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A mystery writer's club made up of six elite crime writers experience a death of one of their members in the 1930s historical mystery based on Agatha Christie's real-life detection club.

Lucy Hubbard has been invited by Horace Hazelmoor, probably Britain's most famous detective novelist and leader of the elite Cloak and Dagger Club. She'd make the seventh member and she's coming off a huge success with her first book but she's really nervous.

Unbeknownst to the other members of the club is Lucy's arrival, especially Frank Murray, Lucy's former fiancé, and Countess Andrassy, Christine Wong and Graham Lockhart and his secretary, Jonathan Kraus.

Hazelmoor is a Machiavellian character - so his death while shocking is not a surprise. When Inspector Naughton arrives to take charge of the case Frank and Lucy are at the crosshairs for being the prime suspects.

While having a small group of suspects, the book offers a fair amount of motives. Hazelmoor's "dirt" on each of the club members lends itself to giving background on the members. The romantic element of former lovers, Frank and Lucy, gives motivation for them to forgive and to work together, adding another dimension to the book, though it probably for me was the least interesting part of the story.

This was a charming mystery in the manner of the great detective stories of the 30s. I liked Lucy - she's no push over, loves her dad and is resilient. The author did a great job with six suspects - but I was really surprised by that ending! The book is worth the read just for that!

My thanks to BookBrowse and Berkeley Publishing for granting me a Hardcopy ARC to this book. I enjoyed the hard copy read.

The Cloak and Dagger Club by Jackie McMahon is a delightful mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie. I enjoyed the historical setting, engaging characters, and a narrative full of unexpected twists that kept me guessing until the end. The one weak spot was the ending, and without giving anything away, the author could have more clearly explained how all the characters came to converge on the murderer's house, it felt a little rushed and hard to follow. Overall this is a thoroughly enjoyable cozy historical mystery with characters that feel genuinely relatable and flawed. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic style mysteries with a strong sense of period and engaging human drama.