Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Passport to Spy: A Kat Lawson Mystery by Nancy Cole Silverman. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Passport to Spy: A Kat Lawson Mystery
by Nancy Cole Silverman
Passport to Spy: A Kat Lawson Mystery
Historical Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Germany
Level Best Books (June 6, 2023)
Print length : 268 pages
After losing her job as an investigative reporter for The Phoenix Gazette, Kat Lawson has a new gig. The FBI has asked her to work undercover as a reporter for Travel International to cover Munich, Germany’s festive holiday scene—an excuse to get close to Hans von Hausmann, a very charismatic and popular museum curator suspected of hiding a cache of stolen masterpieces believed to be part of the World’s Largest Art Heist.
The job comes with lots of perks: airfare, travel expenses, the opportunity to see the world…and for a seasoned reporter like Kat, nothing she can’t handle. But, when a trusted source is found dead, Kat realizes the tables have been turned. Armed with evidence that will expose a cache of artwork stolen from museums and the homes of wealthy Jews during the 2nd World War, Kat must find a way to avoid being caught by the German Polizie, who have enough evidence to charge her with murder, and those who want her dead to keep their hidden treasures forever secret. The hunter has become the hunted; now, Kat has a target on her back.
My review of Passport to Spy
Passport to Spy by Nancy Cole Silverman is the second book in the Kat Lawson Mystery series, and it is so good! It takes place in 1999, and as in the first book, The Navigator’s Daughter, it centers around events which occurred during WWII. In The Navigator’s Daughter, Kat travels to Hungary at her dying father’s request. While she’s there, she gets embroiled in a mystery which she helps solve. Now, she’s got a new job working as a travel reporter for Travel International, and she’s in Munich to cover the holidays in Germany. However, that’s not her real job. She’s working undercover for the FBI! Kat is supposed to find out all she can about where art from the World’s Largest Art Heist is hidden.
Passport to Spy starts out strong and just keeps going! I read it in a day because I just couldn’t put it down! As a former investigative reporter, Kat knows how to ferret out clues while playing a role. Visiting the museum run by Hans von Hausmann and his sister Erika Schonburg is Kat’s top priority as they were suspected of hiding the stolen artwork known as Gerhardt’s Hoard. Their uncle, Otto Gerhardt, helped the Nazis “buy”/steal thousands of masterpieces meant for Hitler’s private collection. Gerhardt supposedly helped himself to a hoard of them. I found this fascinating! Through reading historical fiction, I knew that the Nazis stole artwork from wealthy Jews and museums, but I’d never heard of the story that inspired the author to write this story. (Read her author guest post on my blog, Christy’s Cozy Corners, to find out more!)
The author excels at drawing the reader into a story. I felt as if I were Kat! She puts herself in perilous situations even though her handler tells her to back off if a situation feels dangerous. Kat lives on the edge! There are instances where I was holding my breath waiting to see how Kat would get out of a dangerous situation. One of those occurs on the road. It’s winter. Drivers have no fear in Germany apparently. They cut in and out of traffic and travel at extremely high speeds. I’m never driving there! I would love to tour Germany during the holidays and visit the “marts”, but I’d do it with a tour group!
Passport to Spy keeps you constantly guessing. Kat doesn’t know who she can trust though there is one character she knows she cannot trust! Her interactions with him will make your pulse race. This book has so many suspenseful situations! As I said, I read it in a day, so make sure you’ve got time when you pick up this book! You’re not going to want to put it down! The characters feel so real, and you can’t wait to see what happens to them. You can’t wait to find out who the “bad guy” is because it really could be any of them.
I highly recommend Passport to Spy for its suspenseful plot, true-to-life characters, vivid setting, and page-turning excitement! I absolutely loved it, and I can’t wait for the next adventure!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
Author Guest Post
Authors are often asked where their ideas come from. For me, I feel as though it‘s the story that picks the writer, not the other way around. And I‘ve no doubt that my latest Kat Lawson series chose me to write it.
For those who have read THE NAVIGATOR‘S DAUGHTER, book one of my new series, you may already know that it‘s loosely based on my father‘s experience as a navigator/bombardier aboard a B24 in the 2nd World War. During the war, my father and his crew were shot down over Innsbrook, Austria, and limped their plane into Hungary before bailing out. Fortunately, Dad and his buddies all came home—but not right away.
I never knew much about my father‘s experiences, and it wasn‘t until my dad passed away three years ago that I found a diary outlining those three weeks when my father was MIA, and I started to learn about what had happened. Holding his journal and flight log in my hands, I knew his story had picked me, and I needed to write it.
I initially intended THE NAVIGATOR‘S DAUGHTER to be a stand–alone. But as I wrote the book’s final chapters, I realized Kat‘s promise to her father had changed her life. She had grown and had a life ahead of her, very different from that she had been living, and I wasn‘t about to say goodbye to her. My editor agreed. Kat had come too far and found new strengths in her character. Determined I‘d hunt around for an idea for a sequel, I rewrote the final chapters and left the door open for Kat to return.
But what would make a logical sequel? I wanted this new Kat Lawson series to be based on historical events. And then, just like it always does, the story picked me. I came across a news story about Cornelius Gurlitt, nephew of one of Hitler‘s art collectors. It seems Gurlitt had caught the attention of German authorities as he crossed the border between Switzerland and Germany and was found to be carrying a large sum of cash. An investigation into Gurlitt‘s activities uncovered a cache of thousands of stolen masterpieces in his apartments in Munich…the spoils of war his uncle had stolen from museums and wealthy Jews.
I took the bait. The idea already swirling around in my head. As a young woman, I lived in Germany. I knew the streets where Gurlitt‘s apartment was, and I couldn‘t help but wonder, how often had I passed beneath those windows and not suspected the secrets hidden behind those walls? The idea for a squeal was born, and like the original book, it was steeped in history. I couldn‘t wait to start writing.
PASSPORT TO SPY allowed me to reflect on some of my favorite stomping grounds; the Christkindlemart, Nuremberg, the Danube River, the castles, the Alps…not to forget the foods, the schnitzel, the spätzle, the sauerkraut, the hot chocolate…the wines, and the people I met. I tried very hard to create scenes from places I had visited. I wanted to make Kat‘s experiences on the page as accurate as those I had lived.
Kat Lawson‘s new assignment as a feature writer for Journey International, a worldwide travel publication—a cover for FBI operatives—brings a new challenge to her life. From a writer‘s point of view, her assignment to go to Germany to cover the Christmas markets and the opening of a new museum sounded easy. But the relationships she forms while maintaining her cover quickly become less about writing and more about survival. The hunted, those Kat has been assigned to observe, have become the hunters, and Kat finds herself on the run and in the middle of a murder investigation.
I hope you enjoy reading PASSPORT TO SPY as much as I did writing it.
Nancy Cole Silverman
About Nancy Cole Silverman
Nancy Cole Silverman spent nearly twenty-five years in news and talk radio, beginning her career in college on the talent side as one of the first female voices on the air. Later on the business side in Los Angeles, she retired as one of two female general managers in the nation’s second-largest radio market. After a successful career in the radio industry, Silverman retired to write fiction. Her short stories and crime-focused novels—the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries, (Henry Press) are both Los Angeles-based. Her newest series THE NAVIGATOR’S DAUGHTER, (Level Best Books) takes a more international approach. Silverman lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a thoroughly pampered standard poodle.
Author Links
Website www.nancycolesilverman.com
Facebook Nancy Cole Silverman | Facebook
Goodreads: Nancy Cole Silverman (Author of Shadow Of Doubt) | Goodreads
Purchase Links – Amazon
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Passport to Spy TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 6 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 6 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 7 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
June 7 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW
June 8 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 8 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
June 9 – Books to the Ceiling – SPOTLIGHT – PODCAST
June 9 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
June 10 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 10 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW
June 11 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
June 12 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW
June 13 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 14 – Novels Alive – REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 15 – Jane Reads – CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 16 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
June 17 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
June 17 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 18 – Indie Author Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 19 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – CHARACTER GUEST POST
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Passport to Spy: A Kat Lawson Mystery by Nancy Cole Silverman sounds like a fun book that I would enjoy reading.