But when Gemma, determined to learn all the “skills” she missed out during a childhood ravaged by WWII, asks the village’s star baker, Ursula Beurton, to give her baking lessons, she starts to notice things that belie the woman’s image as a typical housewife. Is Ursula hiding something or is Gemma’s imagination running away with her?
Yet Gemma knows she does not imagine the two-way radio, uncommon in 1950 and very rare outside military offices, nor she does imagine all the strange places Ursula goes, or the fact that Ursula drops encrypted notes in a tree trunk and pulls envelopes from the same hole. And what about those men she’s seen walking with out the in countryside? Pulling along her new best friend, Peggy, as her faithful sidekick, Gemma begins an investigation of her own to answer a single Is Ursula Beurton a spy?
Following her instincts, and a few skills learned through fiction, Gemma and Peggy soon get on the wrong side of the local constabulary, putting Gemma’s budding romance with P.C. Charles at risk, and become embroiled in an international intrigue involving the village’s mysterious benefactor, Lady Beatrice, British Secret Intelligence Services, and the Soviet KGB.
In an unexpected twist, however, Ursula Kuczynski Beurton, KGB codename AGENT SONYA, turns the tables on Gemma and slips through MI5’s fingers, escaping to East Germany on February 27, 1950. But before leaving, she asks Gemma for a favor which may endanger all their lives.
Kindle Edition, 315 pages
Expected publication October 6, 2026
by Harper Muse
4/5 stars
You know by now that I'm drawn to bookish books, The Undercover Bookshop is my latest bookish read. Katherine Reay has a knack for building stories around books and people who love them. This time she pairs that with a slice of real Cold War history and the combination makes for a charming and clever read.
It's the winter of 1950, Gemma Brown has recently moved to a Cotswold village. She's read enough mystery novels to know exactly what kind of idyllic village life she wants. The trouble is, she's far better at spotting clues and setting up the village's first bookstore than she is at baking cakes or navigating small-town social rules. When she befriends Ursula Beurton, the village's best baker and a favourite topic of local gossip, Gemma starts to wonder if Ursula might actually be a Soviet spy or if all those novels have gone to her head.
Gemma is an easy character to root for. She's a bit awkward, very determined and her love of mysteries shapes how she sees everything around her. The cozy village setting, complete with nosy neighbours and a brand-new bookshop, balances nicely against the very possibility of real danger simmering beneath the surface.
The Undercover Bookshop has a cozy mystery vibe with a bookish heroine. There is real historical events taking place, I didn't need to google anything afterwards, the author notes completed this book nicely.
My thanks to Haroer Muse for a digital arc in exchange for a honest review.
