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Book Summary and Reviews of Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair

Fire Must Burn by Allison Montclair

Fire Must Burn

Sparks and Bainbridge Mysteries #8

by Allison Montclair

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2026, 256 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back, and more determined than ever to bring love matches to the residents of Post-WWII London ... so something as trivial as being dragged into a spy mission isn't going to stop them!

Sparks fly when an old friend comes to town ...

London, 1947. After recent events have left the normally steadfast Iris Sparks thoroughly shaken, she's looking forward to some peace. With The Right Sort doing well, she and business partner Gwen Bainbridge are due a holiday. Until Iris's former boss enlists their help for a secret mission.

Iris, who left British intelligence after the war, is being recruited for her Cambridge connection to one Anthony Danforth. She hasn't seen Tony in almost ten years, yet she and Gwen must manipulate him into hiring their marriage service.

Tony's suspected of being a Soviet operative, and an undercover agent posing as his perfect match could discover the truth. Despite her reluctance at being dragged back into the world of espionage, Iris agrees. After all, Tony was once a very good friend. If he's innocent, she'll happily prove it. If not? Well, no one ever said being a spy was easy ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A first-rate entry in Montclair's engaging series." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Montclair's wit, top-notch pacing, and obvious affection for her characters ensure that readers will be on tenterhooks for the next installment. This is a treat." ―Publishers Weekly

This information about Fire Must Burn was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Allison Montclair

Allison Montclair is the author of the Sparks and Bainbridge mysteries, beginning with The Right Sort of Man, the American Library Association Reading List Council's Best Mystery of 2019. Under her real name, she has written more mystery novels and a damn good werewolf book, as well as short stories in many genres in magazines and anthologies. She is also an award-winning librettist and lyricist with several musicals to her credit that have been performed or workshopped across the USA. She currently lives in New York City where she also practiced as a criminal defense attorney.

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