MURDER IN MOSCOW (Fiona Figg Mystery #8 / A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery #5) by Kelly Oliver will be published on March 19, 2024 by Boldwood Books.
Fiona Figg puts her job with Britain’s War Office at risk when she accepts the invitation of notorious spy Fredrick Fredricks to meet him at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Fiona has been trailing Fredricks all across the globe in an effort to stop his spying and occasional assassination of double agents. Fiona arrives at the motel only to find that Fredricks is not there. After a brief stay in a Russian prison, Fiona is rescued by her partner, Kitty Weeks. Still determined to find Fredricks, Fiona and Kitty get caught up in a plot to overthrow the Bolshevik government. Fiona is a master of disguise, and she uses her skills to go undercover as a governess in the home of Iron Viktor, the Bolsheviks’ Head of Secret Police. When Viktor is killed, Fiona is once again on the run from the police.
While I am a big fan of the Fiona Figg Mysteries and the Fiona Figg and Kitty Weeks Mysteries, MURDER IN MOSCOW fell a little flat for me. All of the books are a bit ridiculous, but this one passed into the realm of the unbelievable. The plot was chaotic and sometimes hard to keep track of. For wartime Russia during the height of the Bolshevik Revolution, no one seems all that concerned by the group of British people running around and sticking their noses into political affairs. The subplot of Fiona’s romantic feelings bouncing back and forth between Fredricks and Archie is also getting to be over the top. Overall, MURDER IN MOSCOW was still interesting as it continues to move Fiona’s story forward. I hope things pick back up in the next novel.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.