In the LJ-starred Death in Focus, which launched an interwar Europe-set series, young photographer Elena Standish became involved with MI6, which her grandfather once secretly headed. In this follow-up, Elena gets her first real mission: go deep into Mussolini territory and find a former lover who betrayed her—she's actually the one person who can recognize him. Meanwhile, Elena's sister is in Berlin for a friend's wedding to a member of the Gestapo.

At the start of bestseller Perry's excellent sequel to 2019's Death in Focus, likewise set in 1933, Peter Howard, of British Military Intelligence, offers fledgling British spy Elena Standish, a gifted photographer who's fluent in German and Italian, a new assignment. Aiden Strother, one of the service's most important assets, is gathering information in Italy, but his handler there is unreachable at a crucial moment. Having learned that Strother's cover has been blown, Howard wants Elena to go to Trieste, posing as a photographer, to warn Strother to get out safely with as much data as possible. Elena accepts the responsibility, even though she feels Strother betrayed her trust six years earlier when he was posing as a Nazi sympathizer and cost her her position at the Foreign Office. Meanwhile, Elena's older sister, Margot, adds to the intrigue by traveling to Berlin for the wedding of a childhood friend to a Gestapo officer. Perry expertly blends character development with plot surprises. This prolific author shows no sign of losing steam. Agent: Donald Maass, Donald Maass Literary. (Sept.)