One of the best spy thrillers I have read in a very long time. Felicity Jardine is a fabulous creation. I do hope she will return in future novels. She may be retired from the Service but she certainly hasn't lost any of her skills in the field. She's just as much a maverick as she was in West Germany in 1976.
The plot straddling between 1976 and 2019 is crisp, concise, clever, and is full of unexpected moments and a delicious sense of dark humour.
Felicity is a great narrator and one can't fail to have empathy for her and all she does...even when her plans are quite outrageous. The supporting cast is perfect too.
Small Sussex village country life transposes almost seamlessly into the diplomatic corridors of power.
A refreshingly innovative take on the spy genre written by an accomplished hand.

The retired female security operative is getting a bit of their day in the sun at the moment, I suppose because some of the less swinging, more cloak and dagger parts of the Cold War (70's and 80's) coincide nicely with active retirement age. The protagonist here, Felicity Jardine, is less gregarious than her similar number in Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club novels, and the book opens with her wandering into a river with stones in her pocket to take her own life. In the process she discovers a baby in a child seat bobbing in the river, and the mystery involved gives her a new lease on her somewhat thin life.

The disappointingly generically titled A Sting In Her Tail (I'd have preferred By The Pricking Of Her Thumb), is a suspenseful, propulsive read. Jardine is a cold protagonist, but the reason is that way is properly set out in the novel, from Public School, through Oxford and generations of displaced spies. The book follows a dual narrative, of an operation in 1970's Bonn and the current mystery around the identity of the baby, which takes up a thorough biography of this woman and her family. She was a poor mother, though the new baby inspires something in her, and the new lease of life this adventure gives her softens her around other people, making her a little more approachable. This is still a book packed with spycraft, improbable escapes and one or two very lucky improvised kills.

The MI6 presented in A Sting In The Tale, or the question of those retired from the service, is dealt with lightly. Jardine is a fun protagonist, much more open with the reader than anyone else in her life. And whilst the last fifty pages bend credulity both in the action and the plot stakes, it has garned enough goodwill by then for you to go with the ridiculousness. I'd expect it to be optioned by one of our grand old dames who fancies one last whirl of an action movie - but it is more than enough fun as a novel

This was an enjoyable read in the genre of “elderly spy who gets involved solving a mystery!”
Retired agent Felicity Jardine is on the brink of drowning herself when she comes across a young baby floating in the river.
She manages to rescue the child and then tries to locate her parents. As the book progresses the reader is treated to flashbacks to cold war Berlin and Felicity’s induction as a spy. How can the present day events be connected to her past life?
Felicity is a great protagonist as she narrates her past and present story in a humorous and sardonic manner and gradually all is revealed.
The story moves along at a cracking pace with some very exciting heart in your mouth moments which show the reader that Felicity has not forgotten her old skills and has not lost any of her fast thinking as she needs all her wits to escape from some very tricky situations and some very nasty villains.
This could definitely be the start of an excellent series about Felicity and I for one would be first in the queue to read the next instalment should there be one.
Definitely a recommended read, particularly if you are a fan of books about elderly sleuths (Richard Osman’s books are comparable although there is more action in “A Sting in Her Tale” ) and like a lighthearted, action packed read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

I really enjoyed this book, the only reason I’ve not given it 5 stars is due to a very explicit sex scene which felt unnecessary, and in parts there were too much excessive detail about unrelated matters. But on to the good stuff, the book was fast paced, interesting, and although guessed quite a bit of it early on, it was really well developed. The mystery was nicely unraveled, and our heroine was likeable and mildly funny, though unintentionally. I’d recommend this book and hope the author does another in the series