A prince and a spy

*Starred Review* Clements' WWII thriller's long but outstanding writing, riveting plot, vivid characters, taut suspense, and plenty of twists make it a five-star read. American Thomas Wilde, a professor at Cambridge, is President Roosevelt's friend, and, with WWII heating up, Roosevelt asks him to help establish the London branch of America's OSS security agency. When the Duke of Kent, also a friend of Roosevelt's, is killed in a plane crash in Scotland, Roosevelt asks Wilde to find out what happened. Wilde is soon drawn into a byzantine plot involving government conspiracies, betrayals, a rogue British agent, murder, and dark hints of Hitler's horrifying plan to exterminate the Jews. Wilde finds evidence to indicate the duke's plane was sabotaged, given that it was supposedly carrying documents stolen from the German government proving Hitler was already setting up death camps. Accused of a brutal murder, Wilde is forced to go on the run. Can he prove his innocence, discover what really happened to the duke's plane, track down the stolen documents, and, most important, convince Winston Churchill that Hitler's plans are real and must be stopped? Part fact-based historical fiction, part spy thriller, and part high-octane adventure with a soupçon of romance, this outstanding tale will have wide appeal. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

At the start of Clements's outstanding fifth spy thriller featuring American professor Tom Wilde, the first to be published in the U.S., Prince George, the Duke of Kent and brother to George VI, embarks on a covert diplomatic mission to Stockholm, Sweden, in 1942. There, the duke meets a German cousin, Prince Philipp von Hessen, who suggests an accommodation that would preserve the British Empire while Germany protects a federal Europe against "the Asiatic hordes." The duke is skeptical but agrees to continue the dialogue privately. Back in London, Wilde, an OSS operative, is approached by former student, Peter Cazerove, who admits he betrayed his employers at the War Office by revealing the details of an Allied raid in France to the Nazis, leading to its disastrous failure. Before taking poison, Cazerove says, without specifics, that he also did something even worse. After Wilde learns the Duke of Kent has just died in an airplane crash, he suspects the crash was no accident and Cazerove was involved. Clements (the John Shakespeare series) makes the details of the era's tradecraft plausible, and his characters, both fictional and real, fully realized. Ken Follett fans will be engrossed. (Sept.) Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.

"Two old friends meeting in a remote castle in Sweden. They are cousins. One is Prince George, brother of the king of England, and the other Prince Philipp von Hesse, a close friend of Adolf Hitler and a committed Nazi. Days later Prince George is killedin a plane crash and the country weeps, but not everyone believes that it was an accident. When FDR, who happens to be a good friend of the prince, hears the tragic news, he wants to find out exactly what happened. The American OSS doesn't believe the story that MI5 are pedalling. The situation is delicate. Professor Tom Wilde, Cambridge don, is called in to uncover the truth--but what he discovers is far more than he bargained for"--

A Cambridge spy must unravel a dangerous mystery that goes all the way to the heart of the Third Reich'and the British Monarchy'in this vivid new spy thriller from a London Times bestselling author.Two old friends meeting in a remote castle in Sweden. They are cousins. One is Prince George, brother of the king of England, and the other Prince Philipp von Hesse, a close friend of Adolf Hitler and a committed Nazi. Days later Prince George is killed in a plane crash and the country weeps, but not everyone believes that it was an accident. When FDR, who happens to be a good friend of the prince, hears the tragic news, he wants to find out exactly what happened. The American OSS doesn't believe the story that MI5 are pedalling. The situation is delicate. Professor Tom Wilde, Cambridge don, is called in to uncover the truth'but what he discovers is far more than he bargained for.