‘Blackshirt Rebellion’ by Jason Monaghan

Published by Level Best Books,
17 September 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-68512-736-7 (PB)

Hugh Clifton, Commander Z3 Confidential Investigation Section, is back in action.  It’s 1937 and, in this version of Britain, Edward VIII has not abdicated, and Fascism is thriving, with a large number of groups (the story suggests more than twenty) looking for members and power.  Hugh originally took the role in the Intelligence Unit of the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists (British Union) at the behest of MI5 – his dishonourable discharge from the army left him vulnerable to pressure and he had joined the BU as a spy.  However, he has proved able to serve two masters and has had sufficient success in post to have moved up in the structure of Department Z. 

Hugh has a close-knit group of agents (though individual loyalties are always in doubt) and together they fight constant danger as it becomes clear that there is something deeper going on and that powerful individuals with the British establishment are pursuing their own route to power at the expense of any individual or group that stands in their way.  As he and his colleague and partner Sissy, (a member of the British aristocracy and a committed member of the BU), try to understand what is going on and who (if anyone) can be trusted, they and their friends and colleagues face danger, betrayal and death. 

This is the third in the series and, as with the earlier novels, neatly mixes fact and fiction.  Hugh is a quiet, engaging hero, unwilling to accept praise and, surprisingly, not the killer he is thought to be.  Real players and real events are skilfully woven into the fast moving, complex and lively plot and the reader is swept along by the action.  It’s an interesting, thought-provoking and satisfying read.

Though this is the third in the Agents of Room Z series, it does work as a stand-alone.  The author has included a useful list of characters (real and fictional) and a note on the historical background. 
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Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood
Other books by this author:  The Agents of Room Z series:  Blackshirt Masquerade, Blackshirt Conspiracy;  Jeffrey Flint Archaeology Mystery Series:  Darkness Rises, Byron’s Shadow, Shadesmore, Lady in the Lake, Blood and Sandals;  Historical Novel:  Glint of Light on Broken Glass

Jason Monaghan was born 1959 in Yorkshire is a novelist and Roman archaeologist. He has also at times been a financial regulator, an anti-money laundering specialist and a bank director. The eccentric side of Archaeology provided the background to his first five novels written under the pen-name of Jason Foss, and he is an active member of the Crime Writers Association. Glint of Light on Broken Glass is his first historical novel. Major projects he has worked on include Britain's most intact Roman ship (from Guernsey), and possibly the only known English Elizabethan shipwreck (off Alderney). His PhD thesis was on the Roman Pottery of Kent and he later published research on pottery from the Roman fortress of York. Each summer since 2009 he has led a group of friends excavating in Alderney, investigating what looks to be Britains finest small Roman fort. He lives in Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

https://monaghanfoss.com 

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.