I know many Charlotte writers, but the one I know the most about is Nancy Northcott, which is fitting since we happened to be married. When we first got together thirty-eight years ago, I learned that Nancy has a love of all things British. She knows a great deal about British history, and many of her books are set in Britain, including her most recent release, an anthology titled Spies for the Holidays. I asked Nancy for more information about the anthology. Here is what she sent to me:
Spies for the Holidays is a compilation of three romantic suspense novellas centered on different holidays. Writing these stories allowed me to combine my love of action-adventure with my enjoyment of holiday celebrations. On top of that, they tap into my Anglophilia because they’re all set in an imaginary medieval castle in Shropshire that’s now a boutique hotel.
The three stories include six spies who all work or did work for my imaginary international intelligence agency, Arachnid.
The first, Mr. Never Again, is a second-chance-at-love story featuring two spies who had a serious relationship that broke apart five years ago with a lot of acrimony. Arachnid agent Dana Gresham is assigned to guard a weapons designer who is suspected of dealing with terrorists. The job’s upside is the location, a centuries-old castle that’s now a hotel. The downside is working with her old love, agent Blaine Harris. When they meet again, the shadow of their bitter quarrel hangs over them, but each realizes the old spark is still there. Can they mold that attraction into a future together?
It’s set during Halloween, which is not as big a holiday in the United Kingdom as it is in the US, and Bonfire Night, which I sincerely wish we had here. People stand around bonfires and eat Parkin Cakes and drink. What could go wrong?
The next story, The Last Favor, is a friends-to-lovers Christmas tale. It was inspired by my having lost my father three weeks before Christmas.
The hero, Grayson Kane, has recently lost his father, an historian who was due to receive an award from the foundation that runs the castle. Grayson comes to the castle to pick up that award, the last favor his father asked of him. Dealing with his loss amid the families celebrating the holiday makes him question his solitary life as an Arachnid covert agent. His partner, Laurel Whitney, joins him to protect Gray from an assassin. As the long-suppressed attraction between them flares anew and a killer closes in, Laurel must decide whether she has the courage to seize what she has always wanted.
Laurel has a brother, Hastings Whitney, who came away from their shared childhood misery with baggage that’s different from hers but just as heavy. Where Laurel fled their dysfunctional parents, Hastings stayed and tried, mostly in vain, to earn their approval.
I wrote the final story, Taking the Leap, because I wanted to give him a happy ending too. And what better holiday for that than Valentine’s Day?
Hastings grew up driven not only to succeed but to be seen to succeed. His focus on success cost him a marriage, an engagement, and any number of relationships. Now he has a second chance with the woman he never forgot, jewelry designer Corinne Lanier. Corinne hesitates, though, when a crisis at his business brings his old workaholic habits back to the fore. On top of that, his sister and her fiancé, both former Arachnid agents, are worried enough about the reasons for this crisis to go back into action to protect him. Their worries are soon proved valid. Can Hayes and Corinne survive? If they do, can they find their way back to each other?
Holidays can be great times for family gatherings, but those gatherings are sometimes fraught with old ghosts or old scars or unhealed wounds. I loved writing these stories to give the characters happily ever after with a strong dose of holiday joy.
Thanks, Mark, for featuring this book.
For readers who are interested in purchasing the anthology, Spies for the Holidays is available in ebook at all vendors, as a collection and as separate stories. Print editions are available via Amazon. Here is the Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Spies-Holidays-Arachnid-Files-Anthology/dp/1944570365
For readers who would like to know more about Nancy’s books, here is the link to her website: https://www.nancynorthcott.com
I congratulate Nancy on providing Storied Charlotte readers with an opportunity to spend the holidays in England without having to deal with the chaos of international travel.