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Death of a Codebreaker
OLD CONSPIRACIES, NEW COLD-BLOODED MURDER
When Darlene Johanson, a young librarian in Ottawa, Ontario, goes missing, private investigator Baker Somerset soon discovers a tangled web that leads her to a decades-old murder. Darlene’s great-aunt Loretta, a World War Two codebreaker, disappeared under mysterious circumstances during wartime, and her niece had been looking into it, uncovering a complex covert operation involving spies and submarines.
When Somerset, a former Scotland Yard detective, realizes the two cases are connected, she is put directly in the path of dangerous neo-Nazi groups and a killer who will stop at nothing to cover up past crimes.
This is the third book in the Baker Somerset series.
When Darlene Johanson, a young librarian in Ottawa, Ontario, goes missing, private investigator Baker Somerset soon discovers a tangled web that leads her to a decades-old murder. Darlene’s great-aunt Loretta, a World War Two codebreaker, disappeared under mysterious circumstances during wartime, and her niece had been looking into it, uncovering a complex covert operation involving spies and submarines.
When Somerset, a former Scotland Yard detective, realizes the two cases are connected, she is put directly in the path of dangerous neo-Nazi groups and a killer who will stop at nothing to cover up past crimes.
This is the third book in the Baker Somerset series.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 6, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 19, 2026
Another good one! You can read all of the Baker Somerset series, or jump in like I did! Loved the characters and the mystery!
This is the third in the Baker Somerset series, featuring a female private investigator in Ottawa who uncovers a
cold cases. In this case, she investigates the disappearance of librarian, Darlene Johanson, who is searching for her great-aunt, who was a WWII codebreaker. Somerset and her team connect the disappearance to a modern-day neo-Nazi groups and a killer covering up past crimes.
*Could you read this as a standalone? Yes, although there are references to the first two books, however I loved it all the same.
This is the third in the Baker Somerset series, featuring a female private investigator in Ottawa who uncovers a
cold cases. In this case, she investigates the disappearance of librarian, Darlene Johanson, who is searching for her great-aunt, who was a WWII codebreaker. Somerset and her team connect the disappearance to a modern-day neo-Nazi groups and a killer covering up past crimes.
*Could you read this as a standalone? Yes, although there are references to the first two books, however I loved it all the same.
December 6, 2025
I’ve just finished another in the series of crime novels by Max Folsom, Death of a Codebreaker. I am happy to report with each story I am enjoying more and more her main character, Baker Somerset. A former Scotland Yard detective now working as a private investigator in Ottawa, it is through Baker that the reader can enjoy the intricacies of her cases, her at times quicky supporting characters and Ottawa police techniques. I especially enjoy the details of Ottawa itself, lending a feeling of familiarity with a city I’ve never seen before. Though Baker’s case is set in the present day, Death of a Codebreaker offers a wonderful connection to Ottawa during the days of World War II and German U-boats operating around the Maritimes.
An easy read that will satisfy any lover of detective fiction. Get it!
An easy read that will satisfy any lover of detective fiction. Get it!
February 14, 2026
I loved it. You're going to love it! Max did a great job, I only found one what the? But a whole lot of OMG!!
February 10, 2025
I met the author Max Folsom at the Vermont holiday Market in Dec 2024. We had a lovely conversation about the books and inspiration, and fabulous green eyeglasses both square and round. I was glad to support a local author by buying the book at the market.
The book Death of a Codebreaker was a delightful read. Endearing characters. Fast moving. Relatively “clean” language free of swears and no gore. Unexpected twists and turns to keep you turning the pages and sad when the story ends. Well done Max Folsom! Keep on writing please!
The book Death of a Codebreaker was a delightful read. Endearing characters. Fast moving. Relatively “clean” language free of swears and no gore. Unexpected twists and turns to keep you turning the pages and sad when the story ends. Well done Max Folsom! Keep on writing please!
July 14, 2026
This mystery has a decent enough premise – that the disappearance of a young woman is related to the disappearance of her great-aunt during WWII, which is in turn related to the rise of hate groups in the present. During the war Germany did indeed send U-boats up the St. Lawrence River, and after the war of course Nazis settled in countries all over the world, including Canada. I haven’t read anything else of this series from Max Folsom, but in Baker Somerset and her crew of friends, she creates a sense of warmth and camaraderie that held some appeal.
Unfortunately, what’s built around this is pretty weak tea, both in its story lines and in Folsom’s writing abilities. There are all sorts of really improbable yet convenient plot points, and Folsom relies on the gang taking a break from it all to have meals together far too often. Many times exposition is crammed into the mouths of her characters, and she makes the mistake of having one summarize the latest findings to another when the reader is already well aware of them. The writing feels as clunky and forced as the “sweet Fanny Adams” the detective utters when astounded.
The mystery is also too simple, with alternate possibilities feeling like the red herrings they are. Early on the detective ludicrously casts aside the idea of looking for the missing woman’s boyfriend because there might be an overwhelming number of men with his name (Robert) working for her employer (it might be “a time waster”), and then literally 188 pages later, towards the end, voila, it’s just four who fit the criteria, and of course it’s critical to solving the case, as the reader is almost certainly well aware of.
Meanwhile, on more than one occasion the detective gets a major piece of information about the case and then inexplicably sets it aside for a day or two. We get melodrama which puts her in danger, but it never really felt real. And despite being assaulted and sustaining a concussion, broken nose, and cracked rib, she’s out hustling to confront a man sending the woman who’s disappeared creepy emails, even though it should be a routine matter for the police to go do so – and then he’s able to flee. It’s not hard to figure out that this guy won’t have very much to do with the actual mystery, so a lot of this just felt like filler anyway.
As for the big crack in the case, I’d say it’s pretty damn convenient that the culprit wrote out a full confession that the detective is able to find, wouldn’t you? And then there is a plot twist designed to make us all feel happy, but it makes little sense based on what came before it. It’s just flimsy, mediocre work, draped around characters I would love to be invested in. A decent enough start, but I was glad when I finished this one.
Unfortunately, what’s built around this is pretty weak tea, both in its story lines and in Folsom’s writing abilities. There are all sorts of really improbable yet convenient plot points, and Folsom relies on the gang taking a break from it all to have meals together far too often. Many times exposition is crammed into the mouths of her characters, and she makes the mistake of having one summarize the latest findings to another when the reader is already well aware of them. The writing feels as clunky and forced as the “sweet Fanny Adams” the detective utters when astounded.
The mystery is also too simple, with alternate possibilities feeling like the red herrings they are. Early on the detective ludicrously casts aside the idea of looking for the missing woman’s boyfriend because there might be an overwhelming number of men with his name (Robert) working for her employer (it might be “a time waster”), and then literally 188 pages later, towards the end, voila, it’s just four who fit the criteria, and of course it’s critical to solving the case, as the reader is almost certainly well aware of.
Meanwhile, on more than one occasion the detective gets a major piece of information about the case and then inexplicably sets it aside for a day or two. We get melodrama which puts her in danger, but it never really felt real. And despite being assaulted and sustaining a concussion, broken nose, and cracked rib, she’s out hustling to confront a man sending the woman who’s disappeared creepy emails, even though it should be a routine matter for the police to go do so – and then he’s able to flee. It’s not hard to figure out that this guy won’t have very much to do with the actual mystery, so a lot of this just felt like filler anyway.
As for the big crack in the case, I’d say it’s pretty damn convenient that the culprit wrote out a full confession that the detective is able to find, wouldn’t you? And then there is a plot twist designed to make us all feel happy, but it makes little sense based on what came before it. It’s just flimsy, mediocre work, draped around characters I would love to be invested in. A decent enough start, but I was glad when I finished this one.
February 14, 2026
Neo-Nazis and a mysterious great-aunt! A wonderful tangled mystery.
February 2, 2026
Not on Kindle. It's a paperbook, or ebook at this point.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews