A great spy novel very well written. It took me sometime to get into and I found remembering who was who with the switch between times in history quite a challenge. However you really need to persevere and the reward is in knowing you have just been one of the first to read a future classic.

I was excited to see a book by Manda Scott and pleased to be sent a copy. I don’t usually read spy fiction so I struggled a little at the beginning with the number of characters and complexity of the plot. However, I decided to go with the flow as the writing is so good and if I didn’t understand all the nuances of a scene, I was still engrossed in the novel. The action scenes are particularly strong. At one point, about halfway through, I was reading the book late at night and realised I was holding my breath and had been for pages! I can’t remember when I last did that. Just shows how brilliantly Manda Scott writes and how involved I was with the characters.

This is a big book, about a fascinating time in history, well worth investing time in. I will probably read it again in a year or so, to understand more of the subtleties, but for now I feel quite worn out as the narrative is intense! Definitely worth reading and re-reading.

Orléans detective Inès Picaut is called in to investigate the murder of an elderly woman, who has been killed in the manner of traitors to the Resistance in World War Two. The murder coincides with a security conference in the city, including key US personnel, and she is under political pressure to run a speedy but low-profile investigation. However, some key figures at the conference seem to be interested in the story of the dead woman.

This is one of those books where you feel completely immersed in the story. As it’s quite long, I read it over a few days and found myself simultaneously wanting to race through it and not wanting it to end.

The book focuses mainly on the French Resistance and the British agents who worked with them. There is a lot of wonderful detail about cryptography and spycraft. The protagonists are all clever and brave and resourceful. Some are eccentric and cool under pressure. Others are passionate and strong. All experience terrible losses.

It is most fascinating in the insights it gives into the work of undercover agents practising many layers of deception, with complex loyalties and conflicts. These same ambiguities were present in institutions which were looking beyond the war to secure their own interests. As the narrative moves between the past and the present, you are kept guessing about who was betrayed and who survived – and the terrible choices they had to make.

The police-procedural element of the book plays a fairly small part and I was more interested in the story in the past than in the investigation in the present day, but it was fascinating to learn how the events of the past still resonate, not just on the individuals involved but on the political and security networks of the West.

A Treachery of Spies combines crime, espionage, history and international relations in a complex, absorbing and pacy thriller.

A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott

A very old woman, Sophie Destivelle, is found murdered in a car in Orléans. She’s been shot three times in what has all of the hallmarks of a professional assassination. Her tongue is cut out, a terrible reminder of the punishment dealt out to French collaborators during the German occupation of France during the Second World War. Police inspector Capitaine Inés Picaut finds on her person a card belonging to a filmmaker who, it turns out, is currently making a documentary about the local Maquis, the French Resistance. As Picaut searches for the reasons behind why such an old woman, in her 90s, met such a fate, she learns that there have been other deaths. The survivors of the war did not leave the past far enough behind. It’s caught up with them.

A Treachery of Spies is an outstanding novel that deserves all of the superlatives I can throw at it. Manda Scott is the finest of writers, her books always significant and she is able to turn her hand to any historical period, any genre. She has written some of my very favourite novels. Manda Scott manages to engage both the head and the heart of the reader, leaving one in awe of the cleverness of the book’s plotting and structure while feeling every moment of the novel’s tension and drama, often weeping tears for its men and women. These books are also so exciting! A Treachery of Spies is no different.

Into the Fire introduced us to Capitaine Inés Picaut in a superb and memorable novel that combined a murder investigation in the present with the 15th-century life of Joan of Arc. A Treachery of Spies also combines stories from the past and present but this time it’s the period of the German Occupation and its aftermath, years remembered by some of the people in the novel. The result is one of the most powerful and evocative fictional account of the French Resistance that I’ve read. The danger of these years, the absolute peril that these heroic men and women put themselves through every single day, the torture they risked and endured when caught, the psychological stress they lived with, the loss of comrades whom they grieved for – all of this and much, much more is given to us in this tense, compelling and brilliant thriller.

Picaut uncovers a web of lies and secrets that goes back decades – chapters set in the past show us how this web took shape as we follow the members of the local Maquis in their daily fight against the Germans, most notably Kramme, the most despicable of them all. It is absolutely engrossing and even more so because we grow so close to these characters, watching their relationships form and intensify over many, many years. It is astonishing some of the sacrifices that are made for the cause. There are so many details that capture the imagination and add to the novel’s authenticity. I don’t want to give you any details about the story itself and the people you’ll love and hate within these pages – you must discover them for yourselves. But Sophie Destivelle is a character that you really need to meet.

Manda Scott’s skill in bringing to life such complicated relationships and emotions is staggering. It’s a complex book but that’s part of its joy. I ached for these people and I hated the evil. Good and evil battle it out here, the fight that never ends. We witnessed it in Into the Fire and it continues here, although sometimes both can be hidden. It’s like the end of the world to see such heroism and courage slaughtered while we must praise the valour of people like Picaut and others in this novel who live to fight the enemy. A Treachery of Spies is a fantastic spy thriller, it’s also a brilliant crime novel, but there’s so much more to it than that. A contender for novel of the year for sure. How I long for Picaut to return.

Other reviews
Rome: The Emperor’s Spy
Rome: The Coming of the King
Rome: The Eagle of the Twelfth
Rome: The Art of War
Into the Fire
An interview with Manda Scott, author of Into the Fire

An intensely complex tale set in three different times late war years,mid fifties and present day. The search for Nazi criminal is the main part with various intelligence arms involved and in the present day the French police. A complicated plot line with many characters is difficult to unravel but well worth it at the denouement! Both violent and tender this is excellent stuff.

When 92-year-old Sophie Destivelle is found murdered in an Orleans car park, it soon becomes apparent that this is no random killing. Her manner of death echoes that of traitors to the Resistance in World War Two.

This is Captain Picaut’s first case since returning from injury. It’s a case that will uncover secrets of her country’s past and provide some startling revelations – such as, who exactly was Sophie Destivelle?

A Treachery of Spies is a thoroughly absorbing read. I didn’t want to put it down, and when I did manage to extract myself from its pages, the story continued to play on my mind.

Firstly, I didn’t realise when I picked this up that it’s actually the second book featuring Captain Picaut. Don’t let that put you off though, I read it as a stand-alone and really enjoyed it. There are references to events in the previous book but I didn’t feel that I was missing out.

As for the story itself, it is clever, intricate, and evidently very well researched. The best way I can describe this novel is that it is historical fiction mixed with a thriller, mystery and police procedural – pretty much the ultimate combination in my opinion.

The investigation of Sophie’s death takes the reader across time and space – from present-day Orleans to wartime Britain and Germany-occupied France, with a focus on Resistance fighters and British Special Operatives of the Jura mountains.

Scott has meticulously researched this historical aspect, blending fact with fiction. I can’t tell you how much I learned from this novel, things which I intend to read up on further (no spoilers though so you’ll need to read A Treachery of Spies to find out what I’m talking about!).

This is a novel that taxed my fog-addled brain but in the best possible way. I had to focus to keep up with all of the characters and their timelines, to keep up with the intricacies of the story and to follow the clues and ciphers. I love a book that makes you think though – and this is a powerful novel that not only challenges in terms of the story, but it makes one thing of history and to consider the lives of those who lived during the war.

All in all, it is a fascinating, well-crafted novel that will keep you hooked until the very last page. I almost wish I could read it again!

I was sent a copy of A Treachery of Spies by Manda Scott to read and review by NetGalley.
This is easily one of my favourite books of the year so far – and I’ve read quite a few! Variously set between the present day and 1944, it is a murder mystery with a difference. It is fast paced, compelling and demands your attention, for even though this novel is not difficult to read it is intricate with many aspects and characters. The use of different chapters for different eras seemed in no way formulaic and even when you knew that a character had survived the war you were still on the edge of your seat when action prevailed – I was anyway! A truly masterful piece of writing, all the more astonishing when you read the afterword and discover that much of the novel that is set in wartime France is based on historical fact. I would rate this book with more than the maximum 5 stars if I could!

This novel has tremendous potential and comes highly recommended by Lee Child and Simon Mayo. The premise is indeed interesting; there are two threads: one set in the last months of World War II in the Jura area, and the other in 2018 following murders in Orleans and investigated by Captain Picaut. In the finale full of suspense, the threads are cleverly drawn together.

Early in the novel, the training of wartime agents is enlightening, and the use of ciphers challenging. A la Dan Brown, ciphers are integral to the plot, and their use clever. The behaviour of the Nazis in the Jura is appaling. The interrogation techniques are graphically described.

Captain Picaut begins to unravel the murders in Orleans and discovers how the wartime activities are behind the murders. Throw in the CIA and other government agencies plus a traitor in the midst of the French Resistance and you have a complex plot.

Herein lies a problem, many characters are introduced early in both threads and I read the book over a couple of weeks. I found it difficult to remember all the characters and their relationships! The plot is convoluted and some of the action is difficult to follow. Some of the dialogue is uninspired.

Overall, an interesting scenario with a thrilling denouement. Personally, I would like the Editor to earn their fee! Enjoyable but with reservations.
Originally reviewed here: http://dilabs.org/a-treachery-of-spies-by-manda-scott/

I very nearly didn't get further than the first two chapters of this absorbing thriller but I'm glad I persevered because it is an excellent novel which is the second (I believe) of this author's books featuring French detective, Captain Picaut. There is just enough of Picaut's back story given for a reader new to the series and probably not so much as to annoy someone who has read the earlier novel, "Into the Fire".

Maybe because the author knows Picaut better than she does the other characters in the book, this character seems the most rounded one. I finished the book not feeling I'd become totally familiar with any of the other players, but maybe that's more to do with the fact that they were trained spies and deceivers, rather than being newly created by the author, and that is how the reader is supposed to find them. Either way, I wasn't totally satisfied and I do wish that I'd made a spreadsheet of the various characters and relationship to each other as I read!

Similarly, I was able to get a real sense of place from some of the descriptions, especially of the various interiors, but many locations (specifically the Jura which I know well and wasn't really recognisable) seemed not to have much unique going for them in terms of landscape, scents, etc.

This is an absorbing thriller and very well worth careful reading, not least for the thought-provoking conspiracy theory mooted towards the end. I have no hesitation in recommending it and thank the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy to review.

I thought this book quite brilliant. Clever writing and page turning. It took some time for me to get into the plot but I couldn't put it down and found it a fascinating insight to a time in history that may soon be forgotten; cleverly bought up to date with a current day crime. Superb writing by a new author to me and I will certainly be reading more. Huge thanks for letting me read ahead of publication. Highly recommended.

It's been quite a while since I felt so desperate to read and understand the outcome of a book. With friends popping around last night I pressed hard to find out what happened near the end, before they arrived, but failed. I realised this finale wasn't worthy of such a fevered read, but needed to be absorbed gently to take in the detail. All I can say is, Wow! What a superb read that is sure to impress any fan of WWII spy thrillers!

A Treachery of Spies is told in two timelines - a modern day murder investigation in Orleans, France and in WWII with the Maquis de Morez Resistance fighters and the British SOE who supported them against the occupying Nazis. In 2018, Captain Ines Picault investigates the murder of an woman who seems to have no past. It comes to light that she is linked to the French Resistance but why would anyone kill an elderly women and cut out her tongue? Buckle up for an adventure back in time that will deliver action, bravery, heartbreak, exhilaration and a complex mystery. Honestly, this is a jaw-dropping effort that had to have taken a great deal of research and mapping out. It's entirely worth the effort!

The characters were the linchpin and felt like family to me. The members of the Maquis we get to know intimately are so well rounded with fully formed personalities with impressive skills. French Captain Picault is also a person of note. She has her own story that unfolds as her investigation gets underway. A likeable character, she is a great foil to the historical element as she makes sense of the conflicting information her digging uncovers. Be warned, there is a vast array of characters with tenuous connections. Try to keep them straight as best you can. It gets really twisty and knowing who is who will help you with the intricate plot.

The tension whilst reading this novel was simply relentless. I sat gripping my kindle tightly as our beloved Maquis take on one dangerous mission after another. I wanted to read quickly to find out what happened but also slow things down to stay in that world of passion, revenge and honor. It was extremely hard to let them go and return to reality. The atmosphere and the sense of duty speaks volumes and ties the reader to the pages with unbreakable strength. I cannot convey how moved I was by this story and impressed that it isn't simply a WWII drama but a modern day whodunit filled with its own tension and danger.

This is a book that deserves to be read. There is more in A Treachery of Spies than meets the eye and I hope it impresses you as much as it did me.

A Treachery of Spies. Manda Scott

Two great stories rolled into one. A second world war espionage story that Len Deighton would have been proud of, and a modern crime story worthy of any of the present day authors writing excellent crime fiction.

The murder of an elderly lady in Orleans, France, is a horrible crime at the best of times. The fact that she has been executed and then mutilated, in a very specific manner, makes the crime even more hideous.

Enter Captain Ines Picaut of the French Police, and her small team. Picaut is recently returned to work having been badly burnt in a house fire but us soon into her stride.

The team tentatively identify the woman and link her to a production company making a TV series about a band of French Resistance Fighters during the Second World War.

The investigation will lead them to start to uncovering facts about the dead woman, and the part she played in the Resistance.

Here starts the second story. That of spies, double agents and treachery. The story of a young woman that escapes from occupied Europe and is trained as an agent that can work with the Resistance. She will work behind enemy lines with agents from across Europe and with French citizens trying to free their own country.

Whilst in France she will encounter; French people who sympathise with the Germans and see the retribution that is brought on them by their own Countrymen; she will have to work with people she despises and decide on which of the people she likes will die.

The small band that makes up her group all seem to have the same allegiances, but have they??

Who is on her side, and who feeding the enemy information.

As the two stories unfold, the modern day investigation, and the second world war drama, identities are uncovered. Nobody is who they seem, and somebody is acting as puppet master, pulling all the strings, but to what end.

I have used no names, except for the present day Police Captain’s, in this review. There is a good reason for that. Some of the characters in this book have multiple identities, because they have worked for different countries and different agencies. To use any of the names might be a bit of a spoiler to the story.

And this is an excellent story that I would hate to spoil for anybody.

Amongst most new fiction this is a tomb of a book at nearly 500 pages. Every page is a pleasure to read. The pace of the book is frantic but very enjoyable.

I have loved WW II stories since I was a young teenager, and I may be being nostalgic, but reading this book has made me wish there were more being written today.

Pages: 480
Publisher: Bantam Press, Random House
Publishing Date: 9th August 2018

This is an a police story about the murder of some elderly people in Orleans. It transpires they are members of a former macquis resistance unit during the war. Acdtion from their wartime days is intercut with the more recent past and the present police investigation. The wartime action is well researched and full of blood thirsty action. What emerges is thirst for revenge for past atrocity and intigue and double dealing for ongoing espionage.
A compelling, gripping read.

I have just finished reading one of the best WW2 spy stories I have ever read. Manda Scott has written an amazing story spanning the past and the present with consummate ease. It's a complex plot but the writing makes it flow and it's easy to follow the ins and outs, turns and counter turns, and shifts in time period. War fiction is my favourite genre and this is one of the very best I have read. With thanks to Net Galley, Transworld Publishers and the author for a free unproofed copy in exchange for an honest review. I only spotted one small continuation error which I am sure will have been corrected by the editor for the final version.

My first read of this author and it was an interesting storyline, mixing past (WW2 French resistance) with present (murders of said French Resistance members) all pursued by a motivated French Detective. Well executed, so to speak and very atmospheric with the heavy hand of politics and political manoeuvring impacting on some very brave people. Was it ever any different? It holds you and and unwinds to a very believable end that dots the I's and crosses the T 's. A good read that left me realising the sacrifices some very supposed "ordinary" people made.

This is the first Manda Scott novel that I have read, and I was completely bowled over by its brilliance. This is the best historical fiction I have read for some time, part of the reason for that is the depth, complexity and insights acquired by impeccable and impressive research carried out by the author on this period of WW2 history in Britain and France. Whilst creating fictional characters, Scott has based them on real life individuals in Britain and France where the French Resistance (The Maquis) and the agents working for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), jointly planned and carried out actions to impede the German Nazis (The Boche). In present day 2018 contemporary France, in Orleans a beautiful elderly woman has been murdered in a car at the rail station in the style of traitors in the war. The badly burned and scarred Captain Ines Picaut is to find the answers to the killing of Sophie Destivelle, understood to be not her real identity, lies in the treachery, betrayal, intrigue and politics in the battle against the Nazis. In the climate of Je Suis Charlie, a CIA conference is in town, creating a diplomatic nightmare and headache for the police team.

Elodie Duval, executive producer at radical mind, has been making a documentary film, Wild Card, of the experiences of a group of resistance fighters and agents, and it included Sophie Destivelle, an accomplished up close and personal assassin. As more murders occur, it soon becomes clear that the ramifications of the war continue into the present, the documentary has reopened the horrors and the open wounds of the past. Whilst the narrative goes back and forth in time, the real focus is on the past, a closely meshed group dancing on the knife edge of mortality, the myths and legends surrounding WW2 espionage. From the British side, there is Captain Laurence Vaughn-Thomas, his intelligence chief uncle, Jeremy and his gifted and brave cousin, Theodora/Celine and close friend, Patrick Sutherland, medic and Patron. Sophie is placed in the dangerous role as traitor, expected to cosy up and get close to the leading German officer in the region. Along with members of the local embattled resistance, tensions run high amidst the entry of US agent Paul Rey to the tight knit group with orders to protect an agent, Icarus, at any cost, and the understanding that there is treachery and betrayal amongst them . Picaut delves into the past as the old warriors become present day targets, honing in on the truth despite all the obstacles the investigation encounters.

Scott does an incredible job in capturing the global political machinations at play, the pragmatism displayed by the US as a superpower with Operation Paper Clip that saw huge numbers of Nazis given new names and identities and spirited into the US, given significant power and influence in their new roles. It is speculated that this level of Nazi ideology dripping into the political bloodstream of the US in the future will be catastrophic, whilst I am sure there is some truth in this, I would say the genesis of the US as a nation was already poisoned by the divisive issue of race, something transparently obvious in the US politics of today. Then there is the planned creation of the new enemy, the Soviet Union. If WW2 interests you, or if you like complex and compelling historical fiction, then this is a must read. An outstanding, insightful, informative and gripping novel from Manda Scott which I loved and adored. Many thanks to Random House Transworld for an ARC.

The story starts from the closing stages of WW11 up to present times. There is a richly drawn cast of characters, from the many SOE trained agents parachuted in to France into a district with a well established marquis band wrecking havoc on the German supply lines, followed by those parachuted in to ensure that that they are well supplied. The Gestapo meanwhile are doing their best to capture the leaders and when they do to brutally torture and mutilate them in all manner and means to get them to betray their comrades. Into this mix is a labyrinth of different relationships and spies traitors and moles and enough aliases to confuse anyone. The war ends with villains escaping retribution by jumping ship in good time to disappear. This unfinished business reappears in the present with old veterans murdered that provide a case for the police to unravel that bring the ends together. A most complex and bewildering historical novel of treachery that is not easy to follow.

Great book ,really enjoyed the read.
I enjoy all spy stories .This book takes a different slant on the subject involving a recruitment and subsequent betrayal.

Reads well with plenty of pace.

Set in present day France, with topical mentions of Je Suis Charlie’s and the terrorist attacks which gives an air of reality right from the beginning.

Sophie, a member of the French resistance in the 1940’s, is found murdered in a quite gruesome way and so it begins. There are facts from World War 2 mixed with fiction in a tale of spies, murder and a 60 year mission. While, this happened in France, the CIA and NSA are involved too.

The main character Captain Picault, with her barely healed scars, is very shrewd and thorough with great insights and really seemed to understand people.

I loved the trips back in time, to the sending of war time messages in code and the de-coding explaining how simple spelling errors could hold this up for days, you could feel the pressure these men and women were under. There are Nazi’s, collaborators and the Maquis (French resistance)...

Manda Scott has clearly done a great deal of research and the building of the characters is so good that there is such a great atmosphere that you can almost smell that lavender. A great read.

*I would like to thank the author/publisher/NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
Not sure whether this is actually meant to be a spy thriller or a crime thriller and in my view probably covers both genres. Starting in modern times it goes back in time to the 2nd World War and the French Resistance.
Beautifully written as in keeping with other publications by this author, I found myself drawn into the intrigue. The plot develops quickly and the reader requires full focus to keep up with events. All in a very good read and worthy of four stars.