Tightrope by Amanda Quick ****

Tightrope by Amanda Quick is another mystery set in Burning Cove (#3/4) prior to WWII with some familiar supporting characters. Amalie Vaughn is a circus trapeze artist, flyer, who is stalked by a couple of serial killers who like to see flyers fall to their death. When Marcus Harding forced her to the top trapeze platform to have her fall to her death, she outwits him, and he dies instead. After this, she moves to Burning Cove and opens the Hidden Beach Inn where she becomes involved with Luther Pell’s (from the previous books) friend Matthias Jones. Together they work to recover an encryption engine (based on the German Enigma).

 As with the previous books in this series, the romance between Amalie Vaughn and Matthias Jones is heavily featured along with the chapter-long sex scene.

 A subplot is starting up the business at Hidden Beach Inn. Business issues include cash flow and publicity. When Amalie can’t get people to book rooms because of the bad publicity from guests that seem to die with some regularity, she found a way to turn her bad reputation into a positive cash flow and eventually rescued the business.

 The history of espionage between the two World Wars and the Enigma machines is well researched. If you’re interested in that history, try the non-fiction book The Women who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone. (https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-woman-who-smashed-codes-by-jason.html)

 A fast-moving mystery with spies and serial killers. More romance than mayhem.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.