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A Spy in Saigon
A Spy in Saigon
Nancy Cole Silverman | 2025 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Simple Assignment Gone Wrong
It’s August of 2000, and Kat is heading to Vietnam. Given her age and the time, this is filled with mixed emotions for her since the Vietnam War impacted her personal life. But now, the country is once again opening up to foreigners, and Kat is there to cover what the country is like now. At least that’s the cover. She’s actually there to make a drop off and pick up with a jeweler in Ho Chi Minh City. However, while she’s in the store, the contact is murdered in front of her. Now, Kat has no idea what to do. In a country where she is constantly watched, can she still get the information she came for?

This series has always been a cross between a traditional mystery and a light spy story. This entry really leans into the spy part of the series, and it is wonderful. We jumped into the story very quickly, and I always had a hard time putting the book down until I reached the satisfying ending. While this is the fourth in the series, it reads like a standalone. Still, we get some nice character development for Kat, and the rest of the characters come to life wonderfully. The book is definitely of the specific time and place as Kat deals with the results of the Vietnam War and what that means to her 25 years later. This is a fantastic entry in this series.
  
Naomi Solves Her First…Side Quest
Naomi Sinclair is a culinary journalist living her dream with her job at EAT TV hosting a show where she gets to interview chefs. When a potential new show investigating culinary related cold cases is presented to her, she immediately thinks of a famous case on her native St. Thomas. Four decades ago, the owner of a tea company on the island was killed while locked in her office. It’s the perfect case for her potential pilot. But will she be able to solve it?

The premise and setting appealed to me, so I decided to give this one a try. Sadly, the structure let it down. We get a series of short stories that tie in to the overall mystery only slightly. They feel like side quests. We also have a framing story of Naomi talking about all of this to executives of her TV network. When I realized how different the structure would be, I tried to give it a fair shot, but it truly didn’t work for me. On the other hand, I loved the characters and the setting, and the writing brought them both to life wonderfully. Also, keep in mind that there’s a bit of foul language for what I would have otherwise considered a cozy. If the next in the series has a more traditional structure, I would definitely read it.