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If Necessary Alone

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Britain 1941. Still reeling from the greatest loss of his life, the Reverend Major Clement Wisdom is called on again to serve his nation in its time of need.

Under the cover of taking up a new parish in far northern Scotland, Clement is sent to the remote village of Huna, in Caithness, to locate a possible enemy agent who is sending out encrypted radio messages. Arriving in the depths of winter, Clement quickly finds it isn't only the temperature that is unnervingly cold. Perched on the edge of Great Britain, the isolated community is wary of strangers. Struggling to gain trust from the locals and where even his assigned Government contact, the local Postmistress, is antagonistic, he becomes entangled in a web of silence.

When the husband of his contact is found dead, the body horrifically impaled on a shard of window glass, Clement is at first unsure if it is an unfortunate accident, or a gruesome warning. As more deaths are uncovered, Clement realises he is facing not only an enemy spy but a ruthless killer. With limited time, Clement must act quickly, and, if necessary, alone.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from February 7, 2022
      Set during WWII, Knox’s impressive sequel to 2019’s In Spite of All Terror presents Clement Wisdom—who was an ordinary, happily married vicar in rural East Sussex for more than 20 years before he was recruited to serve as an intelligence operative—with a new mission. The Special Duties Branch operative in Caithness, Scotland, a highly sensitive area housing an air force base and naval radar station, has detected unexpected radio transmissions, possibly sent to Germany by a British traitor. Wisdom agrees to travel to the area to identify the source of the messages, posing as the new minister for one of the Orkney Islands. Soon after his arrival, he learns a secret about his main contact in the region, the local postmistress, and has a murder to solve, apparently connected with the enemy spy. The plot twists are both surprising and plausible, building toward a satisfying climax, and the lead, whose two professional obligations are often in conflict, is more than capable of sustaining a long series. Grantchester and Maisie Dobbs fans will be enthralled.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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