Michael & Kathleen McMenamin http://www.winstonchurchillthrillers.com are the authors of 10 novels. The Prussian Memorandum was published in 2020 and is the eighth book in their Mattie McGary + Winston Churchill Adventures series. It is the 67th book I completed reading in 2023.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to Scenes of violence, mature situations, and mature language, I categorize this novel as R. The story of this series is set in the late 1930s as the Nazis are rising to power in Germany. Nazi SS officials have discretely arranged through the US Army’s Military Intelligence Division (MID) to retain a law firm in the US. It is tasked to research the various racial segregation laws across 30 of the US states. The SS wanted this information to form the foundation for anti-semitic laws to be enacted within Germany. This plan is known as ‘The Prussian Memorandum’.

Winston Churchill discovers the SS plan and alerts his goddaughter Mattie McGary. McGary is a photojournalist with Hearst. She jumps at the chance to investigate what may become a major scandal. German lawyer Hanna Raeder, wife of the head of the German navy Admiral Erich Raeder meets McGary and becomes her ally. Mattie, Hanna, and Winston are targeted by both the Gestapo and American MID agents. Mattie and Hanna are captured by the SS. A quick trial sends them both to a concentration camp with a sentence of beheading for treason.

Cochran Bourke is Mattie’s husband, a lawyer, and himself a former MID agent. He has been retained to investigate the death of a MID agent. His investigation leads to a connection to the SS. Loose ends are being cleaned up by the SS.

Kurt Von Sturm is the Captain of the German airship Graf Bismarck is well respected within the German government and a favorite of Hermann Göring. Sturm’s glamorous position catches the eye of many women. At the suggestion of Göring, Sturm engages in an affair with Magda Goebbels. Sturm is a German patriot but is secretly against the Nazis and the SS. He had a brief affair with Mattie but knows her heart belongs to Cochran Bourke now.

Can the program outlined in ‘The Prussian Memorandum’ be stopped? Will Mattie and Hanna escape execution?

I enjoyed the 8.5 hours I spent reading this 436-page historical fiction. I have had the good fortune of reading and enjoying a few other of Michael McMenamin’s novels. Those have been The DeValera Deception, The Parcifal Pursuit, The Gemini Agenda, and The Berghof Betrayal. I like that notable historical characters of the time are woven into the story. The chosen cover art is plain, but appropriate for the book. I give this novel a rating of 5 out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

This book touches on some dark topics and does it well, not shying away from the realities of that time in history. It’s an interesting story and a great way to present historical information in a fictional framework. It is often the case that co-authored books lack cohesion but these two have done a great job in presenting a consistent and well written book.

Loved this book. Lots of interesting information to digest. This is a great read for anyone who loves to read about history. Very well written

I have read all the books in McMenamin's Churchill trilogy and loved them. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about this book. This book might be a spin-off-ish from the Churchill trilogy as main characters present in the trilogy play a major role in this book too.
The spotlight (apart from the Prussian Memorandum - a rule that prohibits Aryans and Jews to have any kind of relationship) is on gore and violence. Trigger warnings include rape (graphic details that make you cringe).

The element of mystery and suspense seemed low and I did not enjoy reading this book as much as I wanted to.