Rogue Spy

September 29, 2014
The latest Spymaster historical romantic thriller reunites Thomas “Pax” Paxton with old friends Doyle (The Forbidden Rose) and Hawker (The Black Hawk). The British and French hold an uneasy truce, but the French Revolution rages on. Camille Leyland, one of the best code-breakers working for the British Service, has personal secrets as well as professional ones. She is actually Vérité, one of the child-spies the French trained and slipped into British families. Most of those children have grown up, renounced their pasts, and gone on to live quietly in England, but Pax, or Devoir, remains one of the stealthiest spies and assassins in the Service. Cami and Pax were best friends as children and they meet again when Cami goes to meet a blackmailer who knows about her past. Sinister plots are everywhere, as the blackmailer spins his elaborate schemes, Cami and Pax lay their traps, and their families and allies make their own plans. Bourne’s latest is less intense than previous installments, and she makes much of the comedy in the various characters’ futile attempts to keep secrets from their fellow master spies.

Starred review from October 15, 2014
When two former double agents who trained together as children risk everything to help each other, falling in love becomes the most dangerous move in a deadly spy master's game.Pax and Cami knew each other as Verite and Devoir when they were children in France during the Revolution, trained to infiltrate British intelligence. Ten years later, they are both successfully ensconced in vulnerable positions, but neither has ever acted against England. Instead, Pax has become a valued member of a spy ring, while Cami has lived as the niece of the country's best codebreakers and created one of their most impenetrable codes. Since their brutal French tutors ultimately fell to the guillotine, no one in France is alive to remember their horrid mission, and Pax and Cami have lived in peace, loyal to England. But someone has learned about Cami's duplicity, and the true niece of her adopted aunts is apparently alive. While the easy path would be to disappear into a new life, Cami is honor-bound to try to save the girl and let the aunts know she exists. Trying to gain information from the blackmailer who wants her code, she runs into Pax, who is stunned to realize his childhood friend is in England. He knows his first allegiance is to her, above any loyalty to his friends or the king. Digging to find answers, they must come clean about their pasts to each other-even before they met in France, since their family connections will add even more complexity to an already dense and treacherous situation-and to his friends and superior, then stay two steps ahead of their shared enemy to stay alive and fight for their future. Another win for Bourne: smart, exquisite writing, an intricate plot and breathtaking romance.

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Starred review from October 15, 2014

One of the legendary Caches, children trained as lethal French spies during the Revolution and placed in strategic homes throughout England, code breaker Camille Leyland always knew one day she'd have to walk away from a life--and people--she'd come to love. She just wasn't prepared to become the target of a cold-blooded revolutionary bent on killing the remaining Caches or to be drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Now, Cami and childhood friend Thomas Paxton, Cache and British Service agent, must race against the clock to stop the fanatical Merchant from carrying out his destructive aims. VERDICT Complex plotting, flawless pacing, truly exquisite prose, and characters who leap from the page, stilettos in hand, result in a riveting story that is rife with surprises. One more gem from a master of the craft. Bourne (The Black Hawk) lives in the Appalachians.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
The key to surviving as a spy is to know when to run. When Camille Leyland opens the plain, brown packet with the letter and ring, she knows she has waited too long. For 10 years she has played the part of code-making, code-breaking Camille Leyland to perfection, but now the author of the letter informs her that if she doesn't turn over the key to the Mandarin Code, her real identity as a Cach'young spies placed by the French in strategic English householdswill be revealed to the British government. Camille's initial attempt to outwit her blackmailer takes a surprising turn, however, when she unexpectedly stumbles into Thomas Paxton, an old friend and another Cach', who renounced his past and is now one England's most valuable spies. Bourne (The Spymaster's Lady, 2008) continues to demonstrate a remarkable flair for deftly mixing danger and desire in an impeccably crafted Regency setting. The latest thrilling addition to her Spymaster series will keep readers firmly riveted to their seats with its superbly nuanced protagonists, compelling cast of secondary characters, and thoughtful exploration of love, honor, and friendship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)