Published 15th May 2025 by Aria.
From the cover of the book:
She's a spy, an unsuspecting operative for MI5, stalking London's streets in myriad disguises.
Widowed and balancing her clandestine career with raising a Beatles-mad teenage daughter, Maggie finds comfort and purpose in her profession - providing a connection to her late husband, whose own covert past only surfaced after his death.
But Maggie's world spins out of control when a chance encounter with a mysterious Russian agent triggers a chilling revelation: he knew her husband. And what's worse, the agent suspects someone on home soil betrayed him.
As Maggie searches for answers, she'll question everyone - and everything - she thought she could trust. In the murky and perilous world of espionage, can she outsmart those determined to keep her silenced?
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Maggie Flynn may look like your average 1960's mum, but appearances can be deceptive - something very apt given her career as an operative for the security services, a profession she has fallen into following the jaw-dropping news that her late husband was a spy working for Queen and country.
Grieving for the loss of a husband she feels she never really knew, Maggie now works as a lowly 'Watcher', part of a team tasked with keeping tabs on persons of interest on behalf of her shady paymasters. It is a job that is less than thrilling, and bunion-inducing hard on the feet, but it allows her to support herself, her teenage daughter, and her unconventional, born-again free-spirit mother.
Maggie's belief that her husband's death was an accident is called into question when a chance encounter with a Russian defector reveals that there was a lot more behind his demise than she has been told. It appears that he was actually investigating someone within MI5 itself, and a shocking betrayal led to his murder. Maggie is determined to find out the truth, so with 'Mary Poppins' bag in hand, a variety of quick-change disguises at her disposal, and a rudimentary knowledge of spy lore, she embarks on a dangerous mission of her own, following the trail of clues her husband has left for her - all while trying to track down some elusive Beatles' concert tickets for her daughter.
Robotham does an excellent job of bringing the Swinging Sixties alive, in all its popular culture glory, in this quirky espionage adventure, spinning a tale which is equal parts authentic Cold War spy caper as it is humorous family drama.
Maggie is a most unconventional 'spy' in a scandal-ravaged MI5. She flips between hours trudging around London in disguise, hot on the heels of possible enemies of state, and chaotic domesticity. The two sides of her life are not easy bedfellows, given the need for secrecy, and Robotham creates many a humorous, and heart-wrenchingly poignant scene as Maggie does her best to balance the different parts of her life.
I loved Maggie from the first page. Her inner monologue is a delight - as are the characters Robotham creates around her who aid her in her endeavour to achieve a measure of justice for her husband's betrayal, especially the adorable Frank, and her helpfully placed pal Vivien.
As befits a grand espionage thriller of the era, motives are as murky as a London pea-souper, and loyalties are not easy to ascertain until some surprising twists reveal who Maggie's real friends are within the corridors of power. You can tell Robotham loves a gritty spy story, as there is plenty of excitement to be had alongside the emotional, and hilarious content, which somehow manage to fit seamlessly together to make a real page-turner of a novel. There are fabulous themes running through the whole piece too, especially when it comes to the role of women both within the post-war, old school tie dominated security services, and in wider 1960's society where changes are afoot.
I cannot tell you how much I adored this book. It zings with period charm, characters to love and loathe, and a story that keeps you on your (hopefully bunion-free) toes. Absolutely one of my books of 2025, and it has real legs for a sequel that I am dying to read! More please!
Mrs Spy is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Aria for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.
About the author:
M J Robotham saw herself as an aspiring author from childhood, but was waylaid by journalism, birth, children and life. After twenty years as a midwife and a Creative Writing MA, she is a full-time author, writing historical fiction as Mandy Robotham. She lives in Gloucestershire with her partner.
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