Desperate Spies by Mark de Castrique

DESPERATE SPIES by Mark de Castrique is book three (after Dangerous Women) in the Secret Lives series featuring the main character 75-year-old retired FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater. She is incredibly well-connected (head of FBI and other agencies contact her) as well as particularly feisty and determined. All in all, a very fun character who partners with her young relative Jesse and local law enforcement contacts to solve a murder. Events of almost twenty years ago as well as present day espionage related to technological advances in quantum computing are entangled in this mystery. Oh, and there’s also involvement by the Mafia, a Russian oligarch and a ready-for-retirement US Senator. And plenty of planes, a helicopter, and stalking automobiles in a fast-paced, twisty tale. Fun and entertaining, DESPERATE SPIES can be read as a stand-alone and will especially appeal to fans of suspense involving older, female sleuths.