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Operation Delphi #1
Expect Trouble
Opening herself to ridicule by revealing she’s clairvoyant is the last thing U.S. WAVE LIVVY DELACOURT wants, but when Uncle Sam needs her skill to track Nazi spies, she jumps in with both feet.
Join this emotional journey through paranormal realms of fast-paced suspense and supernatural battles as U.S. Navy psychics pit themselves against their Nazi counterparts.
Join this emotional journey through paranormal realms of fast-paced suspense and supernatural battles as U.S. Navy psychics pit themselves against their Nazi counterparts.
350 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2016
3 people are currently reading
1014 people want to read
About the author
JoAnn Smith Ainsworth
12 books61 followersJoAnn Smith Ainsworth experienced food ration books, Victory Gardens, and black-out sirens as a child in WWII. These memories create vivid descriptions of time and place which put you in the midst of a fast-paced journey through paranormal realms as U.S. psychics hunt down Nazi spies.
Ms. Ainsworth lives in California. She has B.A. and M.A.T. degrees in English and has completed her M.B.A. studies. She has published eight novels.
To learn more about this award-winning author, visit https://www.joannsmithainsworth.com.
Ms. Ainsworth lives in California. She has B.A. and M.A.T. degrees in English and has completed her M.B.A. studies. She has published eight novels.
To learn more about this award-winning author, visit https://www.joannsmithainsworth.com.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 4, 2016
Livvy is a Navy WAVE and her new assignment is different than she could have expected. To put together a team of psychics to combat Nazi psychic led spy attempts.
I really loved this book. Livvy is an interesting and capable character and the team they assemble is full of quirky and unique characters.
The story has twists and turns and I real feel for the era. I look forward to the next one!
I really loved this book. Livvy is an interesting and capable character and the team they assemble is full of quirky and unique characters.
The story has twists and turns and I real feel for the era. I look forward to the next one!
October 24, 2014
I liked this, although I thought the beginning was slow and the ending a bit abrupt. Really nice paranormal atmosphere, and I'm a sucker for the WWII setting.
Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.
Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.
Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.
Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.
February 11, 2015
At the start of American involvement in World War II, Navy lieutenant Livvy Delacourt is reassigned from her position in cryptology to Commander Barrington “Trey” Drew’s Intelligence unit. Livvy is both excited to be a part of a top secret joint Allied Intelligence Operation and aghast at this assignment, as she had quite the crush on Commander Drew when they were in high school together. Even worse, when Livvy’s father lost his wealth in the crash of 1929, her family was forced to live on her wealthy cousin Gwen’s estate, and Trey was Gwen’s boyfriend. Livvy hopes that Trey does not recognize her and that she can control the wrenching effects of the psychic visions she has suffered since childhood. In her experience, there is no place in the war effort for anything akin to crystal balls or mediums.
Barrington Drew III comes from established wealth and assured social position. When he is assigned to head Operation Delphi, a unit to find Nazi spies on American soil, he assumes he will be commanding intelligence operatives. However, he discovers that his actual position is scientific director of a group of psychics. His training as an engineer and his skeptical nature strictly rule out any belief in such “claptrap.” He is certain his father secured this assignment to keep him out of harm’s way. But he discovers that both Allied intelligence and the White House have rumors that the Nazis have their own psychics, and his job is to locate a group of American psychics and use their unique skills to thwart Nazi spies.
As Trey fights his own trepidation, Livvy loses her struggle to keep her abilities as a psychic under wraps, and he enlists her aid in assembling the psychic team. While Trey holds a jaundiced view of his group of psychics, “like cats, they were both fiercely independent and didn’t respond to herding,” the German spy ring takes his unit quite seriously. After his team uncovers sabotage at the naval shipyard, Trey can no longer dismiss their skills, but now the spy ring closes in and the “Fatherland wants them destroyed.”
Ainsworth sets the tale firmly in the 1940s with a wealth of details from the era, for example, a Dictaphone machine with vinyl dictation belt and Remington Rand typewriters. The author also accurately conveys the reality of psychic talents, which often lack specificity, defy any measurement using the scientific method, and literally have Trey pulling his hair out. The gang of psychics include: a medium, a man who sees ghosts, a crystal ball reader and Livvy herself. Ainsworth’s brisk pace and engaging characters make Expect Trouble a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Barrington Drew III comes from established wealth and assured social position. When he is assigned to head Operation Delphi, a unit to find Nazi spies on American soil, he assumes he will be commanding intelligence operatives. However, he discovers that his actual position is scientific director of a group of psychics. His training as an engineer and his skeptical nature strictly rule out any belief in such “claptrap.” He is certain his father secured this assignment to keep him out of harm’s way. But he discovers that both Allied intelligence and the White House have rumors that the Nazis have their own psychics, and his job is to locate a group of American psychics and use their unique skills to thwart Nazi spies.
As Trey fights his own trepidation, Livvy loses her struggle to keep her abilities as a psychic under wraps, and he enlists her aid in assembling the psychic team. While Trey holds a jaundiced view of his group of psychics, “like cats, they were both fiercely independent and didn’t respond to herding,” the German spy ring takes his unit quite seriously. After his team uncovers sabotage at the naval shipyard, Trey can no longer dismiss their skills, but now the spy ring closes in and the “Fatherland wants them destroyed.”
Ainsworth sets the tale firmly in the 1940s with a wealth of details from the era, for example, a Dictaphone machine with vinyl dictation belt and Remington Rand typewriters. The author also accurately conveys the reality of psychic talents, which often lack specificity, defy any measurement using the scientific method, and literally have Trey pulling his hair out. The gang of psychics include: a medium, a man who sees ghosts, a crystal ball reader and Livvy herself. Ainsworth’s brisk pace and engaging characters make Expect Trouble a thoroughly enjoyable read.
July 9, 2014
World War II Navy Wave Olivia Delacourt is chagrined when suddenly reassigned to be the driver for a Naval commander overseeing the formation of a top secret Joint U.S. and Allied Intelligence Project. It is not long before her new boss, and former heartthrob, make good use of her secretarial skills as well as her innate capacity as a clairvoyant. The plausibility that such an agency existed, when history clearly remembers the Nazis interest in the supernatural/occult, make this a fascinating premise.
The team that is assembled under the roof of a Philadelphia mansion are eccentric and diverse, but very much firm in their desire to help the allied cause. Can such a varied rag tag group of sixth sense aficionados learn how to combine their talents to uncover espionage?
An interesting tangent from Ms Ainsworth's past work, Expect Trouble is a friendly-paced cozy that has the feeling of the forties and takes place in an intimate atmosphere that might remind readers of a 'certain age' of their or their mother/grandmother's sense of decorum and warm hospitality. Supernaturally blessed team members sip coffee and eat comfort food while they try to figure out how to use their divergent talents to help Commander Trey Drew outwit the Nazis who seem bent on destroying the U.S. allied support efforts at home. A skeptic to the bone, Trey comes around when the information provided him is simply too hard to ignore.
The genuine care shown between characters is welcome relief from the often impersonal reality of today's lightening-paced world. As the mystery unfolds and most think they have it figured out, there's plenty of twists to keep the pages turning. Well crafted, warm and so enjoyable.
The team that is assembled under the roof of a Philadelphia mansion are eccentric and diverse, but very much firm in their desire to help the allied cause. Can such a varied rag tag group of sixth sense aficionados learn how to combine their talents to uncover espionage?
An interesting tangent from Ms Ainsworth's past work, Expect Trouble is a friendly-paced cozy that has the feeling of the forties and takes place in an intimate atmosphere that might remind readers of a 'certain age' of their or their mother/grandmother's sense of decorum and warm hospitality. Supernaturally blessed team members sip coffee and eat comfort food while they try to figure out how to use their divergent talents to help Commander Trey Drew outwit the Nazis who seem bent on destroying the U.S. allied support efforts at home. A skeptic to the bone, Trey comes around when the information provided him is simply too hard to ignore.
The genuine care shown between characters is welcome relief from the often impersonal reality of today's lightening-paced world. As the mystery unfolds and most think they have it figured out, there's plenty of twists to keep the pages turning. Well crafted, warm and so enjoyable.
May 30, 2016
In this first novel in the series, it's 1943 and U. S. WAVES Lieutenant Livvy Delacourt is assigned as a driver to a naval commander who is forming a highly selective, top-secret group of individuals who have unique psychic gifts. Their assignment is to use their powers to hunt and stop Nazi spies. Espionage, mystery, history, romance and murder. Read my review at http://bit.ly/1sn2Cue
July 20, 2017
Livvy Delacourt, the heroine of JoAnn Smith Ainsworth’s Expect Trouble, is a Sarah Lawrence graduate, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy’s WAVES auxiliary, and a psychic. The unusual blend of office smarts, willingness to serve her country, and paranormal gifts bring Livvy the valuable job of aide to her high school crush, Barrington Drew III, known to everyone as Trey. Trey, the scion of a wealthy and well-connected family, is an engineer turned Naval Commander, saddled with the unlikely task of assembling a group of psychics and training them to hunt down Nazi spies in America. He is unhappy with his orders and deeply skeptical about the existence and potential usefulness of psychic abilities.
Part historical novel, part paranormal thriller, JoAnn Ainsworth’s novel takes the reader down the twists and turns of a hunt for enemies on home soil. Young adults reading Expect Trouble will enjoy a glimpse of life before computers and a television in every home, where shorthand, file folders, and clunky manual typewriters were the arsenal of office workers even in highly-placed jobs like Livvy’s. The interpersonal dynamics of the novel will also be of interest, for the book is set in a time when relationships between men and women were strictly proscribed, and vastly different to today’s easy acquaintanceships between the sexes.
I think that Expect Trouble would have been more enjoyable if Ms. Ainsworth had not chosen to reveal early on the identity of the Nazi spy instead of allowing readers to guess at the spy’s identity. However, it was entertaining to be privy to the workings of the mind of the spy, and to hope that they are not able to do overmuch treasonous damage before their duplicitous nature is divulged. I also found the on-call abilities of the assembled psychics to be rather naïve and unbelievable, but I think younger readers will get a kick out of the interplay between the real and psychic worlds.
Expect Trouble is the first in a series of paranormal historical novels, and I am looking forward to reading book two, Expect Deception, in the near future. A reader cannot go wrong with an intelligent mixture of psychics, naval command, and Nazi spies.
Part historical novel, part paranormal thriller, JoAnn Ainsworth’s novel takes the reader down the twists and turns of a hunt for enemies on home soil. Young adults reading Expect Trouble will enjoy a glimpse of life before computers and a television in every home, where shorthand, file folders, and clunky manual typewriters were the arsenal of office workers even in highly-placed jobs like Livvy’s. The interpersonal dynamics of the novel will also be of interest, for the book is set in a time when relationships between men and women were strictly proscribed, and vastly different to today’s easy acquaintanceships between the sexes.
I think that Expect Trouble would have been more enjoyable if Ms. Ainsworth had not chosen to reveal early on the identity of the Nazi spy instead of allowing readers to guess at the spy’s identity. However, it was entertaining to be privy to the workings of the mind of the spy, and to hope that they are not able to do overmuch treasonous damage before their duplicitous nature is divulged. I also found the on-call abilities of the assembled psychics to be rather naïve and unbelievable, but I think younger readers will get a kick out of the interplay between the real and psychic worlds.
Expect Trouble is the first in a series of paranormal historical novels, and I am looking forward to reading book two, Expect Deception, in the near future. A reader cannot go wrong with an intelligent mixture of psychics, naval command, and Nazi spies.
July 27, 2017
Livvy Delacourt, the heroine of JoAnn Smith Ainsworth’s Expect Trouble, is a Sarah Lawrence graduate, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy’s WAVES auxiliary, and a psychic. The unusual blend of office smarts, willingness to serve her country, and paranormal gifts bring Livvy the valuable job of aide to her high school crush, Barrington Drew III, known to everyone as Trey. Trey, the scion of a wealthy and well-connected family, is an engineer turned Naval Commander, saddled with the unlikely task of assembling a group of psychics and training them to hunt down Nazi spies in America. He is unhappy with his orders and deeply skeptical about the existence and potential usefulness of psychic abilities.
Part historical novel, part paranormal thriller, JoAnn Ainsworth’s novel takes the reader down the twists and turns of a hunt for enemies on home soil. Young adults reading Expect Trouble will enjoy a glimpse of life before computers and a television in every home, where shorthand, file folders, and clunky manual typewriters were the arsenal of office workers even in highly-placed jobs like Livvy’s. The interpersonal dynamics of the novel will also be of interest, for the book is set in a time when relationships between men and women were strictly proscribed, and vastly different to today’s easy acquaintanceships between the sexes.
I think that Expect Trouble would have been more enjoyable if Ms. Ainsworth had not chosen to reveal early on the identity of the Nazi spy instead of allowing readers to guess at the spy’s identity. However, it was entertaining to be privy to the workings of the mind of the spy, and to hope that they are not able to do overmuch treasonous damage before their duplicitous nature is divulged. I also found the on-call abilities of the assembled psychics to be rather naïve and unbelievable, but I think younger readers will get a kick out of the interplay between the real and psychic worlds.
Expect Trouble is the first in a series of paranormal historical novels, and I am looking forward to reading book two, Expect Deception, in the near future. A reader cannot go wrong with an intelligent mixture of psychics, naval command, and Nazi spies.
Part historical novel, part paranormal thriller, JoAnn Ainsworth’s novel takes the reader down the twists and turns of a hunt for enemies on home soil. Young adults reading Expect Trouble will enjoy a glimpse of life before computers and a television in every home, where shorthand, file folders, and clunky manual typewriters were the arsenal of office workers even in highly-placed jobs like Livvy’s. The interpersonal dynamics of the novel will also be of interest, for the book is set in a time when relationships between men and women were strictly proscribed, and vastly different to today’s easy acquaintanceships between the sexes.
I think that Expect Trouble would have been more enjoyable if Ms. Ainsworth had not chosen to reveal early on the identity of the Nazi spy instead of allowing readers to guess at the spy’s identity. However, it was entertaining to be privy to the workings of the mind of the spy, and to hope that they are not able to do overmuch treasonous damage before their duplicitous nature is divulged. I also found the on-call abilities of the assembled psychics to be rather naïve and unbelievable, but I think younger readers will get a kick out of the interplay between the real and psychic worlds.
Expect Trouble is the first in a series of paranormal historical novels, and I am looking forward to reading book two, Expect Deception, in the near future. A reader cannot go wrong with an intelligent mixture of psychics, naval command, and Nazi spies.
June 5, 2017
There seemed to be a lot of buildup to a romance between the two main characters, but that didn't happen in the end. I'm curious too why Livvie couldn't pick up the strong evil of Gwen, when she was physically so close to her.
A good story with very likable characters, easy to read, well paced.
A good story with very likable characters, easy to read, well paced.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2026
A gripping blend of historical fiction and paranormal suspense. Expect Trouble combines the tension of WWII espionage with a unique psychic warfare angle, creating a fast-paced and emotionally grounded story. Livvy Delacourt is a compelling protagonist, and the balance between supernatural elements and historical detail makes this a standout start to the Operation Delphi series.
June 13, 2017
great pace, easy to read, hard to put down. A good solid story with characters that are easy to care about.
April 9, 2022
Excellent reading
Have read and thoroughly enjoyed this book. Story line excellent , characters very good . Highly recommended buy and enjoy
Have read and thoroughly enjoyed this book. Story line excellent , characters very good . Highly recommended buy and enjoy
March 14, 2016
It's 1943 and Lieutenant Olivia Delacourt is assigned her first really important mission. She is anxious to show the powers-that-be just how efficient she is. Olivia's first surprise comes when she finds out who her commanding officer will be. Barrington Drew III is someone Olivia's known since high school. As they set up their offices and welcome staff, she wonders what this mission will entail. The entire staff is in for a huge surprise.
I am elated about this book. Well written, plotted well AND history? It's a sure fire winner. The characters are well defined and three dimensional. Ms. Ainsworth tells this story in an easy manner and keeps you asking for more. I found myself rooting for Olivia and her team. Imagine if this were a true story. It would add another layer to World War II. I enjoyed the setting and getting acquainted with the characters. I am ready for more of Ms. Ainsworth's work! This book would make for an amazing mini-series.
I found no issues.
I gave this one 5 cheers out of 5 because I love history. ~Copy of book provided by author in exchange for a fair review~
I am elated about this book. Well written, plotted well AND history? It's a sure fire winner. The characters are well defined and three dimensional. Ms. Ainsworth tells this story in an easy manner and keeps you asking for more. I found myself rooting for Olivia and her team. Imagine if this were a true story. It would add another layer to World War II. I enjoyed the setting and getting acquainted with the characters. I am ready for more of Ms. Ainsworth's work! This book would make for an amazing mini-series.
I found no issues.
I gave this one 5 cheers out of 5 because I love history. ~Copy of book provided by author in exchange for a fair review~
June 21, 2014
Overall a nice, light read. I liked the characters. They were all very well drawn out. I also like the time period the book is set in.
My only complaint is that about halfway in we're told who the villain is and from there it's pretty predictable. (I'm not sure this counts as a spoiler but, just in case, I'm clicking the box.) For this reason I give the book 3 stars. Up to this point though, for me at least, it was a solid 4-star book.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
My only complaint is that about halfway in we're told who the villain is and from there it's pretty predictable. (I'm not sure this counts as a spoiler but, just in case, I'm clicking the box.) For this reason I give the book 3 stars. Up to this point though, for me at least, it was a solid 4-star book.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2017
Spy novels are always interesting reads, this story approaches the genre from a different perspective. We are introduced to some quirky characters, who hunt spies with quite unique methods.
This is an entertaining read, that's difficult to put down. The author has done her research, inserting little period touches throughout this tale.
This is an entertaining read, that's difficult to put down. The author has done her research, inserting little period touches throughout this tale.
July 11, 2014
I won this book through goodreads.
This book is enjoyable, and is a very easy read.
I'd recommend it.
This book is enjoyable, and is a very easy read.
I'd recommend it.
August 4, 2016
It was a good book
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews