by Sandra Murphy

Details on how to win an ebook copy of Bad Blood at the end of this review.

The time is during the Cold War between the US and the USSR. Alexis has just returned from England where she witnessed a murder. The first client she sees is the victim’s sister and the case is about a missing piece of jewelry. Her client doesn’t seem to be too worried about the victim! She barely has time to solve that before she’s called back to England to help her friend, Harry of Scotland Yard.

Lexie’s old forensics science professor is teaching a course at Cambridge. Unfortunately, he sounds more and more like a communist as the semester goes on. Maybe Lexie can talk some sense into him or find out what he’s up to.

The main difficulty is the professor may have invented artificial blood. Will his discovery benefit the United States or has he really turned communist? If so, will his allegiance be with Russia? It’s Lexie’s job to make sure the formula doesn’t fall into the hands of the Russians.

Daisy the dog stole every scene she was in and deservedly so. She lives with Harry’s sister but has a fondness for Lexie, as does Harry himself. Lexie likes him well enough but would he cramp her style? Would she be interested in moving to England or uprooting Harry and letting him move to the States? She is able to figure out the best solution by the end of the book.

There are chase scenes and drama, nice bits of history and great characters. Smith has written four other books and a number of plays. I hope she’ll revisit the Discreet Enquiries office again soon.

To enter to win an ebook copy of Bad Blood, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Blood,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen May 31, 2014. U.S. residents only.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the arch, in the land of blues, booze and shoes—St Louis, Missouri. While writing magazine articles to support her mystery book habit, she secretly polishes two mystery books of her own, hoping, someday, they will see the light of Barnes and Noble. You can also find several of Sandra’s short stories on UnTreed Reads including her new one Bananas Foster.