A Sting in Her Tale

by Mark Ezra

When retired former spy Felicity Jardine's mission to drown herself is interrupted by a baby drifting down river, her training kicks in at once. She manages to save the baby, and conceals them both from the shady-looking man who is searching for it.

Then an elderly neighbour to whom she bears a resemblance is found dead, and Felicity knows she's been rumbled. She has to dust off the highly trained and resourceful secret service officer she used to be, ensure the safety of the baby, and re-enter the fray.

She can count on the help of two former MI6 colleagues to identify the murderer and find out exactly what's going on. But Felicity will soon realise that her work in 1970s Germany and her present are entangled – and she will have to face some hard truths before she can confront the demons of her past.

Genres: Espionage, Fiction

299 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 3, 2025

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Felicity Jardine, ex spy who is not enjoying her life at all and as she is about to end it sees and saves a baby, an act which then changes her life irrevocably

Had the strange euphoric got to tell someone feeling when you realise a character in a book ( or something happening in a TV show ) shares your birthday 🤗 the soft spot grew for Felicity on reading this!

The book is part present day and part past where we find out about her life in Germany as a spy, got to say both parts are darkly humorous and also filled with immense spycraft info that conjured up perfectly how life was and is for her

Felicity is quite the character and has a unique take on her life ( lives ) and you cant help but smile and sometimes grimace throughout the book at her antics and thoughts

Surprisingly and out of context to the rest of the book I suddenly found myself in a 6 page fairly explicit sex scene which wasn’t repeated and felt misplaced in the book tbh

That aside this was a witty thriller that was high on interesting facts and info and also character led , loved the streets and areas of London being described so well and with knowledge, and most importantly was a good read, look forward to the authors next book

[Alice Rickless · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable! I liked the back and forth in time, easy to see how Felicity turned out the way she did.

[Annabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do old spies do after they’ve retired? If you’re Richard Osman’s Elizabeth, decamped to a retirement village with her husband who has dementia, you keep your hand in, recruiting a band of retirees to form The Thursday Murder Club – looking at cold cases, helping the local constabulary out, making the most of contacts, but never quite letting on to your new friends who you were in your former life. That’s Osman’s take…

Cut to the protagonist of Mark Ezra’s first novel. As it begins, seventy-something Felicity Jardine is planning to end it all at the river with stones in her pockets, and a note left behind – when she sees a car baby seat go past – with a baby in it! Her plans change in an instant and she manages somehow to rescue the child. Why is no-one looking for it?

Except there was. A man on the opposite bank was searching for something. Felicity is able to use all her years of training to remain unnoticed, taking the baby girl home as soon as he’d gone, and opting to do some research before telling the police. However, circumstances mean speeding things up, first one of her neighbours who bore a resemblance to Felicity is murdered, and two suspicious strangers are asking questions in the village. She needs to get out of there to find out more. First stop is to leave baby Alice, as she’d called her, with another old spy friend before heading off to London, where with ingenuity that Mick Herron’s River Cartwright would be proud of, she manages to get a good way into the Houses of Parliament before being blocked. For Felicity has a son in a high-powered job, and a daughter too, and she admits to being a mostly absent mother and barely maternal at all, but finding the baby has awakened a grandmotherly need in her. Her son, meanwhile, can’t or won’t help, and she’s sent packing. After a few days and another close encounter with one of the strangers, she takes a circuitous route to visit another old colleague, Patrick. She’d worked for him as a spy in the German Chancellery in Bonn in 1976. Baby Alice is left with Felicity’s daughter Eva, who lives with an Italian lady called Silvana, and they instantly fall for the baby.

For the next part of the story, we find out more about her time in Bonn, alternating between then and the novel’s present day – and we begin to realise that things are very complicated indeed and the past and present are linked. Felicity has some hard questions to answer about herself before she can make progress. There will be many obstacles thrown in her path, but as we’ve seen, Felicity has a new mission in life – to find out who Alice’s mother was, and will use all her skills, resilience and resourcefulness to survive at least long enough to solve the mystery and beyond.

What a wonderful character Ezra has created in Felicity (although we can be pretty sure that’s not her real name!). She is a great narrator, snarky, witty, not suffering fools gladly – but it has led to her not having many friends in her retirement – and she will discover some kindred spirits in her village amongst those she’d discounted and hidden away from before the story is finished.

Although this is a first novel, Ezra has worked in the film industry in many roles including as screenwriter, specialising in thrillers, and indeed I could visualise the action on my mind’s screen as I read. This book would make a super movie or mini-series. It has wit, complexity and a cracking pace throughout. The Cold War sections set in Bonn offer a more serious picture as the younger Felicity goes about her spying with mentor Patrick, which contrasts nicely with the only slightly cosier feel of the older Felicity. Most of all though, I hope this is just the beginning for Felicity in her retirement and that we get more – loved it!

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read in the genre of “elderly spy who gets involved solving a mystery!”
Retired agent Felicity Jardine is on the brink of drowning herself when she comes across a young baby floating in the river.
She manages to rescue the child and then tries to locate her parents. As the book progresses the reader is treated to flashbacks to cold war Berlin and Felicity’s induction as a spy. How can the present day events be connected to her past life?
Felicity is a great protagonist as she narrates her past and present story in a humorous and sardonic manner and gradually all is revealed.
The story moves along at a cracking pace with some very exciting heart in your mouth moments which show the reader that Felicity has not forgotten her old skills and has not lost any of her fast thinking as she needs all her wits to escape from some very tricky situations and some very nasty villains.
This could definitely be the start of an excellent series about Felicity and I for one would be first in the queue to read the next instalment should there be one.
Definitely a recommended read, particularly if you are a fan of books about elderly sleuths (Richard Osman’s books are comparable although there is more action in “A Sting in Her Tale” ) and like a lighthearted, action packed read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.

[Robin Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best spy thrillers I have read in a very long time. Felicity Jardine is a fabulous creation. I do hope she will return in future novels. She may be retired from the Service but she certainly hasn't lost any of her skills in the field. She's just as much a maverick as she was in West Germany in 1976.
The plot straddling between 1976 and 2019 is crisp, concise, clever, and is full of unexpected moments and a delicious sense of dark humour.
Felicity is a great narrator and one can't fail to have empathy for her and all she does...even when her plans are quite outrageous. The supporting cast is perfect too.
Small Sussex village country life transposes almost seamlessly into the diplomatic corridors of power.
A refreshingly innovative take on the spy genre written by an accomplished hand.

[Fatguyreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

In A Sting In Her Tale, we follow elderly former spy, Felicity Jardine, who's planning on drowning herself, but the presence of a baby floating down the river puts that on hold. She rescues the baby while managing to avoid the dubious looking man who's looking for the child.

It's not long before a neighbour who resembles Felicity is found dead which is a sign for her to switch back into spy mode to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Want to know more? Be sure to pick your copy up to find out.

So all in all, this was an enjoyable read, and one with a main character type that's quite new to me ( an elderly spy ).

The story moves along at a good pace, with some exciting action, twists and turns, and some great lighthearted moments.

I read this in two sittings.

4 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.

[Peter Baran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The retired female security operative is getting a bit of their day in the sun at the moment, I suppose because some of the less swinging, more cloak and dagger parts of the Cold War (70's and 80's) coincide nicely with active retirement age. The protagonist here, Felicity Jardine, is less gregarious than her similar number in Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club novels, and the book opens with her wandering into a river with stones in her pocket to take her own life. In the process she discovers a baby in a child seat bobbing in the river, and the mystery involved gives her a new lease on her somewhat thin life.

The disappointingly generically titled A Sting In Her Tail (I'd have preferred By The Pricking Of Her Thumb), is a suspenseful, propulsive read. Jardine is a cold protagonist, but the reason is that way is properly set out in the novel, from Public School, through Oxford and generations of displaced spies. The book follows a dual narrative, of an operation in 1970's Bonn and the current mystery around the identity of the baby, which takes up a thorough biography of this woman and her family. She was a poor mother, though the new baby inspires something in her, and the new lease of life this adventure gives her softens her around other people, making her a little more approachable. This is still a book packed with spycraft, improbable escapes and one or two very lucky improvised kills.

The MI6 presented in A Sting In The Tale, or the question of those retired from the service, is dealt with lightly. Jardine is a fun protagonist, much more open with the reader than anyone else in her life. And whilst the last fifty pages bend credulity both in the action and the plot stakes, it has garned enough goodwill by then for you to go with the ridiculousness. I'd expect it to be optioned by one of our grand old dames who fancies one last whirl of an action movie - but it is more than enough fun as a novel

[CHRIS CARTER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Ezra opens with a striking hook: Felicity Jardine, a retired former spy at the end of her emotional rope, has her planned suicide abruptly interrupted by a baby floating down a river. From that moment, instinct overtakes despair, and Felicity’s long-dormant training snaps back into place. It’s a powerful, almost cinematic opening, but what follows is far more intimate than action-driven.

Felicity is a refreshing protagonist: older, world-weary, deeply capable, and haunted by her past. When an elderly neighbour who resembles her is found dead, it becomes clear that Felicity hasn’t faded into obscurity as thoroughly as she believed. The tension escalates as she’s forced to protect the baby, evade unseen enemies, and reconnect with two former MI6 colleagues, all while confronting the unresolved consequences of her Cold War-era work in 1970s Germany.

Ezra excels at weaving timelines. The novel deftly links Felicity’s past operations to present-day danger, revealing how old missions never truly end, they just wait. The espionage elements are smart and grounded, but the emotional core is what lingers: guilt, identity, aging, and the cost of a life spent in secrecy.

The pacing is deliberate but engaging, balancing investigative momentum with character-driven introspection. This isn’t a high-octane spy romp; it’s a thoughtful, tense unraveling of how history catches up with us, no matter how far we think we’ve run.

Fans of John le Carré’s quieter moral complexity, alongside readers who enjoy mature protagonists and reflective thrillers, will find A Sting in Her Tale particularly rewarding. It’s a novel about second chances, earned, not gifted, and about finding purpose when you least expect to still need one.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you No Exit Press and Random Things Tours for my #gifted advance e-copy. My thoughts are my own.

Former spy Felicity Jardine is done with living. But as she sets about methodically ending her life, a baby in need of rescue practically falls in her lap. She enlists the help of two formere colleagues as she attempts to keep the baby safe while getting to the bottom of whatever is going on, including who wants to do it harm. But when her past as a spy in Cold War Germany starts rearing its ugly head, she has to face some hard truths before she can complete her mission.

I was a bit turned off at the beginning with the obvious way that Felicity's skills were alluded to. As a character she seems to be a bit more subtle than the introduction she was given. But as the story unrolled (both during England in 2019 and Germany in the 1970s), I was drawn in. There are detailed descriptions of how she gets from place to place (not having been there I can't vouch for their veracity, but they seem real enough), and of the setting (types of local plants we're seeing). There are also insider descriptions as we go along of what is basic operational practice, though which it is obvious that Felicity is keeping lots of secrets, but that she's used to this and that she's good at it. I found the plot a bit slow in places but it was entertaining as it brought a possible past and a possible present to life through the eyes and actions of a fantastic British spy.

[Sebastian & · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "A Sting in Her Tale" – it's a witty, fast-paced spy thriller that had me hooked from the start with its clever blend of action and heart. Felicity Jardine, the tough, snarky retired MI6 agent in her seventies, is a standout; her dry humour and quick thinking make her so relatable and fun to follow as she shakes off retirement. The opening scene, where she's on the verge of drowning herself but spots a baby drifting down the river and instantly switches to rescue mode – it's tense and sets up the whole adventure perfectly. The flashbacks to her Cold War days in Bonn, Germany, add real depth, weaving in regrets from her past that tie into the current mystery and her protective instincts toward the baby. A great read that left me smiling.

[Alessandra Ranelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was recommended to me by a Waterstones bookseller who just said "Read this." He knows I love classic detective style but like a contemporary character, and I took the recommendation without asking questions. Love the depiction of Felicity, a well done strong but flawed female character and a real portrayal of (imperfect) motherhood. I took this book down to the river to start it, having no clue about the plot details where I sat on some stairs between reeds and stuck my feet in the water. I had no idea it would be such a perfect setting to read the opening scene!

[Pgchuis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read: retired spy Felicity rescues a baby she finds floating in a river in a car seat and protects her from the men who come looking for her, but who are clearly not her father. There are also sections describing one of Felicity's undercover missions in West Germany in 1976 and gradually the two strands come together. I liked Felicity and the story moves along at a good pace, but I'm not sure it reminded me particularly of either the works of Mick Herron or Richard Osman as the blurb claims.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a clever and original crime thriller. A well-executed double time line method, with well-rounded characters and a slick plot. The main character’s dry humour is refreshing and easy to read.
There is somewhat of a stretch of the imagination for the final convenient coincidence that pulls all the threads together for the denouement, but otherwise, it was very enjoyable.
I am expecting a sequel, as at least a couple of the characters clearly have further depths to explore. I look forward to it, when it arrives.

[Lisa reads alot Hamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually found this loads of fun, not your average spy novel.
Felicity is a retired agent and although it starts a little dark I found it a lighthearted read. Told with past and present events, it’s a suspenseful read told at a fast pace.
It would make a great series and I would definitely buy the next one should there be one.

@randomthingstours #markezra #astinginthetail @noexitpress #bookstagram

[Maureen Makromallis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is a hidden gem,a page turner! Some parts were pretty funny eg when Felicity is buying disposable nappies! Germany 1976 is well researched. I particularly liked the character,Jamie, and if there is a sequel which I certainly hope there will be, we will learn more about him. Perhaps he gets on in the world and is able to have a relationship with Beth!

[MumToTwo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t usually bother to write reviews but feel that this book deserves one!

It was surprising and quite good from the moment the baby floated by in the car seat. The main character was not a lovable old lady, she wasn’t even likable. But she was entertaining! I was not expecting the ending which doesn’t happen that often. Overall a five star read.

[Guy Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic black comedy novel, as well as a truly fun plot with various twists and turns.You will laugh out loud and a little guiltily at the dark humour of the protagonist.
A thoroughly enjoyable espionage comedy of manners.

[Sharon R A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felicity Jardine is interesting, smart, and a retired spy. I enjoyed getting to know how she came to be the way she is. I very much enjoyed the story and hope there will be a second book with Felicity - she’s feisty and humorous.

[Daisy🍓 · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, thank you to No Exit Press and Random Things Tours for the early copy. The blurb really caught my attention! I have to say, it was a fun read: there were many things I liked about this book including the resilient main character of Felicity Jardine and the telling of her eventful past as a spy in Germany.

‘A Sting in Her Tale’ opens with the present of elderly Felicity Jardine as she discovers a baby drifting down the river. Nearby, she notices a shady man looking around. Is he searching for the baby? Not long after, an elderly neighbour is murdered. Felicity is forced to face her past in Germany as a spy to ensure the safety of the baby.

The author does an amazing job at keeping the story engaging, even when switching back and forth with the dual timelines. Initially I wasn’t too sure if I loved the flashbacks, but they quickly grew on me. Some of the historical context was a little confusing for me too, but I understood it enough to enjoy the read.

I can’t say too much without spoiling it! In other words, go read it if you want to be swept away from reality into a good book!

[Liz Sidgwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truely excellent - controlled, knowing, and remarkably warm, funny, and highly entertaining.

[colin keogh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly written rubbish. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

[Eliza Welsford · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun Richard osman meets Tess geritssen style story with good spy skills!
Main character not totally lovable by all reveals itself in finale.