We loved the first in this post WW2 series, Brighton Belle, and the second adventure is even better with a satisfyingly complex plot bubbling over with period detail. Mirabelle and Vesta go up the line to London to solve the case of a missing debutante after a childhood friend of Vesta’s is held by the police. Nostalgic, atmospheric, well written, crime fiction with a fantastic central character - ex Secret Service office girl Mirabelle Bevan. Highly recommended.
A 'Piece of Passion' from the publisher...
'I read the script for London Calling in one sitting at my kitchen table over the course of a single evening. Sara just pulled me into the world of wintry post-war London, seedy jazz clubs and a missing heiress. During editing Sara and I had many conversations about everything from car models and radio shows to rail travel, pies and shoes. No detail is too small for Sara, she really is obsessed with getting things absolutely right for the period of London Calling. As a result her writing evokes the early 1950s impeccably, creating wonderful atmosphere and the perfect background to Mirabelle Bevan, a deeply engaging woman with a past.'
In 1950s England, a debutante disappears from a Soho jazz club, pulling a pair of sleuths into a seedy underworld, in this ';series that deserves a long run' (Booklist). In the years following World War II, former Secret Service employee Mirabelle Bevan can't seem to resist an attraction to danger and a thirst for justice... The mysterious disappearance of eighteen-year-old debutante Rose Bellamy Gore, last seen outside a Soho jazz club in the company of a saxophone player named Lindon Claremont, has the London tabloids in a frenzy. When Lindon turns up in Brighton desperately seeking help, Mirabelle counsels him to cooperate with the authorities. But after the local police take the musician into custody and ship him off to Scotland Yard, Mirabelle and her best friend, Vesta Churchill, decide to take matters into their own hands. After hopping a train to London, Mirabelle and Vesta scour smoky jazz clubs searching for clues to the deb's disappearance. What they find is a sinister underworld where the price of admission can be one's life. Mirabelle will need to draw on her espionage skills to improvise her way out of a disappearing act of her own... Praise for the writing of Sara Sheridan and London Calling ';Mirabelle Bevan's second case takes her into the divided worlds of underground jazz clubs and missing debutantes. As a British historical mystery, this fits the bill.' RT Book Reviews ';An extraordinarily rich historical.' Publishers Weekly ';Great fun. The world needs Mirabelle's feistiness, intelligence, and charm.' James Runcie, author of the Grantchester mysteries
