Desperate Spies

Badass 75-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

"Plucky Ethel is an elderly Nancy Drew"--Publishers Weekly

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-whizz 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.

Author: Mark de Castrique
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 11/04/2025
Pages: 240
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
ISBN: 9781448316700


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/08/2025
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2025

About the Author
de Castrique, Mark: - "

Mark de Castrique's mystery novels have received Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. The Chicago Tribune wrote, "As important and as impressive as the author's narrative skills are the subtle ways he captures the geography - both physical and human - of a unique part of the American South."

Mark is a veteran of the broadcast and film production business. In Washington DC, he directed numerous news and public affairs programs and received an EMMY Award for his documentary film work. His years in Washington inspired his Secret Lives series, featuring Ethel Fiona Crestwater, a seventy-five-year-old retired FBI agent who now rents rooms to active agents and is the smartest and most fearless of anyone in her household. Secret Lives was a finalist for the Edgars 2023 Sue Grafton Memorial Award.

Mark lives in Charlotte, but he and his wife Linda can be often found in the NC mountains or the nation's capital."