Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Desperate Spies by Mark de Castrique

  

North Carolina native Mark de Castrique is an award-winning veteran of the broadcast and film business. In Washington DC, he directed news and public affairs programs and now produces videos for private sector clients.

He’s written two dozen novels, mostly thrillers and mysteries including the Blackman Agency Investigations series, the Buryin’ Barry series, and some stand-alone novels. He displays his knowledge of US government operations in The Secret Lives series. In Book 3, Desperate Spies (Severn House, November 2025), Ethel Fiona Crestwater, a retired FBI agent who now rents rooms in her Arlington, Virginia, house to government agents, and Ethel’s double first cousin twice removed Jesse Cooper return for another hair-raising adventure.

Ethel’s last case as an active FBI agent resulted in a shootout. She killed a suspected Russian spy after he shot an accidental bystander, a college student; Ethel received a serious injury in return. Now, 18 years later, her victim’s brother is out of prison and planning to kill her in retribution. The father of the college student, Tony Bagatelos, is a lawyer with Mafia ties. He is also the attorney for Herman Wilkes, the senior senator from New York who is facing ethics charges over campaign contributions. Bagatelos has approached the FBI to become a confidential informant. He wants to turn over important information but will only give it to Ethel because he always believed he owed a debt to the person who stopped his daughter’s killer.

The FBI doesn’t know what the information Bagatelos is offering is about: the senator, who is suspected of shady dealings, the Mafia, or perhaps something else. But Ethel agrees to meet with the lawyer at a crowded shopping mall, where he gives her a thumb drive and promises more information to come. Upon returning to his car, Bagatelos is stabbed and dies on the floor of the parking garage. The security cameras did not capture the assailant clearly and the license plates turned out to be stolen.

The thumb drive held two pieces of information about classified advances in quantum computing that Bagatelos shouldn’t have had. The resulting puzzle is a complex morass of technology, cybersecurity, politics, spycraft, and police detection with Ethel and Jesse in the middle of it all.

Another well-written, fast-moving story about an indefatigable woman who believes in keeping her friends and who doesn’t believe in retirement. The measures described that countries will employ to get ahead of its nation-state competitors in technology reminds me of the Space Race from the 1960s. Readers familiar with the DC metro area will enjoy traveling through recognizable streets and neighborhoods.

Parts of the story are just too realistic to be funny. The thread with the two agencies who get crosswise with each other while trolling on the internet for potential spies and cyber criminals would be hilarious if it didn’t sound so credible. The senator with slipping acuity surrounded by staff who are desperate to hold onto their power base could be any one of several real-life political figures.

It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to see Ethel and Jesse in action again, although I found this story more serious than the previous two. Recommended.

·         Publisher: ‎ Severn House

·         Publication date: ‎ November 4, 2025

·         Language: ‎ English

·         Print length: ‎ 240 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎ 1448316707

·         ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1448316700

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4nLGfuJ

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.