Louise's Chance by Sarah R. Shaber @SShaber

I've really been enjoying this series since I picked it up at book three and despite missing books one and two, I have never felt like I'm missing anything, thought I can't for the life of me remember her previous experience with Agent Williams. Either he was in book one or two, or there's been too much time between novels and I've forgotten.

But I digress. Louise is a former clerk for America's secret agency. It's WWII and she's in D.C. working a new job with the Foreign Morale committee. I've heard of this before and this is extremely interesting to me. During the war, we made fake letters and postcards and graffiti to discourage Nazis and German soldiers...to lower their morale. Louise takes us into the backrooms of this project. Her mission is to turn German POWs who've recently been incarcerated in the States. They are needed to plant the propaganda behind enemy lines.

But while interviewing the POWs Louise gets involved in a murder mystery.

And her secret lover pops up again, though there's very little of this twist this time.

I like how the author delves into the attitudes toward women and women working during the war, the changing attitudes and the resistors. The writing is stellar, and I must applaud the author for something. Often when reading mysteries in which there are a lot of suspects, I grow confused. Too many characters are introduced too soon and too many backgrounds, causing me to lose track of who is who. Not so in this novel. All the prisoners relevant to the story are introduced with just enough detail that we can tell them apart and remember who's who.

I can't wait to find out what Louise does next. Terrific novel. Perhaps not as exciting or intense as the last one, but a great installment to the series regardless. Did I mention we met another interesting and strong woman in this story? Louise's boss. I have a feeling we'll be reading more of her.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital review of this galley.