Secret Churchill Files

London, 1941. Britain has endured the relentless bombing campaign of the Blitz and emerged, scarred but unbroken. Caitrin, too, strives to weather each challenge that comes her way, though her ever-ready banter belies deep heartbreak and loss. But now the war has entered another phase. Instead of indiscriminate bombing, the Luftwaffe is pinpointing historic targets, including cathedrals and ancestral homes. It's as if Germany plans to erase Britain's very essence and culture, destroying morale as it does so. Caitrin is no fan of the landed gentry, even if her fellow operative and friend, Lord Hector Neville-Percy, is one of them. But soon it is not just historical targets under attack, but hospitals and nursing homes too. Tasked with rooting out the saboteurs placing the beacons, she finds that all roads lead to Daniel "Teddy" Baer, a charismatic Whitechapel crook with high aspirations and zero scruples. As a member of the female-driven 512 counterespionage unit, Caitrin understands how often women are underestimated and overlooked-and how to use it to her advantage. But she is not the only one who knows how to hide in plain sight, how to outwit and effortlessly manipulate. And sometimes, as with a beacon hidden deep within a building, danger only becomes apparent when it flares to life, right before the moment of impact . . .

London, 1942: The threat of German invasion has abated, and the war has entered a new chapter, famously summed up by Winston Churchill as "the end of the beginning." While Churchill faces mounting pressure and calls for his resignation, a dark new horror is unfolding across the channel, as the Nazis move forward with their plan to murder Europe's Jews. In the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, young SS officer Dieter Silber helps organize the conference where Reinhard Heydrich outlines his "Final Solution." Horrified, Dieter steals a copy of Heydrich's proposal and flees to Paris. Soon there are posters all over the city seeking his whereabouts. Caitrin has her mission directly from Churchill himself: bring Dieter and the document back to London. Posing as a maid for another female spy, she takes up residence at the mansion opposite SS headquarters on Paris's Avenue Foch. Once Dieter is located, the chase will begin in earnest. The Resistance is formidable and courageous. But always, the SS are in close pursuit. And as Caitrin has learned, this is a war in which every moment and even the smallest decision can mean the difference between life and death.

1940: Weeks after the evacuation of Dunkirk, Germany is poised to invade a near-defenseless Britain. To safeguard the Crown Jewels from the Nazis, Winston Churchill devises a daring gamble to have them shipped overseas. The priceless artifacts will be secretly removed from the Tower of London and driven north to Scotland by two operatives posing as a young married couple, to be taken from there to Canada. Caitrin Colline-a Welsh coalminer's daughter and an ardent socialist-will play the wife of Lord Marlton, Hector Neville-Percy. A less likely couple is at first difficult to imagine. Yet Caitrin's bold, streetwise confidence and sharp wits complement Hector's social ease and connections, essential to a second part of their mission: uncovering Nazi sympathizers within the highest ranks of Britain's aristocracy. Battling enemies within and without, Caitrin wonders if anyone in their circle can be trusted-even her partner. And when unexpected events catapult her into a life-or-death chase across the continent, the morale of a nation and the fate of Europe itself in the balance.