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“A lavish party at a country estate, men in dinner suits, women in finery, fine wine, fine art, fine music, fine murder, and a little dog – it all feels so very Agatha Christie.”
Says Mae Valentine, who doesn’t seem able to perform her duties as butler these days without ending up embroiled in something unsavory.
Forever in Your Service is the sequel to the terrific At Your Service, in which we first met Mae and her employer, a former army major who, she believed, worked as a Risk Assessment Specialist for a company called The Consortium. This job often took him to dangerous places and put him into dangerous situations; it wasn’t unusual for him to appear at breakfast looking battered and bruised, but he didn’t tell and Mae didn’t ask. The truth began to emerge when Mae inadvertently became mixed up in an international money-laundering ring – and it became clear that “Risk Assessment Specialist” was code for “spy” and that “The Consortium” was the British Government.
Forever in Your Service opens a few months after the events of the first book, and although Mae and Kitt are a couple now, their living and employment arrangements – he still rents his flat from her, she still works as his butler – haven’t changed. The affectionate snark that characterised their relationship is still very much in evidence, but it’s clear that Mae is still processing the events of the summer, during which she’d killed two men (in self-defence) and discovered that the man she’d married years before hadn’t been the man she thought he was. Kitt continues his work and continues to come home looking the worse for wear – and Mae can’t help worrying if each time he leaves ‘for work’ will be the time he doesn’t come back. Having spent well over a decade loving one dead man – her late husband – she can’t bear the thought of doing the same thing all over again for Kitt.
Until she has to.
Mae, heartbroken but being steadfastly productive (her preferred method of coping with shock and grief), has relocated to just outside Los Alamos, New Mexico, where she works for Dr. Julius Tattinger, a connoisseur and collector of fine wine and fine art. She’s presently preparing Tattinger’s home for the arrival of a number of guests who will be staying there over New Year’s, specifically to taste, buy and sell rare wines, and raise money for the humanitarian charities Tattinger passionately supports. But she’s also there because Tattinger is suspected of fraudulent practices and counterfeiting wine – and Mae took the assignment offered her after Kitt’s death, to observe Tattinger for a year and report her findings to British Intelligence.
The disparate group of guests arrives, all obscenely wealthy (some obscenely obnoxious), one of whom reminds Mae just a tiny bit of Kitt when he smiles – although that’s not surprising, as Mae sees Kitt everywhere; he’s the postman, the barista, he’s even Tattinger when he shuffles into the kitchen. After an afternoon spent tasting and playing games of one-upmanship over the various wines they’ve brought, the party swings into gear, Mae taking careful note of the proceedings with a professional eye as to the catering and who is talking about what to whom. When Tattinger’s dog wreaks havoc in the kitchen and promptly escapes the house, Mae (who is fonder of the dog than she is of its master) heads out into the snow to find him – and finds the dead body of Mr. Grant – the butler who had accompanied one of the guests – instead.
The plot thickens fast from here on in, sometimes at dizzying speed, as discovery upon discovery unearths a very real threat to Mae’s life, a complex web of lies and deceit – and a far bigger network of betrayal and corruption than she could ever have envisaged.
I always take care not to say much about the plot when reviewing suspense novels, but there’s a development in this one that, while it may seem obvious, might be too much of a spoiler for some, so if you don’t want to know, then stop reading now.
Given that we learn of Kitt’s death at the end of the opening chapter, it can’t come as too much of a surprise to learn that he isn’t dead after all – there would be no book were that the case! That said however, even though we romance readers know there’s an HEA (or HFN) on the cards, the author presents Mae’s grief and anger in such an incredibly visceral way that I found myself tearing up a few times. She’s furious with Kitt for dying, but more furious with herself for loving him and letting herself believe, even for just a little while, that they could have made a life together. When he turns up alive and well (mostly) at Tattinger’s house, she’s even more furious, her grief and anger augmented by intense feelings of betrayal.
Kitt is obviously desperately in love with Mae and fearful he’s lost her for good. He knows all too well that the demands of his job makes anything but the sort of fleeting relationships he’s had before impossible, but he wants forever with Mae – if only he can find a way to convince her that the risks are worth it. Mae is just as far gone for Kitt, but has to decide if she’s prepared to deal with the way his unpredictable brand of chaos will impinge on her practical, orderly life. And while they’re both struggling to come to terms with what ‘forever’ might mean for them, they once again find themselves playing a dangerous game that may well curtail it anyway. Kitt is sure, from the moment he finds Mae in New Mexico, that whatever is going on is tied to his last mission somehow, the one in which he was on the trail of an international smuggling ring and which really did almost kill him. The way Kitt and Mae work to piece things together is really well-done and lovely to read; they’re wonderfully in sync, and as was the case in the previous book, their bantering dialogue is fabulously dry and perfectly pitched. I loved all the in-jokes and nods to genre fiction – both spy stories and romance (gotta love a heroine who gives her man a copy of Flowers from the Storm to read – and a hero who’s already read it!) – and the way the author pokes gentle fun at her own story:
“With a murder in a cosy mystery such as this, on a country estate such as this, suspicion always falls on the domestic help, such as the butler.”
“This is not a cosy mystery. It’s a somewhat gritty cosy romantic spy thriller that tries hard to be amusing.”
On the negative side, there are a lot of secondary characters and I sometimes had trouble keeping track of all of them; and although I like a complex plot, this one sometimes twisted and turned at such an alarming rate that I had to backtrack a few times to make sure I’d understood what was going on!
If you haven’t already read At Your Service, I’d strongly recommend doing so before tackling this one, as you’ll gain a deeper understanding of Mae and Kitt, and the way that who they are informs their relationship. None of the criticisms I’ve levelled above in any way spoiled my enjoyment of this “gritty cosy romantic spy thriller” that succeeds in being amusing, gripping, sexy and poignant. Forever in Your Service is a great read, and I’m looking forward to the next instalment in the In Service trilogy.
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 30/03/19
Publication Date: 03/2019
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Related Reviews
Great review, Caz. Just finished this today. Gotta love it when the author has her characters actually say that this is a “somewhat gritty cosy romantic spy thriller that tries/tried hard to be amusing.” So cheeky. And even though it’s not the kind of love story I typically prefer, Caz is right–the banter, the give-and-take between Kitt and Mae, is delicious.
Random comments:
Did not like the gruesome descriptions of some of the events that occurred or the dead/dying bodies. Potential readers, you are forewarned.
Caz is right also about the dizzying number of characters (and the details of what’s happened or happening). I’m literally going back to the early chapters to refresh my memory of who all these people are and how they actually fit into the story, now that I actually understand the plot.
I could have done without the Flowers from the Storm reference. It took me out of the story, actually. Like the author was breaking the fourth wall, if there is such a thing when it comes to books. But different strokes.
My impression of the author–about whom I know nothing, other than that she writes well!–is that she might have written for TV or movies at some point? The way scenes and events and people are described (and the fact that some of them are described at all) in FiYS makes me think this.
The dog trainer in the book is Mrs. Rigg. I choose to believe it’s a shout-out to Diana Rigg, who played Mrs. Peel on The Avengers TV show. Because Mrs. Peel had this similar type of bantery relationship with Mr. Steed, if I recall. (But actor Patrick McNee is not who I would picture for Kitt.)
Thanks for the kind words. And yes, I also suspected that about Mrs. Rigg – given the author’s obvious familiarity with the spy/action genre, I would bet it’s a shout out.
I actually liked the jokey reference to Kinsale’s novel and the fact that Kitt had of course read it. He is the more romantic of the two in this relationship, and it’s another small detail and way to invert the gender dynamic between them.
I agree though that the In Service books overall have a film-like quality to them. I can so easily visualize them as I read and I would love for them to be adapted to film or television.
I really enjoyed FIYS though agree with the comments on the complex plot- I must admit I got rather lost at times. However I LOVE Kitt and Mae though I wasn’t happy that he might kiss/seduce? other women and men as part of his spy duties. Not sure I would be happy about that! And what’s with Mae’s big white pants?!! She’s only in her early 50s not her 90s!!! Otherwise loved it. Third one will be on automatic pre order.
Wonderful review. If anything I liked this book even better than the first, Two people negotiating the complexities of a relationship after the I love you’s have been said is significantly more interesting to me than the initial falling in love, and it’s great to have a couple who I find equally interesting and whose reactions to each other feel so believable.
I may give Next To You a try but while I was waiting for this to come out I tried another of Antonelli’s books, Driving In Neutral, and it was nearly a DFN, not for the main couple but for the intrusive and horrible best friend turned bridezilla subplot which felt completely out of place and cliche.
For Your Eyes Only has come highly recommended and I’m planning on checking it out soon. If I have time, I’ll review it here.
I hope you do review it Caz because it’s another delightful story; It gives good banter, there’s sizzle in the romance and the plot has Antonelli’s characteristic twists and turns. Like Forever in Your Service, this story takes place in New Mexico, where hero Willa is a quantum physicist who’s having her arm twisted into sleuthing for a thief of secrets from Los Alamos laboratory. What I liked most about For Your Eyes Only is how much the main male character loves hero Willa for exactly who she is. She’s brilliant but distractable, independent but in need of help.
Among Antonelli’s other books, my favorite is Next to You. The hero has albinism, which is treated in such a sympathetic way that taken with his other strengths, is not a disability but simply a unique character trait. It’s done so gracefully that it lifts my heart in the hope that we can come to see more physical differences as individualities instead of handicaps. The hero is suave and strong and kind, with a passion for, of all things, bubblegum pop music. How can you not love a hero like that? I recommend that book highly too.
Thanks for posting this. I’m adding to my list of books to read.
Incidentally, I read on her website today that she is currently writing the third and final book of the In Service trilogy, and so I’m very happy there will be another one.
Great review. I’m reading it currently and am still at the visceral grief and despair stage when Mae believes Kitt to be dead, and it is so heartbreaking. I jut love Antonelli’s writing so much and want nothing more than to sit and read it all in one go. I did that last time however with At Your Service and did end up feeling a bit overwhelmed at times by the action and extremely fast-paced events, and so I’m taking my time with this one. Thank you for the heads up on lots of secondary characters; I will make a concerted effort to keep track of them all.
I’m loving the randy dog too and hope Felix sticks around :)
Thank you! It’s hard to say “I like complex plots but…” because I do like a story to get my teeth into, but sometimes I did feel a little but overwhelmed. Still, I appreciated the writing, and love these characters – SA is a unique voice who definitely deserves to be more well-known.
Yes! In looking for a face to give Mae I found myself going back to that era too. I wondered about mid-career Ingrid Bergman or Lauren Bacall, even Judi Dench or Glenda Jackson. Helen Mirren is a very good suggestion. When Mae is pushed too far and goes from classy, controlled competence to swearing spitfire with an Irish brogue, she shows how rich a character she is.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear – I meant those actresses (who are in their seventies now) when they were Mae’s age :)
Kudos on your review of Forever in Your Service. You captured that exquisite blend of poignancy, grit, suspense, humor and romance. Falling in love renders Major Kitt more self aware, more tender and hands-down more appealing than James Bond ever was. In the same way Mae’s armor of competence and self sufficiency crack when against her better judgement she lets Kitt into her heart. They both become more by letting go. I picture Daniel Craig as Major Kitt, but I’m still working on a persona for Mae Valentine. I think you probably could get away with reading it as a stand-alone, but I bet you’d end up going back to pick up the first book as a result.
Thank you! It was a tough one to write given what happens in the beginning ;) Kitt is such an appealing hero, and I love the way the author reveals the vulnerability that lurks beneath his exterior, and how torn he is between love and duty. I haven’t read that many spy thrillers, but I doubt any of those heroes are so well-rounded and human. I can sort of see Mae as an early-fifties Joanna Lumley or Helen Mirren…