I really enjoyed this crime fiction and liked how it focused on areas of world war 2 history that i feel like is explored less. The writing was done well and i really enjoyed the action and drama in this. The mystery was a little messy in places but it was never that bad that i felt it affected the story too much. I would definitely pick up more in this series as i really enjoy how the crime was presented and how the author touches on social and historical issues.

This was a dark, wonderfully engaging historical WW2 read, of particular interest to me was Malta and what its courageous people endured in the war,
Recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group for a review copy of The City under Siege, the sixth novel to feature Inspector Stefan Gillespie of An Garda SÍochána.

Stefan is in London ferrying documents when he is asked to extricate Micheál Mac Liammoïr, Ireland’s greatest actor, from a murder investigation. Mac Liammoïr has found the body of an acquaintance murdered in his home. Stefan sees similarities in the murder to an unsolved case from 15 months ago in Ireland. Chief Inspector Frank Nugent is already investigating four other similar ones in England. Now there is one in war torn Malta and the suspicion is that a soldier is responsible, so Stefan and Frank head to Malta to catch a murderer.

I thoroughly enjoyed The City under Siege, which is an engrossing read centred in the gay community. It’s hard to imagine now the secret, frightened life these men had to lead, but I think the author does a great job of giving the reader an idea of it. Then there is the wartime background with the bombings, blackouts, air raid shelters, secrecy and the politics involved. It all comes together in a dark world of mistrust and differing agendas.

I like the plot, which held my interest throughout. I found it quite compulsive and was surprised time after time by the twists. I felt that I was lulled into following the narrative blindly and then ambushed by the twists. This takes some skill as I am naturally suspicious in my fiction reading. I think the atmosphere created leads the reader to sink into what they are being told, not least because there are so many other things, not germane to the murder investigation, to ponder and wonder about.

I have read a few of the Stefan Gillespie novels over the years and I always enjoy spending time with him. He’s not always the most zealous Garda when prosecuting the letter of the law, preferring his own moral code, so his unwelcome posting to Special Branch isn’t encouraging his zeal in many of his activities.

The City under Siege is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is the first book I read in this series and found it brilliant.
It's dark, twisty, gripping and very interesting.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and the description of what meant to be gay in the 40s are heartbreaking.
I was fascinated by the vivid and well researched historical background.
I want to read the rest of the series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is the second that I have read from Michael Russell's excellent historical series featuring the Protestant Irish Special Branch DI Stefan Gillespie, a widower whose wife Maeve died 8 years ago, with a young son, Tom living with his parents in Wicklow. It begins in 1939 with Stefan looking over a poor police investigation of the brutally vicious queer murder of 24 year old James Corcoran, a seminarian, but nobody really wants the details to get out or has any interest in finding the killer, least of all the Catholic Church, the government, or the police. Eamon de Valera's Ireland is ostensibly neutral in the war, but there is covert collaboration with the British over Irish Nationalists, and given the pressure the British were under in India, Indian Nationalists too.

Stefan is in war torn London in 1941, ferrying documents between the two countries, when he is asked to help Ireland's greatest actor and theatre director, the gay Michael Mac Liammoir, who has discovered the dead body of a gay Indian nationalist, murdered with the same MO as the Irish Corcoran. It turns there have been other similar queer murders in Britain, but again no real efforts were made in the investigations. However, the pressure to investigate increases when it becomes apparent the killer is a British soldier, particularly when another queer murder with the same MO takes places in a Malta under siege from Italian and German bombs. Stefan and DCI Frank Nugent travel to Malta to identify and arrest a killer, only to find the dangers on the streets of Valleta are far greater than they could have imagined.

Russell's novel explores the terrors and challenges of being gay in this historical period, the huge level of prejudice, the inability to get any form of justice, being despised, abused, murdered, with the need to operate below the radar, living secret lives, viewed as embarrassments, and the target of blackmail by unscrupulous and ruthless forces, with the security forces wanting information on important gay figures too for their own agendas. It is heartbreaking when Stefan sees what happens when someone he admires and respects in Wicklow is picked up, how even if you have had an exemplary long professional career, helped so many in the community, if you are queer, all that is forgotten, you become an object of shame.

This was a dark, wonderfully engaging historical WW2 read, of particular interest to me was Malta and what its courageous people endured in the war, for the island later to be recognised with the award of the George Cross. A brilliant read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.