Penny for Your Secrets

Penny for Your Secrets (2019) Anna Lee Huber

Set in England in 1919.

Verity and Sidney are on more solid ground, but still trying to work through both Sidney’s issues from the war, and her issues of having spent more than a year thinking he was dead.

What I enjoy most about this series is the post WWI view of the world.

The idea of filling my days and nights with nothing but an endless round of tedious teas, morning calls, and society events— as I’d expected to do before the war— no longer appealed to me. I supposed my time with the Secret Service was to blame for that. I was no longer content with such a life now that I’d known adventure and made important contributions. I wondered how many other women were chafing under their enforced return to their prewar life. How many soldiers were missing the excitement and comradery of the battlefield, no matter its danger and deprivations, when faced with the drudgery of their normal life?

Unfortunately, I just didn’t enjoy this book anywhere near as much as the first two books in the series. I don’t think it was Sidney working out his issues–that’s usually something I am fascinated by, but I can see how it might feel slow to other readers.

My biggest problem was trying to keep track of everyone–I actually looked for a cast of characters at one point, to help me keep things straight. Also, there wasn’t one, and I kept getting confused as to which of the two guys Verity had had an affair with during the war, and which she’d had feelings for during the first book. And all the other men in the book ended up a muddle when they started talking about motives for murder etc.

Part of it is that people go by a variety of names throughout the story, and I simply got all the rich white men confused.

The other part is that the heart of the mystery never really made any sense to me. I mean, they stated their reasons, but I never got why they thought their plot would work, OR why so many people had to die to keep the plot a secret.

So, this book as a sad disappointment compared to all the other books of hers I’ve read and loved. I hope it’s just a blip.

Publisher: Kensington Books
Rating: 5.5/10

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