The Lock Assignment

Janet Markham Bennett Cozy #12

by Diana Xarissa

Mr. Brown has summoned Edward and Janet back to London. It’s obvious that he doesn’t want to work with them, but, for this assignment, he doesn’t have a choice. Edward is one of a very small number of agents privy to a huge secret, and now the items being protected by that secret are at risk.

Someone needs to work from the inside at an agency-operated secure site. Edward is too well known within the group, so Janet gets sent in undercover. She needs to try to get to know everyone working at the location so she can determine who is planning to steal what is being so carefully guarded.

Edward is working from the outside, and they are both racing against time to find the would-be thief before he or she can act. It’s an assignment that Janet struggles with from the beginning, but she won’t give Mr. Brown the satisfaction of quitting. She’s determined to see this one through to the bitter, and very likely dangerous, end.

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2024

About the author

Diana started self-publishing in 2013 and over a decade later she now has over a hundred books available for readers. Writing remains her passion and she has no plans to stop writing in the foreseeable future.

Diana grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and earned a history degree from Allegheny College. She met her husband, an Englishman, while living and working in Washington, DC. Following their marriage, she moved to Derbyshire. A short while later, the happy couple moved to the Isle of Man.

During their years on the island, Diana and her husband welcomed two children, and Diana completed a master’s degree in the history of the island. In 2008, the family made the decision to move to the US. Now empty-nesters, Diana and her husband are living in the suburbs of Buffalo, New York, and contemplating moving somewhere that doesn’t get snow.

Diana also writes mystery/thrillers set in the not-too-distant future as Diana X. Dunn and Young Adult fiction as D.X. Dunn.

Reviews

[A G A VAN DEN BOS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another extensively elongated epistle.
Portrayal of the British Secret Service is totally farcical, which is undoubtedly easier to do from a foreign shore than within one’s home territory where greater recriminations might result.
The two main characters of the series sum up the book very eloquently:
Janet: “this is stupid” (chapter 1).
Edward: “a little bit of drama…more like a comedy…simply a bit of necessary theatre” (chapter 4).
The opening chapter is very predictably an eleventh repetition of detail that has already been shared with readers in the former books of the series.
To enable it to achieve the self-prescribed fifteen chapters, it continues to include considerable convenient contradictions and overemphasis on food.
Chapter 5 of an excellent example of nonsensical and irrelevant dialogue padding.

[Sue Hampshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Janet and Edward cozy mystery!

Diana Xarissa has created a terrific plot involving Great Britain’s Crown Jewels and a complicated secret security system. What an imagination she has!

[Princess Pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was really clever. I was impressed with the plot’s premise, and I liked the way it was handled. She loves the reader wondering if there’s any possibility that’s a promise could be true. One of the best in the series.

[Carola Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I always enjoy seeing he Janet and Edward Bennett books. This one as different but great anyway. I will be waiting for the next one!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

great case solved again...

[Lizabeth Tarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Very interesting and fast-paced! As always, it was a delight to be part of the crime solving unit (at least, mentally!)

[Alayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another very enjoyable cozy mystery. I won't say anymore in case I add spoilers!