A gripping, atmospheric dive into post-war Britain — espionage, murder, and secrets simmering beneath the glamour of Soho.

Beattie Cavendish is sharp, bold, and entirely incapable of sitting quietly on the sidelines. When she’s recruited to GCHQ and tasked with going undercover in 1948 Britain, what begins as a mission of political surveillance quickly unravels into something far darker. A brutal murder, a family with secrets to protect, and a shadowy Soho club with ties to power — Beattie Cavendish and the White Pearl Club delivers Cold War intrigue with a noir edge.

I loved the vivid sense of place: the smoggy London streets, the rising paranoia of early espionage, the post-war world still finding its footing. Beattie is a brilliant lead — resourceful, flawed, and unafraid to ask the questions no one wants answered.

Murder mystery meets spy thriller with a fierce female lead — and I’m already looking forward to her next case.

I do hope this is the first book in a new series because I love a good spy story. The sleuthing couple of a capable girl and a one-eyed war veteran sounds intriguing enough, and considering the baggage they both have, this set-up has so much potential.
It's a light-hearted but good-paced story with the right amount of mystery, action and a hint of a romance. I'll look out for more books from Mary-Jane Riley because she seems like just the right author for me.

An historic spy thriller, Beattie Cavendish and the White Pearl Club (2025) by Mary-Jane Riley is set in post WW2 Britian. It’s 1948, as Beattie Cavendish struggles with civilian life and is glad to go undercover, accepting a role in the GCHQ, a newly formed branch of British Intelligence. As Beattie infiltrates the rich and powerful Bowen family to discover whether Ralph Bowen, a politician has communist links. The murder of the Bowen Family housekeeper sees Beattie team up with detective Patrick Corrigan, as they investigate links to the Soho gentleman’s club, or aka the White Pearl Club. An enjoyable enough historical crime fiction, set in the beginnings of the cold war makes for a three star rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement. With thanks to Allison & Busby and the author for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

In 1948, the shadow of war still lingers over Britain. Beattie Cavendish, formerly of the Secret Operations Executive, refuses to settle into a conventional life. When offered an undercover role at the newly formed GCHQ, she eagerly accepts.

Oh but this was fun and I want to read more about the amazing Beattie
Spies, Private Investigators, isolated islands, murder, Russian gangsters, Russian plots, code breaking.
Just a great well told story.

what an exciting read that i never saw coming or new i needed to come into my life.
everything was so tight and clever in this book from the scene setting to the story and characters we were told about. i love books around the war times and was interested in this "what comes next" kind of look upon it.
getting to know Beattie was so interesting, her backstory and how it brought us to her what brilliant. we would all want her in uor corner or to be more like her id say.
her partner bought us a hint of a smile too. his story was equally bought to us with brilliant ease and descriptions so you could really picture for two of them.
Beattie worked undercover for the government during the war. and now being back with no war is something she didn't expect to feel so tough to adjust to. who is she in this new none spy like self? so when she is offered the chance to put her skills to the test once more she cant wait to begin.
but her job starts off with a bang and soon she is teaming up with a war weary Patrick Corrigan, a detective,and they must work together to find out just whats going on.
theres been a murder and it is down to the pair of them to work out what and why it all happened. there are people to trust and people to definitely not trust in this story but does that always make them capable of murder?
i love how we are transported right into the age this book was set in and with all the things that fit there from class, post war, rations etc. it all felt so real and immersive for the reader. Mary- Jane got her descriptions and language just right.
i would be so happy if this was part of a series. i know i could come to really love these two and see where they go next.
i love how this book started off strong with Beattie. she was everything i wished for going in.

I enjoyed this book, but it took a while to get into it.

Beattie works 'undercover' and teams up with private detective Patrick Corrigan.

Beattie is asked to form a liaison with the shadow Foreign Secretary's son who is suspected of spying for the Russians.....

All clues take her to the White Pearl Club which is run by Russians.

A good read

Beattie, an undercover intelligence officer, is tasked with getting close to Ralph Bowen, a politician suspected of having Russian sympathies, by befriending his son.
Meanwhile, Bowen's wife has hired jaded private detective Patrick Corrigan to spy on her husband.
The two investigations collide when Beattie and Patrick both chance upon the dead body of the Bowens' housekeeper. They are forced to work together when their enquiries lead them to the seedy White Pearl Club in Soho.
With this first mystery/spy story in the late-1940s-set Beattie Cavendish series, the author has a surefire hit on her hands.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.
Upon publication I will post my review on my blog and on GoodReads.

Thanks Allison & Busby and NetGalley for ARC.

London 1948 is a tricky place to be a single woman of a certain class and age, trying to adjust to civilian life and traditional expectations of the roles one must fulfill. Beattie Cavendish may be luckier than most - she has taken a job at the newly formed GCHQ, although her first mission seems deadly dull and involves some very unsociable hours. She's also got a centrally located flat courtesy of an absent uncle so she needn't return to the family home or share digs with others.

When she stumbles across the body of the housekeeper of a titled and entitled family, she is warned off investigating over and above her role in surveying the family the late Sofia worked for. So is veteran soldier turned private investigator Patrick Corrigan, who has been finding that civilian life for Irishmen, even war heroes, is no picnic.

So of course they team up, despite reservations, and of course danger ensues. I found this started out a little slowly but soon gained pace and was overall thoroughly satisfying. I am hoping that this is the start of a flourishing career for both.

This book twists and turns, and keeps you highly engaged. I loved every minute of it -- it's thrilling, historically fascinating, and, above all, a great story. The writing is so fluid that you'll fly through it; I feel incredibly lucky to have had an advance copy, and cannot wait to read what this author does next. I often get bogged down in the logistics and specifics of historical fiction, but "Beattie Cavendish" had none of that: it immersed you in the world with ease. The mystery was incredibly compelling!

I'm so pleased this is the start of a series because I'm looking forward to reading book 2. The story line was full of surprises and I loved it. Beattie Cavendish and Corrigan had me rooting for them as characters. I almost wanted the book to be longer I enjoyed the story, the characters and the world building that much. The way the characters spoke sounded right too. Oh I will definitely look out for more from this writer and buy it when it comes out because the book was so engaging.

In short: if you liked the Rachel Savernake series by Martin Edwards, I suspect you'll enjoy this book.

Thank you to the publishers for a free copy in return for an impartial review. I'm buying this one when it comes out.

"1948. The shadow of war still lingers over Britain and Beattie Cavendish, former Secret Operations Executive agent, refuses to settle into civilian life. When offered an undercover role at the newly formed GCHQ, the nerve centre of Britain's intelligence network, she doesn't hesitate. Her first mission is to infiltrate the powerful Bowen family and find out what she can about politician Ralph Bowen, who is suspected of being a communist sympathiser.

Her mission takes a deadly turn when the Bowen's housekeeper, Sofia, has her throat cut. As the investigation spirals, Beattie teams up with war-weary detective Patrick Corrigan to expose a dangerous web of spies and secrets all leading back to The White Pearl Club, a Soho establishment that caters to gentlemen with dangerous appetites.

As powerful forces attempt to bury the truth, Beattie must survive a ruthless game of deception and the dark underbelly of 1940s Soho at the dawn of the Cold War."

You know, Britain after the war had a lot of sketchy and dangerous gentlemen's clubs... Definitely more than dukes in romance novels.

It is 1948 and Britain is still recovering from the war. Beattie Cavendish, who spent the war in secret operations with the French resistance, is now working as a translator for the newly formed GCHQ. When she gets the opportunity to do an undercover job revolving around the influential Bowen family, she is keen to be involved. It soon becomes clear there is more to the case than she has been led to believe and, with the help of a private detective, she investigates more about them and their links to the infamous White Pearl Club.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The historical setting is very well written and Beattie Cavendish is a wonderful character, strong, independent, intelligent and very likeable. Corrigan, the war-wounded private detective she works with, is also superb and the storyline itself was intriguing and fast paced.

I very much hope this is the first of a new series – I’d love to read more about both Beattie and Corrigan and their unconventional partnership.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Set in the aftermath of WW2 Beattue Cavendish works for the newly formed GCHQ as a translator but is frustrated as her skills hobed during the war are underused.
Asked by her boss to get close to the son of a prominent politician she is drawn into a series of events that include suspected spying for the Russian and murder. She crosses paths with Patrick Corrigan .a private detective. Together they investigate the murder despite being warned.
I really enjoyed this story and hope it will be the start of a new series for Cavendish and Corrigan.

What a book and what characters! I absolutely am in awe of Beattie Cavendish, she is instantly likeable from the start and you so want her to succeed!

Beattie works for a Government Agency after the Second World War; a war in which she was highly active as a member of SOE. She utilises these skills to uncover bad blood as indicated by her bosses, all under the cover of teaching young ladies typing and office skills.

She is minding her own business and getting close to the son of a prominent politician, to unmask possible treachery by his father. She stumbles upon the murder of the housekeeper, and joins forces with Richard Corrigan, a Private Detective, a man who has survived the war but is badly scarred to get to the bottom of the murder, whilst also trying to do her "day job".

Things intersect, she's warned off interfering, as too is Richard. But they form a formidable duo, with some suppressed feelings to each other, and discover the murderer!

A great historical spy thriller, superb first in the series. I'll be waiting for book 2.

Beattie Cavendish and the White Pearl Club is set just after the conclusion of the Second World War and sees the introduction of Beattie Cavendish who works undercover for GCHQ.

This was a well written and enjoyable book which will hopefully become a series as there is plenty of scope for the main and supporting characters to grow.

An enjoyable first book.

A well-plotted introduction to historical mystery characters that I hope have a long career! Riley expertly knows her characters' motivations, the world they live in, and how she wants them to behave. Realism for post-War London abounds– not everyone had a "good war," and Riley plumbs the politics of Cold War England well.

A moody, post-war spy mystery with a badass heroine, a dash of romance, and all the foggy London vibes. I loved Beattie—smart, stubborn, and definitely not ready to settle down.

The Cold War/KGB/MI5 stuff confused me (but it always has so that might just be me 😅), and I expected more from the White Pearl Club given the title. Some parts felt a little thin, but now that I know this book is a series starter, a few vague story threads make more sense.

All up, an enjoyable read—just not sure I’m hooked enough to sign up for book two.

Thanks to Mary-Jane Riley, Allison & Busby, and NetGalley for access to the Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This mystery takes place in London after the end of World War II where people are still dealing with loss from the war. Beattie Cavendish has been asked by her boss to infiltrate a family whose patriarch who is suspected of being a Russian spy.

The story is well written with some good twists as it moves through the story. Beattie is intelligent but inexperienced and is a good engaging character. The rest of the cast is interesting as well. All in all, a good period mystery. Recommended.

Beattie Cavendish and the White Pearl Club is the first book in a new series set post-World War II in the early days of the Cold War. An intriguing era, for sure!

Rejecting the expectations of the time, for women to return to their docile roles now that the war has ended and the men have returned home, Beattie continues her special operations work in a new position. Undercover missions, spies, a murder… Beattie gets in the middle of it all.

This was a decent start to the series, however, I unfortunately didn’t feel particularly engaged with the story. It almost felt like the murder was a distraction from the rest (though yes, it all ties together). It seems like a lot is being set up for future books, which resulted in a mishmash of events. At the same time, the story often came to a standstill and broke off into discourse about politics and religion. I would be curious to read book two to see how Beattie carries on, but I can honestly take or leave it. I hope it will delve deeper into the complexities of the Cold War, which was what appealed to me in the first place.

Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for inviting me to read a free digital ARC of the book!

A post war spy mystery with an unlikely duo with great chemistry as an underutilized covert operations agent and an Irish private detective war hero work together to solve a murder that’s been swept under the rug. Beattie is chasing the excitement she doesn’t have now that she’s come home and has demons in her family’s past. Patrick is a little more one-dimensional, but maybe he’ll be fleshed out in later
books. There’s a bit of telling, some awkward transitions and filter words, but the pacing is good and I wanted to know all about these characters. I couldn’t put it down and I’m hoping for more books.