Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.
“A Death in Cornwall,” by Daniel Silva (HarperCollins, 2024)
Fans of the Gabriel Allon series (this is No. 24), rejoice. Our hero is back! The eponymous death leads Allon on a search for a painting confiscated from a Jewish family during World War II. His investigation takes him into the murky world of offshore bank accounts, shell corporations and the Geneva Freeport, where wealth can be shifted and stored tax-free in the form of artworks. Another page-turner from Silva. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Shards of Honor,” by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen, 1996)
The initial volume in the Vorkosigan Saga, this classically modeled science fiction consists of a thoroughly developed cosmos. The main couple, Cordelia and Aral, are the first in the series to explore other universes and their domains. Shipwrecked on a deserted planet full of threatening wildlife, they could simply set aside their differences and get on with it, if their governments weren’t at war. Exiled by hostilities, they make common cause, first to survive, last to stay together as they fall for each other. She is from the planet Beta, cultured and courageous; he is a renegade from the aristocratic, rule-bound Barrayar. Both have one central tenet governing themselves: personal honor. Honor brings them problems a’plenty, but ultimately teaches them how to survive, as well as enabling an entire menu of characters and stories to follow them in subsequent books. — 4 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“Trust Her,” by Flynn Berry (Viking, 2024)
From the first page, Flynn Berry’s continuation of her thriller “The Northern Spy” elevates blood pressure. “Trust Her” is set in the near future, three years after the first novel. Tessa and Marian Daly, sisters from Belfast, have been relocated to Dublin with new names. Tessa’s son Flynn is four years old, Marian has just had a baby daughter, and motherhood gives both women greater incentive to end the Northern Irish conflict. Despite their new lives, the sisters find their present is still enmeshed with their past and the IRA. The pacing of the story is relentless, with barely time to catch breath between white-knuckled scenes. The narration is so spot-on that my body reflected the tension of the characters as I read. I loved it. (Reading “The Northern Spy” before “Trust Her” is helpful, but not required.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Saints and Liars: The Story of Americans Who Saved Refugees from the Nazis,” by Deborah Dwork (W.W. Norton & Co., 2025)
Dwork gives us thumbnail sketches of three married couples and two individuals involved with refugee work around the world, from 1939 to 1943. They worked for different humanitarian groups, such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the American Friends Service Committee and the Unitarian Service Committee. Some followed the ever-changing local and international laws and regulations, while others used more subversive means to achieve their goals. The OSS (precursor to the CIA) recruited some to leverage its “on-the-ground” knowledge. But, as Dwork repeatedly points out, all found their success to be either due to or thwarted by the unpredictable elements of luck, timing and chance. Dwork’s reporting left me wishing for more. — 2 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver