UNDER THE PAPER MOON is author Shaina Steinberg's latest. This follows the life of Evelyn Bishop and is set in Los Angeles with part of it following Evelyn while she works as a spy in Europe during WW2. There is back and forth while her time in WW2 is put into context and how the time and other characters are related to her and the story at the present.
Evelyn Bishop is an heiress to an aeronautical empire created by her father in the early 1900s in Los Angeles. She has a twin brother Matthew, a soldier who is missing in Europe, whom Evelyn vows to find by joining up herself. While she is in the Secret Service she works with Nick and also gets romantically involved with, her team lead, then there's Carl and David and a few men they lose along the way. Their WW2 mission ends on personal heartbreaking notes and separately they return to LA at various times after the war ends.
Once back in LA, sometime during the late 40s Evelyn and Nick are both working as private investigators. Nick watches her from afar and they have yet to cross paths. They think the war is behind them however they come face to face when they are working on the same case, hired by separate parties though. Soon the case gets complicated and they realise the war has followed them home and is threatening their remaining loved ones.
Will they be able to shed the terror of the war they fought and lost so much in or will they too die on home ground?
What I liked -
Evelyn's character is written so well that I loved her flaws and all. More to the point is how smart she is in general and the way she deals with every drama that crosses her path. She is one kickass character.
The dynamics between Evelyn and the people she loves from her father, sibling, childhood friend, and the guys she met during the war. There are emotions, affection, banter, and camaraderie that's so good to read about.
We get a glimpse of old LA glamour and hints of drama and mystery from the private investigation part of the story.
While Evelyn is the main point of view I enjoyed reading about the very flawed Nick too who seemed to have the cat's 9 lives and is always rescued by his friends who never give up on him.
For some old Hollywood glamour, though low-key, point of view of how the war was for some American businesses and what motivated some Americans to join up, pick up a copy and know how the song Under the Paper Moon makes for the title of this story.
Kate Quinn’s The Rose Code meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith in this intrigue-filled debut, as two former spies who shared more than just missions during WWII reunite in 1948 Los Angeles. Can they let go of heartbreak long enough to team up for one last operation in this tightly-plotted, emotionally rich postwar mystery?
It’s 1942, and as far as her father knows, Evelyn Bishop, heiress to an aeronautics fortune, is working as a translator in London. In truth, Evelyn—daring, beautiful, and as adept with a rifle as she is in five languages—has joined the Office of Strategic Services as a spy. Her goal is personal: to find her brother, who is being held as a POW in a Nazi labor camp. Through one high-risk mission after another she is paired with the reckless and rebellious Nick Gallagher, growing ever close to him until the war’s end brings with it an act of deep betrayal.
Six years later, Evelyn is back home in Los Angeles, working as a private investigator. The war was supposed to change everything, yet Evelyn, contemplating marriage to her childhood sweetheart, feels stifled by convention. Then the suspected cheating husband she’s tailing is murdered, and suddenly Evelyn is back in Nick’s orbit again.
Teaming up for a final mission, Evelyn and Nick begin to uncover the true nature of her case— and realize that the war has followed them home. For beyond the public horrors waged by nations there are countless secret, desperate acts that still reverberate on both continents, and threaten everything Evelyn holds dear...
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