The Red Zeppelin

Hilary Manningham-Butler #2

by Jack Treby

"You'll never get me up in one of those things. They're absolutely lethal!"

Seville, 1931. Six months after the loss of the British airship the R101, a German Zeppelin is coming in to land in Southern Spain.

Hilary Manningham-Butler is an MI5 operative eking out a pitiful existence on the Rock of Gibraltar. The offer of a job in the Americas provides a potential life line but there are strings attached. First she must prove her mettle to her masters in London and that means stepping on board the Richthofen before the airship leaves Seville.

A cache of secret documents has been stolen from Scotland Yard and the files must be recovered if British security is not to be severely compromised. Hilary must put her life on the line to discover the identity of the thief. But as the airship makes its way across the Atlantic towards Brazil it becomes clear that nobody on board is quite what they seem. And there is no guarantee that any of them will reach Rio de Janeiro alive...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

286 pages, Paperback

First published November 23, 2015

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book from goodreads giveaway.

I realy enjoyed reading this detective novel. It's interesting and exciting. I loved the twists that I didn't expect at all.

Overall, "The Red Zeppelin" is an enjoyable book, definitely worth the read.

[Leslie Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this detective novel. I listened to the Audible version, and the narrator did a good job with pacing, excitement, and character differentiation. This is a second novel in a series, and though I didn't read the previous book, that did not hamper my enjoyment of this one. I actually plan to go back at some point and read the first one in the series. This book reminds me a bit of "The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire" series by Rod Duncan, of which I was a fan. Though "The Red Zeppelin" is not a steampunk story like the others, it has a similar premise. Overall, this book was fun, exciting, and definitely worth the read.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s 1931 and Hilary Manningham-Butler is now living in Gibraltar as Reginald Bland. Still an MI5 agent she is required to travel to America on board the Richthofen airship and attempt to recover some top secret papers stolen from Scotland Yard.
I listened to this on Audible following straight on from listening to the first novel. Maybe if I had not done so I would have enjoyed this more. I absolutely loved A Scandal at Bletchley and really enjoyed Hilary as a character. Sadly for me this had a different narrator and I just couldn’t get used to the new voice. Compared to the first novel this one also seemed very two dimensional in every respect from the setting to the characters and they all blended into each other for me. I feel this would have likely been a different experience had I had a gap in listening or even read a printed edition.

[Warren Benton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hillary Manningham-Butler is a Mi5 agent who is sent on the Zeppelin out of Seville to capture stolen incriminating documents that could tarnish the soon to be crowned King. Hillary is in a man’s job and poses as one. She and her servant Maurice are stuck on the Zeppelin with a killer. Maurice helps her greatly as she needs her clothes laundered and her lady bits wrapped up so she can look like a man.

This book has the feel of murder on the orient express or the movie silver streak They are stuck on the airship with the killer and it takes bravery, wit, and quite a bit of luck to capture the killer before they reach new york.

[Moehrchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved the characters of Lucy Tanner and Thomas McGilton. I particularly suspected the butler, but it was suprisingly someone else I did not have on my radar at all. Hilary seems sometimes so clueless about her job, calling herself not an analytical thinker etc. and rather blundering through investigations, it is wonderful, how the truth still comes out in the end. A good read and a good laugh.

[Robert Kidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good sequel

This is a solid follow up to the first manningham-Butler story. The character is becoming more developed and the mystery is fun. Looking forward to the next one.

[Lawanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook read by Angela Dawe

[Lilmissmolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Red Zeppelin by Jack Treby is an old fashioned detective novel set in 1931 with a sleuth who is a bit of a mystery herself. The story centers around MI5 operative Hilary Manningham-Butler who poses as a man so she can circulate in areas only where men are allowed (as well as be gainfully employed). Hilary is about to transition into a new position in the United States. But before she is allowed to go, she must first prove herself worthy by recovering secret documents that were stolen from Scotland Yard. All that is known is the documents are now on a German Zeppelin that is soon leaving Seville, Spain headed to Rio de Janeiro. Once Hilary arrives on board, the body count starts piling up, including a possible attempt on Hilary's own life.

The Red Zeppelin is cleverly written, with a few very good plot twists. I had no idea who was the thief and murderer until the big reveal. There are also several great secondary characters, Hilary's butler being one of them. Their relationship is similar to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, with the sidekick doing at least half of the "heavy lifting," but the "star" getting all the credit.

I listened to the Audible version of the story narrated by Angela Dawe who did a great job. She used a variety of accents and gave each character their own distinct voice. She was also able to switch between characters with ease, which helped with the natural flow and pace of the story. I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit, I really enjoyed listening to this short mystery. It took me several days due to other commitments. I didn't have much time to get on the computer this week, and when I was in bed I had three other books to read, two of them dead tree books, but overall it was very enjoyable. I like that it kept me guessing right up until the end. There were a few surprise twists that I was not expecting. That was good.

I enjoyed the narrator, but if I had one complaint it was that she did not do male voices that well. I would have thought that would have been a necessity since the main character was supposed to be a male. Oops! Did I give something away? Probably not since this is actually book two in a series. If you have read book one you would know that our protagonist masquerades as male, but is, in fact, a woman. Still there were other characters that were actually male, and she did not do them justice either. I don't think she can do an Irish accent either because early in the book there is a character that the author describes as Irish, yet Dawe doesn't even try to do an Irish accent for him. Her German accent is pretty good, though, at least inasmuch as it sounded like what I thought it should have sounded like.

I will give this one 4 stars for the story, 4 stars for the narrator and 4 stars overall.

I received this audiobook from the author in exchange for an honest review!