It took me a little while to get around who was who in this book - but I found this quite similar to how I feel at the beginning of an Agatha Christie, so took that to be a good omen!

An unlikely group of people - some family, some strangers - meet up for a weekend at a country estate. There is an oil magnate, a survivor of the Luisitania, members of the military and services offices. While WWI rages all around them, there is a race against time to find out just who is who they say they are and who is hiding their true identity. And why?

I really enjoyed this classic mystery. Equal parts whodunnit and whydunnit, it reminded me of how fabulous thrillers can be without excess gore and blood. A good, old-fashioned read that - as always - had me guessing until the end.

When a man is found dead in a locked room at the Admiralty there is consternation. Britain is at war and the man was holding a potentially explosive telegram in his hand, one which the British, the Germans and the Americans would want to know about. Patrick Gallagher is brought in to investigate and realises that there is a German agent at the heart of the Admiralty. To expose the agent a disparate group are brought together at Hartlake Hall, a forbidding pile in Kent.
This story is based on a series of events around the Admiralty during 1917 where agents tried hard to expose traitors and to protect the 'special relationship' with the US, at that time not involved in the war. I loved the detail about this time, incorporating American politics as well as the beginning of the Russian Revolution. To that end the background was really interesting. Marrying that up with a twisty crime / spy thriller made this a fantastic book that really gripped all the way to the end.

This is the second story in the series about Patrick Gallagher. It was a great read and moved at just the right pace. It was interesting reading about that period in our history as I hadn’t realised how late the Americans had entered WW1 and the detail included made for a shocking reminder of the high loss of life in the period.. I think, whilst this could be read as a stand-alone it did help to have read the first in the series as there were quite a number of references to events in the first book. I really hope the series continues as Pat is a great lead. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early release of this book.

The Spies of Hartlake Hall by R. L. Graham is an interesting hybrid between historical fiction and mystery, set in 1917 during the crucial negotiations with America about WWI. The book opens with a body discovered in a room locked from the inside—an apparent suicide, plain as day… or is it? Intelligence agent Patrick Gallagher is brought in to investigate. From there, the story unfolds like a Sherlock Holmes–style thriller, but with the stakes set on victory against Germany.

Gallagher gathers all the key players for a weekend at an isolated estate. Yet, through their own means and motives, even those he never suspected to be involved manage to find their way into the gathering. From that point, the stage is set for the most intricate game of cat and mouse.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating to read about WWI intelligence work: how agents decoded telegrams, forced counterparts to switch to wireless signals, and how the fate of the war seemed driven by money and influence. The story also highlights how wealthy men tried to play entire countries for oil, or how America could have been blindsided by focusing too much on Europe only to face a surprise attack at home.

This is a story rich in detail, names, and tactics—so not exactly a light read. I would recommend it to readers who are history fans first and thriller lovers second.

I sat down expecting a cosy murder mystery in a country house during the Great War. What I got was an grossing gritty spy thriller slash murder mystery that captivated almost from the off and refused to let go.

The detail and dedication to the setting is top notch. Set during the early months of 1917 when both Russia and America are very much in play and their dedication to the war is causing anxiety on both sides. The real history of this time is artfully baked into the story.

Layers upon layers are woven into the tale, which starts with an impossible locked room murder and rapidly spirals into multiple deaths - past and present - at a country house where the food is bad and zeppelins pass overhead every night.

The house itself is as much a character as anyone else in the book. From the 'Cheese Room' where our main character stays - and where the servants unwittingly put on a never ending buffet for the mice - to the dripping pipes, creaking walls, cold rooms that refuse to warm no matter how many logs are added to the fire and those unsettling woods where so many secrets lurk... this house is a place to remember.

The cast of humans are equally interesting and varied. I wish we'd seen a little more of wife from the past scenes, as she was positively dripping with scandal and a breath of fresh air against the rest.

Proper page turner, once I was past about 10% in, I couldn't stop reading.

This was incredible and I'm amazed not more people are talking about it.

She knelt beside the body and touched the man’s neck just in case there might still be a pulse. As she expected, there was none; the waxy face and blank eyes had already told their own story . . .
This book was tense, a real spy thriller set in a country house during the second world war. Somebody (or bodies) is a murderer, a German spy, an American spy.
The house is falling apart, airships fly over regularly on their way back from London and this adds to the creeping dread.
This is the second in a series and I had not read the first but it did not matter. Clearly painted characters with just the right level of awkwardness to add to the tension.
A real page turner, beautifully written

This mystery novel reads very much like an Agatha Christie story, with a mysterious stately home as its central setting and a cast of characters who each have something to hide during WWI.

What I appreciated most was the historical depth. Each character brings a different facet of the war to life, including some that are less represented in historical fiction: the covert missions of the secret sercices, the uncertainty of the place of America in the war or the turmoil unfolding in Tsarist Russia.

It took a while for me to distinguish between the numerous characters and their individual storylines and to fully get immersed in the story, but I enjoyed the historical elements that were fully integrated into the mystery.

Fans of early 20th-century, war-era intrigue and classic mystery settings will enjoy this novel.

Once again, thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest opinion of the book. This review is available on Goodreads.

This is a historical crime novel to which I think fans of Agatha Christie would enjoy as Agatha her self has made and was know for her historical crime novel.

I think the author has done a great job for portraying a historical crime novel based on WW1.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A really enjoyable book. Many twists and turns all the way through this. A really great murder mystery read too. Definitely recommend

I received an advanced reader copy from the publisher and ebook from NetGalley for this book. The cover and premise drew me in initially. I stayed for the characters (a lot of them ) a great story had me hooked from the start. Great book to cosy up with on a dark night .
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARCs

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher. This is the second book in this series. I hadn’t read the first but I felt like this novel succeeded as a standalone and I hadn’t suffered for not reading them in order. I guess the real success of this book was that I did find myself curious to go back and read the first book after I’d finished it.

This is a murder mystery novel set in the First World War that focuses around espionage. The main character Gallagher is called in to investigate the appearance of a dead body in a place it shouldn’t have been. This leads to a complex investigation taking place at a stately home. There are many characters which means many suspects and we find people keeping secrets of their own. I can’t say too much to avoid spoilers but there are many layers to this. I would recommend checking trigger warnings for this book as there were a couple of scenes that could be upsetting.

We meet a female agent early on and I would have loved to have seen a lot more of her! She was extremely capable and dedicated and her scenes were some of my favourites in the book.

Book #24 of 2025

Thank you to @netgalley for sending me this eARC to read and review.

Where do I start? This book was not for me but I think that is due to the subject matter. I persevered with it as it was compared to Cluedo meets Agatha Christie and as a huge fan of Agatha Christie I was intrigued.

The story starts as a locked room mystery set in WWI. There is a body found in the Admiralty Building and a mysterious telegram is found in the hands of the dead person. Gallagher is called in to investigate and what follows is a weekend of murder, and espionage.

Patrick Gallagher has all the promise of a really interesting character. He survived the Lusitania sinking, he holds a lot of guilt over the loss of life and he has a very strained relationship with his family, so why he felt that holding a Cluedo-esque event at his family estate was a good idea I would never know. The rest of the party are not very likeable, each with their own agenda (as is the way during war time) and each with something that irks.

The story is rather slow, but around 60% in, seems to pick up as all the pieces are being dropped into place. But for me, to get to this point was rather painful. It starts with a bang, slows down and the picks up again

What I will give credit for is the amount of research that has gone into this book. The research behind the code breakers of WWI, those that paved the way for the breakers of Bletchley Park. Whilst I didn't enjoy the war element, the importance of the intelligence services and the pivotal job that our codebreakers carried out in defending and defeating our opposition was really interesting.

A 3⭐️ from me, purely based on the research level that went into the book

Overall it was a good book but felt very long with not much happening for quite a lot of it. There are quite a few characters and I found it difficult to remember who was who and what they had to do with the story. However I found the end very exciting and was hooked on the twists and turns! I feel you have to know some history as well to fully understand the book but you can get the general idea anyways!

A fantastic book set in 1917. An intricate and complex plot which made it a compelling read throughout the whole book. Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Pan macmillan for this arc in exchange for and honest and unbiased review.

A spy thriller that begins with a locked room murder and moves to Kent for a shooting party weekend with all of the suspects in one place. The writers create a chilly, claustrophobic atmosphere: the brilliant descriptions of repellent food at every meal time that is on the surface luxurious but in reality lumpy, cold and turgid echo the tightly controlled etiquette and grand house that has seen better days that now crumbles and leaks. The empire is crumbling, the servants are away fighting. There are leaks in intelligence. And always, in the background is the train, bringing the wounded, in their hundreds, day and night. This oppressive atmosphere, where Lady Maud reminds her guests that it is bad form to discuss war or death, makes each twist and turn of the story more compelling.
I had no idea how close to defeat Britain was in 1917 nor that without America’s help, how close to starvation. There are parallels with the present day with the battle for ownership of oil fields and a good explanation of shifting power, colonialism and class. This is an interesting, intelligent book that I enjoyed immensely.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

The Spies of Hartlake Hall By R. L. Graham is a historical crime novel set in London during the closing stages of WW1. It follows intelligence agent Patrick Gallagher as he investigates a mysterious murder inside Room 40, a secretive Admiralty organization. The victim, found in a locked room, carried a highly confidential telegram that could have serious political consequences. To uncover the truth discreetly, Gallagher invites those involved to his family estate, Hartlake Hall. However, as a shooting party gathers at the stately home for the weekend, more bodies turn up, revealing a deadly spy lurking among the guests. Gallagher must act swiftly to expose the culprit while war rages on in Europe.

Any fans of Agatha Christie-style mysteries will appreciate the intricate plotting and the satisfying unraveling of clues. This book evokes a sense of nostalgia while delivering an original story that stands strong in the historical crime genre. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would recommend.

Set amidst WWI, this is an intricate and fascinating glimpse into spies, secret service and the delicate relationships between those in the higher power positions as they navigate peace, honour and a shared enemy.
A group of people find themselves invited to a shooting party one weekend, just after the murder of someone in the navy. Two secret service agents form part of the group. Over the course of this one weekend, a multitude of deals, conversations, promises and murders take place- Patrick Gallagher is there is figure it all out,
This was an intricate mystery, compelling and thrilling. It certainly kept me guessing as I wondered who was on which side of the war and who was capable of such drastic events,
A very good story- one that will entertain readers certainly.