Deadly Ruse book tour is through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and includes a giveaway and an author guest post. Enter below, share, comment, follow.
Book Details
Deadly Ruse: A World War II Mystery (Deadly Series)
Historical Cozy Mystery
14th in Series
Setting – England
Publisher : JDP Press
Publication date : June 23, 2026
Number of Pages ~300
Digital
ISBN-13 : 979-8993886442
ASIN : B0GYQCS43C
Paperback will be available on the release date.
As the war’s outcome shifts, deception is an art–and survival depends on who’s painting the picture.
When British spy Olivia Redmond is summoned again by her elusive spymaster, she’s expecting danger–not an invitation to teach drawing to captured German generals at Trent Park House. But beneath the genteel cover of sketches and civility lies a deadly ruse: the lavish POW mansion is wired for sound, every whispered secret a weapon in Britain’s intelligence war.
Among the prisoners is Oberst Bernhard, a conflicted German officer from Livvy’s past. When murder, stolen jewels, and a suspected plot among the prisoners ignite within Trent Park, Livvy must decide whom she can trust–and how far she’ll go to expose a truth wrapped in loyalty and lies.
From the candlelit salons of wartime espionage to the shadows of betrayal, Deadly Ruse is a gripping historical mystery where every stroke of trust could be fatal.
About Kate Parker
Kate Parker has long wanted to build a time travel machine. However, after several false starts, she gave up and created time travel by going back in time inside her books. Since she’s fond of murder mysteries, it is probably best that all of her travel is inside books or police from various ages would be hunting her. When not recreating old time buildings and fashions, she can be found with a modern computer and modern air conditioning in North Carolina with her daughter and a 115 lb. puppy who could just crash through any time barrier.
Author Links
Website – Facebook
Purchase Links –
Author Guest Post
Trent Park House of Secrets
Deadly Ruse, the fourteenth novel in The Deadly Series by Kate Parker, takes place primarily at Trent Park House, a mansion on the northern edge of London. This is a real site of a German POW camp during World War II which will be opened this summer at a museum. Many of the details in Deadly Ruse will be available for visitors to see, making it an exciting outing for the whole family if you happen to be lucky enough to find yourself in London.
Trent Park House was owned in the 1920s and 1930s by Philip Sassoon. He was a leader in high society in London and had such people as the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, and Charlie Chaplin as his weekend guests. Sassoon died in 1939 and the government took over his estate to create a specialized POW camp.
Even at the beginning of the war, Britain was preparing for everything they might need in the coming years, including a place to house high value prisoners. Before a single prisoner was sent there, the very best in hidden microphones were concealed in window frames, fireplaces, outdoor benches and even the billiards table. These were wired in to listening stations in the basement, where conversations could be transcribed, recorded on vinyl discs like records for up to seven minutes at a time, and translated. The listeners in the basement were German Jewish refugees recruited from the British Army who were familiar with German slang
and technical terms.
The British knew that German generals wouldn’t give anything away in interrogation, so they did some questioning when the prisoners were brought in before allowing them to live in Trent Park House. Once they were relaxed, they talked among themselves and the British, listening in, heard details of the V1 and V2 rockets which allowed them to attack the launch sites, saving many British lives.
Fifty-nine German generals, starting with those captured during the North Africa campaign, were housed at Trent Park House at one time or another. Along with two sister sites for pilots and other officer prisoners that used similar techniques, Trent Park House was part of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centers, or CSDIC. All were located in the London area. So far as I know, Trent Park House is the only one that is being turned into a museum showing how the listening worked upstairs and down. The Art Deco interior of the ground floor from Sassoon’s time, and left for the generals, will also be on display.
For more information on the museum, including its opening date, go to https://trentparkhouse.org.uk . This site tells of the efforts over the past dozen years to turn this historic gem into a museum preserving the past while the rest of the locale was turned into
a housing estate. It also has articles and photos about Trent Park House during the 1930s and 1940s, including the time in Deadly Ruse when Livvy Redmond worked there and met up with her old ally, Oberst Wilhelm Bernhard, now a captured German general as they solve a mystery involving jewels, sabotage, and murder.
Deadly Ruse by Kate Parker is the fourteenth story in The Deadly Series of historical mysteries. It can be found in e-book and print at all your favorite online retailers.
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
June 23 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
June 24 – Sarah Can’t Stop Reading Books – REVIEW
June 24 – Book Hookup – REVIEW
June 25 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
June 25 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
June 26 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW
June 26 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
June 27 – Reading Is My SuperPower – AUTHOR GUEST POST
June 28 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
June 29 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
June 30 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW
June 30 – Sarcastically Yours, Jen – SPOTLIGHT
July 1 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author– SPOTLIGHT
July 1 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
July 2 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
July 2 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 3 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 3 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR GUEST POST
Giveaway
Prize – $50 Amazon Gift Card
