An Unquiet Peace

Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Code Name Verity in this cinematic, quick-witted mystery set in late-1940s Los Angeles, as former WWII spy Evelyn Bishop and LA noir detective Nick Gallagher team up as an unconventional duo…

A propulsive tour through post-WWII Los Angeles for readers of Allison Montclair, Jacqueline Winspear, Ashley Weaver, and Susan Elia MacNeal.

As an undercover operative for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, Evelyn Bishop routinely embarked on deadly missions. By contrast, civilian life should be simple. Yet Evelyn, now back in Los Angeles, struggles with the responsibility of being the new president of Bishop Aeronautics, when people see her as nothing more than a beautiful socialite.

With Nick Gallagher, at least, Evelyn can be entirely herself. Once a fellow spy, now her fiancé, Nick works as a private investigator. But the mission that first brought them together isn’t over. Evelyn receives a call from her former commanding officer, who is overseeing the Berlin Airlift. He’s concerned that the Soviets are trying to recruit Kurt Vogel, a scientist Evelyn and Nick smuggled out of Nazi Germany. After six long years, there’s word his wife and daughter may have survived the war. Is this a chance for a long-promised reunion—or a Russian ploy to lure Vogel to their side?

Past and present collide again when a routine case offers Nick a reunion with a childhood friend who runs a high-class “gentleman’s club.” The clientele includes everyone from Hollywood royalty to mobsters—to a hidden enemy who will draw both Evelyn and Nick into a web as twisted and treacherous as any they have ever faced . . . | Shaina Steinberg is the author of the Bishop & Gallagher Mysteries, as well as a film and television writer who’s worked on Malcolm in the Middle, Everwood, Cold Case, Bionic Woman, Spartacus, and Bride Hard. Named to the Young and Hungry List in 2013 and the WriteHer List in 2017, she has developed pitches, pilots and features with companies such as Temple Hill, Endgame Entertainment, Fremantle, eOne, Blondie Girl, Josephson Entertainment and Alcon. Most recently, she optioned a feature film to Balcony 9 with shooting scheduled to begin in 2023. She lives with her family in Los Angeles, CA and can be found online at ShainaSteinberg.com.