Publisher's Weekly Review
British gentleman sleuth Albert Campion has a deeply personal mystery to solve in Ripley's impressive ninth continuation of Margery Allingham's relished series (after 2021's Mr. Campion's Coven). In 1965, Campion is anticipating a triumphant day for his wife, Amanda, who's slated to receive an honorary doctorate of science from Cambridge University for her work in aeronautical engineering. The occasion is marred when Amanda's nabbed at the postceremony reception by the Special Branch and taken into custody on suspicion that she violated the Official Secrets Act. The charges stem from her role in a secret program to design a new military aircraft, the Goshawk Project, and Campion sets about probing who actually leaked sensitive information about it, possibly to Soviet military intelligence, at a time when the Kim Philby defection to Moscow is still an open sore. The puzzle deepens after one of the other people working on Goshawk dies in a suspicious accident at the project's base. Ripley again marries a crafty plotline with a persuasive evocation of Allingham's style and characterizations. Fans of the originals will be delighted. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
A well-deserved honor for his brainy wife drags Albert Campion out of retirement yet again in 1965. Under the sponsorship of Professor Emeritus John Branscombe, St. Ignatius College, Cambridge, has chosen to confer an honorary doctorate on Lady Amanda Fitton for her work as head of the Goshawk Project, which develops state-of-the-art aircraft designs. The only false note in Amanda's big day comes when she's spirited away by police officers who detain her under the Official Secrets Act. And even that comes with a silver lining: She has a perfect alibi when Branscombe's former student Alan Wormold is killed in a suspicious and very bloody accident in the Goshawk workshop. Since Amanda can't believe that workshop manager Alf Bagley, who discovered Alan's body, is responsible for his death, that leaves only four suspects, all of them Goshawk employees: senior engineer Kevin Loder, American design engineer Gary Cupples, ex--RAF officer Nugent Monck, and self-styled old man Melvin Barnes. Offered the hospitality of Branscombe's home and his housekeeper, the formidable Finn Astra Jarvela, Campion settles down to figure out who might have stolen some sections of Reynolds steel tubing and who might secretly be working to leak information about Goshawk's latest project, a jet plane with swept-forward wings. Fans of this genial series should be prepared to swallow enough technical information about aeronautics to distract them from the possibility that Cambridge is home to an awful lot of guilty parties. Alternately muddled and gently amusing. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Malliet returns to the series starring DCI Arthur St. Just and writer/criminologist Portia De'Ath, launched with the Agatha Award-winning Death of a Writer. In cozy little Maidsfell, where plans to redevelop the seafront have raised both cheers and jeers, staunch opponent Lord Bodwally is found murdered. St. Just's investigation reveals that this is a community with secrets.
