Yea!!! Once again Cotton Malone has been persuaded by his old boss, Stephanie Nelle to come out of retirement, just one more time. Cotton is in Bruges attending a rare books auction for a client when he becomes involved in trying to prevent a theft of a sacred relic from a cathedral and ends up in jail (of course he does) and is released at the request of Nelle (of course he is). It seems that there is to be an auction of incriminating information about the president of Poland with several countries invited, Russia and the United States in the mix. Nelle is unhappy with the designated U.S. representative and talks Cotton into attending. The ensuing romp takes us from Bruges to Poland to the ancient salt mines near Krakow. There are plenty of twists of plot and narrow escapes, lots of blood and action. And of course, the best part is the afterword where Berry tells what is history, what is fiction.

I love the Cotton Malone books, they always have an interesting historic background, there is always a great plot and tons of action. And in spite of Cotton’s life being in danger at every turn, you know he will survive with only a few scratches.

eGalley review                                                                  Publication date 2.25.2020