Moscow Nights Return by Beth H. Macy
“‘Moscow Nights Return’ is a detailed account of cat-and-mouse activity from Moscow to St. Petersburg to London to Florence via trains, planes and automobiles.”
Readers of spy fiction may have wondered if the genre would melt away after the Cold War, but it turns out the secret world of espionage is timeless. All a good spy novel needs are a brave hero (or heroine) and some international skullduggery.
With Moscow Nights Return, Book 1 of the Moscow Nights Series, Beth H. Macy delivers a 21st-century protagonist. Elda Ainsworth, graying at the temples but still physically fit, has just returned to her home on the Maine coast and to her partner, Dawn. Once in Navy intelligence, Elda is settling into Christmas domesticity when she gets a phone call on the secured landline and hears the deep tones of her boss ask, “How’s your Russian?”
He tells her that her good friend, Korinna Fedorov, is in trouble and needs to be extracted to the United States. “But she will only deal with you.”
Korinna, a translator at the Kremlin, had been a trusted confidant to many powerful men and knew many state secrets. What had she learned that was worth killing her for?
The Cold War never ended, Elda realizes. She hopes this operation won’t require much agility and wishes even more that it would be a quick in-and-out mission so she could be back home for Christmas.
“This is the last one. I promise,” she tells Dawn, before leaving for Boston’s Logan Airport.
Thrilling Story of Espionage
In Moscow, she’s back in the game. As she leaves her hotel to meet Korinna, she’s followed on the subway. She overpays a cab driver to lose her tail, the brother of a man she’d killed, who wants revenge.
At the Café Pushkin, Korinna is waiting for her at a back corner table. “The Russian government is eliminating loose ends and assassinating anyone familiar with the details of the dossier on the Russian and American scandal,” Korinna tells Elda over Beluga caviar blinis, lamb pie and vodka. “Yes,” says Elda, “I have heard that Russia has blackmailed the United States president.” Not only will she need to get Korinna out of Russia,she must also arrange safe for Korinna’s husband and their two troodles, Irish terrier poodle mixes.
As the women leave the restaurant, Elda catches sight of her half-brother, Aurelio, exiting a taxi and entering the restaurant. Spycraft, it turns out, is a family affair.
An international businessman, Aurelio has lived in Moscow for years, but is on the other end of the information game. Delusional and paranoid due to his copious intake of drugs and alcohol, Aurelio is unaware that Natasha, his Russian wife, works for the Russian government and only cares about access to his money, which she intends to route to her government handlers. Nor does he know that their friend, Yuri, is a double agent.
Except for Elda, many of the book’s characters seem to be double agents, or at least multi-national-sympathetic.
It’s Just Getting Started
Much of Moscow Nights Return is a detailed account of cat-and-mouse activity from Moscow to St. Petersburg to London to Florence via trains, planes and automobiles. It’s almost a how-to of spycraft’s tools and techniques from the perspective of both the pursuers and the pursued (and a travel guide to Europe’s tourism hot spots). It’s also a vocabulary test, as many pieces of dialogue are in Russian, but easily understood from their context.
The series continues in Moscow Nights Misdirection (Book 2) and Moscow Madness (Book 3), as Elda is again pitted against her Cold War rival, Toshchiy “Tosh” Chelovek and the assassin Anatoly Petrov and their attempts to disrupt the American government.
Macy is a Navy veteran who once was involved in intelligence work. A long-time fan of spy fiction, she says newer spy novels are “more war-based with ex-soldiers from Afghanistan or Iraq going into war zones to blow things up or kill some traitor. There’s also an update to the technology involved with cyber-attacks and ransomware.” Her Book 4 of the series is in the works, and Book 5 is slated for later next year.
About Beth H. Macy:
Beth has always wanted to write a spy novel that has a greater degree of humanity than many currently in the market. She has succeeded with her first book in the Moscow Nights trilogy, Moscow Nights Return, by bringing forth a collection of realistic, complex individuals. Beth, through her years as a therapist, her background in the Navy, her work with corporations, her extensive travel, and her eclectic background, brings us into the book and the lives of the characters within.
Beth continues to write and has finished the sequel, Moscow Misdirection, the third book in the series, Moscow Madness. Book four, Moscow Moles, is with her editor. Book five has begun. The first three books are published and available on Ingram Sparks, and other platforms, as well as in the Jabberwocky Bookstore in Newburyport, MA.
Beth is evenly right brained and left brained and has tested as “cerebral.” She comes from a family of artists. She has had a career as a Mathematics teacher, an officer in the US Navy, Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, a programmer, an artist, a videographer, and an author.
Beth has been a successful consultant in the high technology sector, having worked for such companies as Lotus Development, Apple Computer and IBM. She is a talented artist with her works in collections from New York to Australia. Beth’s creativity extends into many areas: writing, videography, stained glass, oil painting and acrylics. Beth is focusing on her creativity as she transitions into her next stage of life.
Beth states: “As an artist, I like to bring to life the world around me, whether it be through the visual arts or the written word. It is my hope that my books help bring joy and greater vision to others.”
Publish Date: 12/9/2024
Genre: Suspense, Thrillers
Author: Beth H. Macy
Page Count: 477 pages
Publisher: BHM Consulting
ISBN: 9798989679119