A Spunky WASP Goes A-Spying

Lipstick and Lies [by] Margit Liesche

[Scottsdale, AZ]; Poisoned Pen Press [2007]

978-1-59058-563-4; $14.95

Pucci Lewis is a WASP, a member of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots.  She has just co-piloted a Liberator into its home – the manufacturing plant at Willow Run, Michigan.  On her way to finding a ride to meet her C.O., Jacqueline Cochrane, she discovers a dead body, and meets F.B.I. Agent Dante Cavaradossi, who, it turns out, will be her boss for her new assignment, which is to find out what’s going on with Countess Grace Buchanan-Dineen. She is currently in prison because she’s not talking, and they hope Pucci can make her talk.  She was an American agent, but she may have changed alliances, maybe even more than once.

Since the Countess mentioned Kiki Barclay-Bly to Pucci, Dante wants her to find out what she can about this woman, who is a wealthy member of the Cosmos Club and married to a man called V-V, that is, Anastase Andreyevich Volodynyr Vivikovsky.  Her sister Dee befriends Pucci, which helps marvelously with the introductions.

While in prison with the Countess, Pucci became acquainted with a book entitled Personality Unlimited!  It comes up again, when Kiki has it.  The Countess called it her bible.  It is to be passed on to a manicurist in the Club’s beauty shop.  When Pucci goes to see who that is, she looks into the face of her former WASP roommate, Liberty Leach!

Strange things happen at the Club. Pucci watches the German woman who works in the salon.  She also finds herself watching her friend, as well as the other women in the Club, particularly the Barclay-Bly sisters.  Pucci finally realizes that the book is actually giving signals to spies.  Pucci’s attention is also diverted by her handler, the FBI agent Dante Cavaradossi. 

This book, I think, suffers from wanting to put too much in it, wanting to show the roles of women in the war, and creating a homefront war story with excitement and suspense.  It’s too much, and the book suffers. The plot gets very murky and confusing, and this detracts.  It was fun, but still disappointing. I can’t really recommend it, except to diehard fans of World War II-era stories, who want to read it all. [I have read worse, and this has a spunky heroine I’d like to see again.]~lss-r

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Library book.