

The saga of Maggie Hope continues when MI-5 sends her undercover as a tutor to Windsor Castle, to protect the young Princess Elizabeth, England’s future queen.

When Princess Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting is murdered, Maggie realizes the threat must come from someone inside the castle walls and does everything in her power to protect the (often willful) princess, while searching for clues, mastering royal etiquette, and navigating the upstairs-downstairs nature of a tutor’s role in the castle hierarchy.

Debuting at #25 on the New York Times Bestseller List for the week of October 20, 2012

See the reviews

Oprah.com’s Book of the Week for the week of October 15, 2012!

Winner of a 2012 Booky Award!

Nominated for a 2013 Macavity Award by Mystery Readers International and Mystery Readers Journal for the Sue Feder Historical Memorial Award

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary

(Bantam Dell/Random House, April 2012)

May 1940. As England stands alone against imminent Nazi invasion, betrayal and treachery threaten to bring her down from within.

Maggie Hope, a young American in London, finds work as a secretary to the newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill. When the P.M. is threatened by assassination, Maggie is thrown into the worlds of spies, secret agents, code-breaking and betrayal. As she searches for her missing father, she finds herself in the center of a conspiracy to murder the Prime Minister and destroy England.

Racing from the damp streets of London to the hallowed halls of Trinity College to the code-breakers’ huts of Bletchley Park, Maggie struggles with the brute realities of a world at war. She penetrates the heart
of an undercover spy ring and, despite revelations of the most horrific kind, carries out one of the war’s most deadly missions.

Find Mr. Churchill’s Secretary on Facebook

See the reviews

See the Reading Group Discussion Questions

Winner of a 2013 Barry Award for Best Paperback original by Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine!

Nominated for a 2013 Macavity Award by Mystery Readers International and Mystery Readers Journal for Best Mystery First Novel

Nominated for a 2013 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel by an American Author

Nominated for a 2013 Dilys Award by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association

NON-FICTION

Infused: 100+ Recipes for Infused Liqueurs and Cocktails

Everything You Need to Know to Make and Mix, with 100 Recipes

Infused liqueurs are the hot new ingredients for cocktails. With more than 30 infusions plus dozens of drinks to use them in, Infused combines spirits like vodka and rum with fruits, flowers, herbs, and spices to create superior liqueurs. Take the Gibson and give it a kick with Onion Vodka. Cool down with Watermelon Martinis on warm summer days, or get the heat going with Hot Mint Chocolate spiked with Mint Vodka, a perfect antidote to cold winter nights. Many infusions pair with multiple recipes: herb-infused vodkas enliven both the Rosemary Martini and the Strawberry Basil Martini. Chocolate Vodka is the indulgence in the Chocolate Martini, Brandy Alexander, and the Grasshopper. The versatility of each infusion makes giving a bottle of homemade liqueur a unique gift for any drink connoisseur. With tips on how to shake, stir, and chill, and enough recipes and ideas to reinvent any party, this colorful little book is the ultimate infusion of fun. — Chronicle Books

Making your own infused liquors is both simple and delicious. It’s also an act of creative self-expression, allowing you to play and experiment with intensities and combinations of flavors. Vodka — clear and neutral-tasting — makes an ideal blank canvas for infusions. But other liquors work beautifully as well: rum, tequila (especially 100% agave silver tequila), bourbon, brandy, gin — even cognac if you’re feeling especially decadent. And once you’ve picked your base, the choices of flavors to infuse are dizzying: fruits, flowers, herbs, spices — the combinations and permutations are endless. While they do take some time, infusions are surprisingly easy to make and well worth the effort. The depth and intensity of flavors that can be achieved is unparalleled.

In this book, you’ll not only learn how to make your own delicious infusions, but also how to mix them to great effect. Lush and aromatic, infused liquors intensify the taste of your favorite cocktails — and can even inspire you to try and create new ones. Included here are easy recipes for creating a fabulous array of liquors, as well as cocktail recipes — both classic and creative — for using them. Whether you prefer a tangy Cosmopolitan (with cranberry-orange-infused vodka), a classic such as a Margarita (with lime-infused silver tequila), or the tongue-tingling Wasabi Mary (with Thai pepper-infused vodka), Infused will instantly expand and invigorate your repertory of cocktails. A sweet splash of raspberry-infused vodka enlivens champagne in Miss Blonde; other infusions for fizz include the Gingersnap, Lychee Fizz and Rose Kiss. Delight in the aromatic Dirty Earl Grey Martini, the decadent Saffron Martini or the refreshing Tokyo Martini (with cucumber-infused vodka and sake). Strawberry Meringue, with strawberry-infused vodka, makes a dramatic finish after a meal, while Le Cognac aux Truffes — cognac infused with truffles — is unparalleled.

And, should inspiration hit, create your own alchemy, Make your own, original liquors and signature cocktails. Infused also gives guidance in “the psychology of drink creating” — how to create your own concoctions for dinner á deux, your next cocktail party, or even for gift giving.

Brimming with inventive ideas, Infused is an inspiring gift for yourself and others. Let the fun — and the party — begin.

 

Wedding Zen: Simple, Calming Wisdom for the Bride

For stressed-out brides-to-be, finally there’s an alternative to last-minute elopement: Wedding Zen is an oasis of calm amidst the chaos of planning a wedding. By applying the classic teachings of Zen to time-honored nuptial traditions, this darling book shows that a little namaste can improve The Big Day in a dramatic way. Drawn from Zen teachings such as staying mindful of worldly attachments (remember: it’s the thought, not the gift, that counts!) and surrendering the ego (but she’s your mother, and you love her), here are dozens of tips for warding off trouble in nirvana. Wedding Zen packs a bouquet of wisdom into a charming, beautifully illustrated volume, making this a perfect bridal shower gift. So when preparations get a little crazy — or a lot crazy — relief for the bride, and good karma for the giver, is close at hand.

OTHER WORKS EDITED

Repeat Until Rich: A Professional Card Counter’s Chronicle of the Blackjack Wars

by Josh Axelrad (Penguin Group)

Read the New York Times review (March 30, 2010)

The Art of Peter Max

Colorful and cosmic, Peter Max’s art has been an integral part of contemporary American culture for more than three decades. Beginning in the 1960s, when his bold bright paintings embodied the spirit of the times, up to the present day, his prolific output has inspired people in every corner of the world. Premier art institutions regularly exhibit solo shows of his work, and his trademark posters have achieved international popularity. From being named Official Artist of the Grammy Awards for five successive years to painting a Continental Airlines 777 plane, Max’s projects always garner enormous media attention.

In this comprehensive Max retrospective, 350 full-color images — many never before published — illustrate the artist’s life and prolific career.

Domers: A Year at Notre Dame, Kevin Coyne

The Serpent Garden: A Novel, Judith Merkle Riley

The Oracle Glass: A Novel, Judith Merkle Riley

What Would Buffy Do? The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide, Jana Riess

Divine Inspiration: A Homer Kelly Mystery, Jane Langton

Following Balanchine, Robert Garis

How to Be Happier Day by Day: A Year of Mindful Actions, Alan Epstein

Excess Baggage: Getting Out of your Own Way, Judith Sills