On the HahaFiction shelf
The Spy Coast
The Martini Club · Book 1
Maggie Bird has retired from the CIA to raise chickens in Purity, Maine. A body on her driveway makes that retirement dangerous. Her Martini Club friends, fellow former spies, bring their old skills to a threat reaching into her present life.
From the publisher’s blurb
“Maggie Bird is many things. A chicken farmer. A good neighbour.”Read the full description at Penguin Random House UK
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What makes it funny?
These retired spies know how to watch a room and keep secrets, but two of them admit they haven’t read the book for that evening’s group. They ask Maggie for a summary, giving trained professionals a familiar social failing.
The comedy at work
Habits learned in espionage persist through ordinary retirement. Maggie also sees a practical irony in aging: being an older woman gives her the anonymity she once had to manufacture with disguises.
Try this if…
Capable older protagonists and old colleagues’ prickly affection may appeal to readers who want dry jokes within a serious espionage thriller. A book-group reader recommends the wider Martini Club series for its unusual take on thriller conventions and its page-turning appeal.
Good to know
The story involves murder and armed danger. The opening chapters include animal deaths and a brief reference to a heroin overdose.
A few distinguishing details
- Maggie’s retirement friends can help with a body on the driveway.
More funny crime & thriller
Sources & further reading
- Publisher sample
Reading sample
- Reader discussion
Reader discussion
- Publishers Weekly review
Review
- Author interview
Interview
- Publisher
Publisher
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