Murder and Masquerade by Catherine McCullagh is a suspenseful, action-packed story of double agents, twisted schemes, friendship and loyalty.
Catherine McCullagh is known for her different takes on history and for creating an alternative. She uses “what if” events that quite possibly could have happened, changing the course of history.
Murder and Masquerade is set in London, 1946. A battered London is now just rising from the ashes of German occupation.
Irish policeman Brendon O’Connor, having survived an invasion and occupation, has been running the Special Investigation Unit responsible for the capture of war criminals to be brought to the war crimes trials at Nuremberg and Hamburg. A fascist plot has emerged that is threatening Britain’s precarious democracy. Brendon is now sent on another impossible mission, to locate, expose and prevent this group from success.
Brendon’s wife, Emilia, is a former translator who is now tasked with sorting through caches of German documents to form a collection and exhibition of the occupation of Britain. A work colleague is Professor Maarstrand, a former SS General who is now hiding in plain sight as an English professor.
The fascist group of like-minded patriots, who are all devoted to the resurgence of the Reich, have a plan to change the course of Britain’s future. The members are quite diverse and from all English classes.
There are complicated connections between Brendon, Emilia and Professor Maarstand, both during the occupation and now in post-war Britain. The story takes you into a world of spying and double agents, double crossings and a loyalty to a cause, either England or Germany. Brendon’s mission is complicated, with problems of who to trust; can he trust his colleagues or even members of the government?
From the prologue, with an event in 1940 during the war and to the very end of the book, you are invested in Brendon and Emelia as he races against time to prevent a return to tyranny for Britain.
Will Brendon even survive?
There are a lot of characters to follow, each playing a role, and well researched. There is a lot of action, a lot of plots to follow and certainly a lot of murder and masquerade to keep you engaged.
This is a book for lovers of action and espionage.
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I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
Murder and Masquerade by Catherine McCullagh ( Big Sky Publishing) is set in an alternate historical reality where the Nazis had occupied and run Britain, until the end of the war. It is a sequel to Power and Obsession where the main characters were previously introduced, but can be read as a stand alone.
England is now very much in recovery mode and Irish born policeman Brendan O’Connor, who had headed the English resistance during the war, is determined to root out any vestiges of nazism that remain.
There are still parts of British society that prefer Nazi rule, and the main drama of the novel centers around a fascist plot to overthrow the government and return Britain to a Nazi dictatorship.
Unfortunately to uncover the plotters and the extent of the plot Brendan O’Connor is forced to work with his old nemesis former SS General Oskar Voigt who has escaped his past, made an immunity deal with the new government, and created a new identity as a mild mannered academic.
What transpires is a tense and tangled story of betrayals, deception and corruption. An interesting story and would appeal to anyone interested in stories of wartime espionage.
Murder and Masquerade is an alternative history novel set in postwar London. It’s a substantial read, so be prepared to dive into a fast-paced and gripping thriller.
The story follows Brendan O’Connor, a former Irish resistance fighter who is now a Chief Superintendent in a British war crimes investigation unit. He remains determined to track down former SS General Oskar Voigt, a man with whom he shares a troubled history. However, the tables soon turn when Brendan is forced into an uneasy partnership with Voigt — who has been granted immunity by the British authorities — in order to locate and stop a fascist uprising before it can seize control of a politically unstable London.
As the city continues to recover from occupation and war, the author delivers a well-researched and immersive depiction of postwar London, capturing both the atmosphere and the lingering tensions of the era.
This is an engaging read for anyone who enjoys espionage, political intrigue, and historical fiction.