BOOK REVIEW #RED LILY #SPY THRILLER #VENDOME BOOKS PUBLISHER #HISTORICAL FICTION #MYSTERY & CRIME #ESPIONAGE THRILLERS
MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW Set in Paris shortly before the Cold War ends and the Berlin Wall falls, Alice Graham's Red Lily is a brilliantly written, wacky spy thriller. It's 1989 summertime. Carl Box is a paint and varnish consultant from Disney Florida who finds out about the death of his Parisian aunt, who is the family's black sheep but whom he has never seen. Aunt Lily is still alive after someone tried to poison her with iced tea, and he finds out this when he flies to Paris. The two then go out to find a smuggled stockpile of KGB dossiers while Aunt Lily poses as her nephew's mother. Box narrates the events as he and Lily avoid suspicious cops, dangerous spies, and cunning assassins in a crazy trip filled with spy craft. A cast of quirky, engaging characters, such as a debonair French police investigator, a seductive environmental activist, and a false priest, keep readers interested in this unhurried book. The protagonist's opening statement of Paris is ...