MRC RECOMMENDS: Kauai Spies and Bald-faced Lies by Rosemary and Larry Mild
“…an entertaining book, filled with interesting characters who are involved in unusual situations.”
-Mystery Review Crew
Kauai Spies and Bald-faced Lies
By Rosemary and Larry Mild
Genre: International Intrigue, Thriller, Suspense
In Kent and Katcha, American spy Kent Brukner and his lover escape from Russia. Now, five years have passed. Kent is a Honolulu lawyer, and Katcha, his Russian immigrant wife, is an American citizen, a college student, and mother to their son, Paulie.
Kent is asked to prepare a partnership agreement for a startup company building a new secret missile-tracking recorder for the U.S. military on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The Chief Financial Officer’s son is kidnapped. The ransom is not for money, but for the plans and specifications of the new recorder. Is there a mole in the company? A domestic terrorist? Kent works with the FBI to expose the spy and rescue the kidnapped son.
Meanwhile, Katcha’s immigrant friends are entangled in an ugly legal mess caused by the New York City murder of their business partner.
Can Kent help them while he’s still spy chasing?
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Review of Kauai Spies and Bald-faced Lies by Rosemary and Larry Mild.
Larry and Rosemary Mild always deliver an entertaining book, filled with interesting characters who are involved in unusual situations. Kauai Spies and Bald-faced Lies doesn’t disappoint. There are many characters and several separate story lines that could easily be confusing, but the Milds have meticulously woven them together, like a carefully spun spider’s web.
Max and Anya Volkov have fled from Russia and immigrated to America. Their story is amazing, about survival and forging a new future. They eventually settle in Hawaii and run a very successful printing company. Kent Brukner is a retired spy and practicing lawyer, and Katcha is his wife, brought home from Russia after completion of Kent’s only spy mission. Alex Olvek is the founder and CEO of Kauai Technical Systems, Kent’s newest client and, interestingly enough, the son of the Russian FSB Officer Kent had put in prison.
The basic threads of this criminal web are precisely constructed. The characters and their lives are the literal spokes of the web. The action sequences and interactions are the sticky spirals that connect the spokes, drawing the characters together, interweaving their lives, pulling them and the reader right into the center of this deadly plot, the hub of the web. There are characters that are very likable, a few that are definitely crooks, and some that will catch you by surprise. I found “Kauai Spies and Bald-faced Lies” to be an enjoyable and engaging book to read. I look forward to the next adventure that the Milds share with their readers.
About Rosemary and Larry Mild.
Coauthors, Rosemary and Larry Mild write cozy mysteries, adventure/thrillers, short stories, articles, and essays. Their marriage has not only withstood the loss of their daughter Miriam to terrorism, but also the daily test of writing back to back in the same room. Rosemary is a career writer and editor. Larry is an electrical engineer turned writer. Both are members of Mystery Writers of America, Inc., Hawaii Fiction Writers, and Sisters In Crime (Larry is a Mister in Crime). They are both former members of the Maryland Writers’ Association. They are both available for book talks and book clubs. Visit them at https://magicile.com/
