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Desperate Spies
Author: Mark De Castrique
Series: Secret Lives
Narrator: Patrick Lawlor
Unabridged: TBD
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Published: 10/27/2026
Categories: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Suspense & Thriller, Espionage, Cozy
Synopsis
Badass seventy-five-year-old retired FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater is back―stalking mobsters, dodging bullets, and pulling off Bond-worthy moves as she tracks down missing state secrets in this fun and pacy new installment in the Secret Lives mystery series.
"Ethel's adventures will appeal to fans of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series and Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age" ―Library Journal Starred Review
"Ethel looks like Marple but acts like Marlowe" ―Kirkus Reviews
For seventy-five-year-old former FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater, her age is nothing but an advantage when it comes to ferreting out secrets. Who's going to notice the little old woman in the corner? Besides, Ethel might be officially retired, but she knows everyone in DC law enforcement―and is smarter than all of them combined.
When a former colleague asks Ethel for help, she agrees without a second thought. But the favor throws Ethel back eighteen years, to the botched sting operation that resulted in the murder of an innocent young woman by a Russian gangster―and nearly ended Ethel's own life too.
Soon, Ethel and her young tech-whiz sidekick Jesse, her double-first-cousin-twice-removed, find themselves in the crosshairs of some very bad―and very desperate―men who'll do anything to get their hands on the state secrets they're seeking. Ethel will have to use all the skills she's learned during her long career if she's to save the day, and keep both herself and her beloved cousin alive.
"Ethel's adventures will appeal to fans of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series and Deanna Raybourn's Killers of a Certain Age" ―Library Journal Starred Review
"Ethel looks like Marple but acts like Marlowe" ―Kirkus Reviews
For seventy-five-year-old former FBI agent Ethel Fiona Crestwater, her age is nothing but an advantage when it comes to ferreting out secrets. Who's going to notice the little old woman in the corner? Besides, Ethel might be officially retired, but she knows everyone in DC law enforcement―and is smarter than all of them combined.
When a former colleague asks Ethel for help, she agrees without a second thought. But the favor throws Ethel back eighteen years, to the botched sting operation that resulted in the murder of an innocent young woman by a Russian gangster―and nearly ended Ethel's own life too.
Soon, Ethel and her young tech-whiz sidekick Jesse, her double-first-cousin-twice-removed, find themselves in the crosshairs of some very bad―and very desperate―men who'll do anything to get their hands on the state secrets they're seeking. Ethel will have to use all the skills she's learned during her long career if she's to save the day, and keep both herself and her beloved cousin alive.