Review: A Matter of Loyalty

A Matter of Loyalty by Anselm Audley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

And so to the third and final novel in this series featuring Hugo Hawskworth, his (much younger) sister Georgia, his uncle Leo and Freya Selchester. Set in 1950s Britain during the Cold War, Hugo has been sent to the small town of Selchester after being retired from active duty in the Secret Service.

At the end of the second book Hugo is told that a nuclear scientist Bruno Rothesay has gone missing from the top secret research facility known by locals as the Atomic. The British Intelligence Services have known that there is someone selling secrets to the Russians and suspicion has fallen squarely on Rothesay who is thought to have defected. Hugo is asked to review his background checks while the odious Inspector Jarrett from Special Branch looks into the leaks. Then Rothesay's body is found, shot in the back of the head and all signs point to an old adversary, but Hugo isn't so sure.

Others have commented that this final book is not as good as the previous two, and that the sad death of Elizabeth Edmondson before the novel was completed is the cause. I must say I didn't find that. Yes, there is repetition of some things like Freya's secrecy about her successful writing career, but you find that in any series, it helps remind the reader of characters and how they fit into the plot.

I must say I am very sad that there are no more books. I really wanted to know whether Freya and Hugo would ever get together and ditto Gus and Dinah. Never mind.

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