A Name Unknown (Shadows Over England)

by Roseanna M. White Book 1 in the Shadows Over England series.

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4.7(1,119)

London thief Rosemary Gresham is hired to investigate Peter Holstein, a wealthy recluse whose German surname has attracted suspicion as Europe moves towards war. Posing as a librarian, she enters his Cornish household to determine whether he is loyal to Britain. The assignment becomes more complicated when Rosemary uncovers threats to Peter’s family history and finds herself divided between her employer’s demands and the man she was sent to expose.

Peter’s German ancestry makes him vulnerable to a climate in which nationality is being treated as evidence of political loyalty. Rosemary’s false identity gives her access to his papers and household, but it also places her inside the same problem she is meant to investigate: whether a person can be judged fairly when suspicion has already determined what others expect to find.