Review: The More Deceived

The More Deceived by David Roberts
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Its 1937 and Lord Edward Corinth is asked by his friend in the Secret Service to investigate how Winston Churchill is getting access to top secret information about Britain's defensive capabilities, possibly from a sympathiser in the Foreign Office.

Invited to dine with Churchill and some friends, Edward soon comes to believe that Churchill is right about how unprepared Britain is for war, although he doesn't 100% trust him, or his cronies, but then one of the men in the Foreign Office department which collates data about arms sales in the UK is found hanged under one of London's bridges, the body is a parody of a suicide, with the man's umbrella hanging jauntily from his arm - who would kill him and why?

Meanwhile, Verity is still in Spain and Edward can't help but be terrified for her safety.

I struggled with this book, there was sooo much history/politics and the mystery sort of got buried underneath it all. Sitting here a day later I honestly don't understand how Edward got a clue to solve the murder and I feel this is my issue with the series as a whole, the detection isn't Sherlock Holmes levels of deviousness, or piecing together several innocuous pieces of evidence so that the reader mentally slaps their head and says 'why didn't I get that?', its just 'hunh? How did he come to that conclusion?'.

Also, Edward's thoughts about Verity are very odd - not sure if its David Roberts' thoughts or him trying to imagine what an aristocrat would think in the 1930s about a free spirited woman but it just jars (and no I can't think of an example - will highlight in the next book if it happens).

I have been seduced by the new covers (they are gorgeous) but with this one I am wondering - where was the train in the story?

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews