Book review of Double Stakes by Alison Morton

Double Stakes by Alison Morton

Double Stakes by Alison Morton

A kidnapped daughter. A rigged election. A family under siege.

Former French special forces intelligence analyst Mélisende is desperate for recovery time after a gruelling mission. But when enforcers attack her family home in rural France, she uncovers a shocking truth – her sister-in-law’s gambling debt has put them all in danger.

Before Mel can untangle the crisis, she is ordered to Germany, where the daughter of Achim Nessler – the front-runner for chancellor – has been abducted. The kidnappers’ goal? To force Nessler to throw the upcoming election, paving the way for a hard-right victory that could upend not just Germany, but all of Europe.

Racing against time, Mel and fellow investigator Jeff McCracken dive into the murky world of extremist politics where old wounds and new betrayals collide. But as their hunt leads them deep into eastern Germany’s shadows, Mel discovers a chilling link between the case and her own family’s troubles.

Now, with both a nation’s future and her loved ones at stake, Mel must risk everything to stop a conspiracy that hits closer to home than she ever imagined.

Double Stakes is the third in the Mélisende Doubles thriller series

Double Stakes by Alison Morton

My review

I wouldn’t say I was a thriller junky, in fact I’m a wimp and usually prefer my reads to be warm, fuzzy and uplifting, however, this series of books has changed my mind. 

Maybe it is Alison Morton’s attention to detail or meticulous research, that combined with her own military background, means this series is so believable I felt like I was in the heat of the action with the characters. Maybe it’s because the characters are not just strong, focussed and well trained, able to outwit any enemy, but they also retain their personal, emotional sides. Maybe I am more of an adrenalin junky than I realised. 

Whatever it is, I was hooked. This book kept me on the edge of my chair and I’m sure it raised my heart-rate at times too. It’s fast-paced, full of action and political turmoil, both serious national issues and internal ones within various police forces and government agencies. This gave my brain lots to focus on and it was a difficult book to put down.

Double Stakes by Alison Morton

Having enjoyed the previous two books, I was eagerly awaiting this third book, and although they all grabbed my attention and imagination, Double Stakes was the best by far. I’m so glad I stepped out of my normal comfort zone and I'm sure you’ll enjoy these adventures too. I’m really hoping there will be more from Mélisende in the future.

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Alison Morton

Author Bio  

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. She lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her latest three contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, Double Pursuit and Double Stakes. 

Her eleven-book Roma Nova thriller series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.

Six years’ military service, a fascination with Ancient Rome and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction have inspired her writing. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.  

For the latest news, subscribe to her newsletter here and receive 'Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’ as a thank you gift.

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Mélisende Doubles thriller series by Alison Morton

If you haven’t yet read the first two books in the Mélisende Doubles thriller series, what are you waiting for – you can read my reviews here:

Double Identity

Double Pursuit 

Brexit Update 23rd June 2018

It is now two years since the UK voted to leave the EU, a decision that left me upset, angry and afraid. The Sterling/Euro exchange rate dropped immediately, taking with it part of our income and it still remains at a lower point than pre-referendum rates. The ability to continue living our lives in the way we had been doing was uncertain and I had many questions that no one had the answers to. So, how have things changed?

Not a lot really. I still have questions that there are no answers to, meaning I am still upset and worried about our future. The round and round talks of Brexit in the news does nothing but make me feel worse, especially when you read about how EU citizens who have been living in the UK for longer than we have been in France are being treated by the UK government. How is this likely to encourage the French to be nice to us?

We are being encouraged to apply for Carte de Sejour (residency permits), despite as current EU citizens, it is not obligatory, and the only ones we are entitled to are the ones for EU citizens, which are therefore likely to become invalid once we cease to be EU citizens (I hope you are still with me!). However, they will help to prove our residency status when the time comes to declare. The process is not too difficult; make an appointment at our local prefecture in Niort, provide the necessary documents (a list of around ten different things going back at least five years) and turn up for the meeting. However, the phone line is only open for two hours, four afternoons a week and I’m at work for two of them. I have tried, numerous times, and so far nothing but the ‘line is busy, please call back later’ message. I know that appointments are currently being made for about six months' time, we have no idea where Adrian will be for work in six weeks' time, let alone six months. This means, if I am able to get an appointment, when the time comes, we may have to rearrange, or forgo a weeks' work and income in order to fulfil the obligation. Just more unnecessary worry and stress.

I have looked into getting Irish citizenship for myself, as both my maternal grandparents were born in Ireland, although this wouldn’t be of any help to Adrian and Ed or give any more certainty to Adrian’s work situation. However, compiling my file (birth, marriage and death certificates for my grandparents, birth and marriage for my Mum and me) is no less complicated than applying for my French Carte de Sejour. My grandparents were born in the early 1900’s, in rural villages in Ireland, where documentation wasn’t recorded in quite the way it is today and neither of them ever had copies of their birth certificates. I have found their extracts, but before buying the required copies (20€ per certificate) I noticed an anomality. We have a copy of their UK marriage certificate showing Nan’s date of birth as 6^thSeptember 1916, the same year Grandad was born, when actually her birth is recorded in 1910. Grandad was never issued with a death certificate as he was only ever listed as missing in action during the Second World War. With the application fees to register my birth at 278€, I am reluctant to proceed with so many holes in my documentation. It seems no solution to our EU citizenship is a simple one.

I have also considered French nationality, something many of my friends have achieved in the last two years. However, again things have put me off, including the costs involved, the length of the process and the fact that my income may not be deemed adequate (after all no one wants a migrant who might be considered a burden on the state). Brexit is turning into the nightmare I feared in terms of paperwork, costs and stress.

Another thing to worry about is that Ed will soon embark on a three-year degree course in a French university, however at the moment nothing is certain about his status to study once he is no longer an EU citizen. French nationality is an option for him, but again the cost involved will be another burden for us.

Today in London thousands of people will be marching so that voices like ours can be heard. We can’t be there, but have friends, who are also in a similar position to us, who will be there and I’m grateful to them. By writing this post, I feel I’m doing something. 

So, what next? I don’t know, except for more worry, more uncertainty, more paperwork and more costs. 

British Embassy Brexit meeting in Civray

Matthew Lodge, British Embassy Brexit meeting in Civray, December 2017 photo: Martin O'Neill

Yesterday evening I attended a local Brexit information meeting set up by the British Embassy, facilitated by Kathryn Dobson who produces the Living Magazine and felt strongly that events like this don’t just take place in big cities like Paris, Lyon and Nice. Matthew Lodge, the Embassy number two, along with a small team from consular services came to Civray, a rural town in the Vienne region, close to the Deux-Sèvres and Charente borders, an area in France where there are a lot of British residents. It was informative and I’m glad I was there, even if all our questions don’t have answers just yet.

Firstly I was impressed by the turn out, the theatre was almost full, and our presence reinforced our interest in knowledge about the changes ahead and helped put across our worries and fears for our future.  Matthew Lodge was engaging, pleasant and tried to be reassuring without fobbing us off, but he was also clear that following the referendum there is now an all-party determination to respect the result and to make the best of it. Brexit is happening and it will bring about change to everyone, especially those of us living in the EU.

There were some angry and upset people, but the questions that were put to Matthew were generally well thought out and answered clearly and to the best of his knowledge. One of the questions was from a local French Maire, who spoke excellent English, and had taken the time to come along in order to be better informed to help her British residents. She was seeking ways to reassure them that they still had a future to look forward to in France, a similar reassurance that I was looking for too.

This is not a detailed synopsis from the meeting, but the points I found worth noting.

The term ‘settled status’ was used quite a lot during the meeting and my understanding of this is that it applies to those of us who by the date of the UK’s exit from the EU are considered settled and resident in France ie our primary residence is here, we are in the ‘system’, we hold a Carte Vitale health card and French driving licence, we are either working here or at least submitting tax returns here (note - the current double taxation treaty between the UK and France should not be subject to change).

  

There is currently no requirement for UK citizens to apply for a Carte de Séjour (French residency permit), but we can do so if we wish. Matthew felt it could do those of us who are eligible no harm to apply as it will give us proof of 'settled status' and demonstrate how long we’ve been here should we need it in the future. He also advised the Embassy would be willing to intervene if our local Prefectures were reluctant to process our applications. He saw no need for us to apply for French citizenship, but understood that many might feel this was the way forward for them, especially our children who have grown up in France, as this will ensure their freedom of movement throughout the EU in the future. We are lucky that neither the French nor British governments have an issue with citizens holding dual nationality.

The rights that those with ‘settled status’ are entitled to, in terms of healthcare, pensions, and right to reside are likely to remain the same following the UK’s exit from the EU. This includes the right to continue to hold an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) medical assistance card for travel within the EU. However, for those of us with family members regularly visiting from the UK, there is no current provision for them to retain their EHIC status. I am also unclear as to what our right to receive emergency medical assistance in the UK will be.

UK residents moving to France after 29/3/19 will not have these same rights that we will have. If you are reading this and fancy giving the EU life a go, do it now to ensure you are settled before March 2019.

Matthew didn’t quite go so far as to tell us to learn French, but did point out that those applying for citizenship in the UK are expected to speak English. We are likely to find ourselves doing a lot more form filing in the future, so having more than a basic level of French is certainly going to help.

I still have questions concerning our rights to remain elected officials on local councils here in France, something the French were keen for us to do at the last elections in 2012, and I feel strongly that to lose our voice locally would be a shame. The next phase of talks will deal with trade issues, so answers to my many questions about running a business that crosses EU borders also can’t be given just yet. 

The Embassy are keen for those of us in France to follow them on social media (Twitter: UKinFrance and BritishinFrance and Facebook) to ensure we are kept as up to date as possible and are happy to receive questions concerning Brexit by email. Please email france.enquiries@fco.gov.uk putting ‘Brexit query’ in the subject line. You can also contact them via their website here and sign up for Voisins Voices here, a newsletter for the British community living in France.

The joint technical note on the comparison of EU-UK positions on citizens’ rights, something Matthew referred to last night, can be read in full here.

Information on requesting French carte de séjour can be found here and for applying for naturalisation see here. It was suggested the Embassy put together a guide to help us in applying for French naturalisation and carte de séjour, which they seemed keen to do.

If you were not at the meeting, I hope you find this helpful. You can also watch a short local news clip about the meeting in Civray, including interviews with local residents and Matthew Lodge, here.

You might also like to follow British in Europe to keep up to date on their work to ensure our continued rights following Brexit. You can find their website here and follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

Au revoir 2016, a challenging year

As the last few hours of 2016 draw to a close I can’t help but look back on what has been a year of challenges and wonder what 2017 has in store for us.

 

Morning coffee in La Sarthe

Back in April I was excited (and apprehensive) about challenging myself with a weeks cycling in La Sarthe. 480km in six days was more than I had ever done but I loved it! There is something quite special about waking up in one location, setting off for a day on the bikes and ending up in a different hotel that night, having carried everything you need with you (or having Adrian carry it, if I am to be accurate). We are already planning more long distance cycling challenges in France for 2017 and I can’t wait to take you along with us.

 

Under the EU flag in Tournon-sur-Rhone

In June the UK EU referendum result was quite difficult to come to terms with for us. We are a UK family living and working in France thanks to EU rules and regulations. From TVA/VAT rules that help Adrian run his business, to exchange rate fluctuations that affect our income, to French rules allowing EU citizens to be elected onto local councils that affect my life in the village; as Brexit evolves I foresee quite a few challenges to our way of life in 2017 and beyond. I just hope we can continue to live the life we have chosen.

 

Cycling my 100km-in-a-day

This summer saw us celebrate our 12^th anniversary of living here and the weather was perfect. With sunshine and high temperatures day after day it would have been an ideal summer for cycling, cycling and more cycling, if the challenge of a small operation hadn’t kept me off the bike for a month or so. Thankfully I made up for it by completing my 100km in a day challenge in September, just hours before the weather broke and the driest summer we have known came to a stormy end. As I sit here today on a cold and foggy December afternoon, I can’t wait for another hot, dry summer, and as the days are getting longer, it can’t be far off now.

 

Saying goodbye to David

In November, we hit our most challenging time. We received The Call. When you live far away from family you know that one day the phone will ring, the news will be bad and you will have to make a difficult journey. Adrian’s Dad David suffered a massive stroke on Friday 18th November and although Adrian made it to his bedside, he died on 21^st November. He was fit, active and healthy and this has left us all in a state of shock and wondering 'why him?' and 'why now?'. We have been back to the UK three times since he died and him not being there feels very strange and wrong. It has, however, made us appreciate each other and realise that there is no such thing as too many hugs for your loved ones and you can’t say ‘I love you’ too many times.

In Blaye, modelling my homemade skirt

On a more positive note, this year I challenged myself to learn to sew and use a sewing machine. With a few friends in the village we have created a weekly sewing and knitting group that is full of fun, laughter, coffee and cake, as well as great ideas. With their help and encouragement I’ve made bags, bunting and a skirt, as well as having a great time every Friday morning. There is nothing like community spirit to make you feel at home and put a smile on your face.

I’m looking forward to saying goodbye to 2016 and as always, I want to be more organised with my time next year. Read more books, write more book reviews (and be more prompt about doing so), write more regular blog posts and see more of France (on my bike, if possible). I hope 2017 proves to be a year of health and happiness for us all. Thank you for reading, commenting and coming back.

Happy New Year!

This post has been linked to Dreaming of France. See here for more posts.

Unite Not Fight

The French, German and Belgium flags in Melle Deux Sevres

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of many of the bloodiest battles of the First World War including the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun in France. It is also a year that has seen many political changes being made across the globe. Britain has voted to sever it’s ties with the European Union, believing it will be a better place standing alone and sadly newspaper headlines that have celebrated policies to reform immigration rules and give British jobs to British workers have led to anything and anyone foreign being deemed to be suspicious and not to be trusted. As an EU immigrant from the UK living in France and the granddaughter of Irish immigrants who moved to England in the 1930’s this makes me uncomfortable and worried for our future. I’m not an American so don’t really feel I have much to say much about US politics, but again when I read newspaper headlines that talk of building a wall on the Mexican boarder, refusing entry to all Muslims and inciting hatred of minorities, I feel sad and disappointed in the way the world is heading.

The students from Melle, Melle and Melle in our local paper

Thankfully, I have also seem a glimmer of hope this week for a future where ‘unite not fight’ could be a real possibility. Despite the atrocities and loss of lives of 100 years ago, our local market town of Melle, where Ed goes to lycee, is twinned with Melle in Belgium and Melle in Germany and it was heartening to see the Belgium and German flags flying alongside the French tricolore outside the town hall. This year marks the third year where students from all three towns have got together, united in remembrance of those who died in the First World War. In 2014 they attended a ceremony in Belgium and last year they were in Germany. This year our European neighbours are here in France and participated together in a ceremony this morning.

Poppy wreath and French floral tribute

Sadly we couldn’t attend as our village held it’s own ceremony, where two French-born British children laid a Royal British Legion poppy wreath alongside the commune’s floral tribute entwined with the ribbon of the French flag. I see this as another sign of unity between European neighbours and the positive integration of migrants into the community. It was also lovely to see so many villagers of all ages attending the ceremony today, although I’m sure the sunshine provided a bit of extra encouragement. 

Ed visited Melle in Germany, on a language exchange programme last month. In fact it was there that he spent his 16^th birthday, with a family he had only met five days before, but who made a real effort to make his day special. I am looking forward to welcoming their son Maik into our home next year and although I will probably never meet his parents, I am very thankful to them for making Ed feel welcome in their home.

Laying the Poppy wreath in France

I feel we need to do all we can to encourage the younger generation to reach out to each other and build positive bridges with other nationalities and cultures. We are living in a world that needs to remember the conflicts of the past and learn to #UniteNotFight for the future.

This post has been linked to #AllAboutFrance.

My obituary, the end of an era

This short message that will appear in the next edition of our village magazine, something I have helped to produce for over ten years, is probably the closest I will ever get to reading my own obituary:

“We would simply like to say publicly to Jacqui Brown, whose deep involvement in the village council, and more generally in our community, is known by us all, our regret that she will not be able to stand for election in 2020 (if she wished).”

This makes me sad. The French have been very proactive in encouraging communities with English immigrants to have a voice by electing someone to stand on their local council. They want us to do our bit, get involved, have our say, help out in our French community, but also to have a representative on hand to help out our fellow immigrants. I have been called down to the Mairie many times since the 2014 elections to help someone newer to the village who has a problem and may not have the language skills to understand what to do now.

The EU referendum vote in the UK will not mean that my village will chuck me out or stop me from volunteering or helping in the local community, but it will take away my voice. Immigrants are often criticised for arriving and not integrating in their new communities. My right to integrate as I am doing now, as a village councillor, is in jeopardy and once the UK has exited the EU, will be lost.

Democracy exists to enable change to happen and that must be viewed as a good thing. At present no one can be certain what these changes will mean for the future of the UK or Europe and I only hope that positive things emerge. The only certain is that things will not remain the same and my daily rights to live my life as I am doing now will be effected.

There will be challenging and worrying times ahead, but whatever happens and wherever I end up living, I know that this quirky little village in the middle of rural France has felt more like home to me than anywhere else I have ever lived.

We Will Remember Them

Remembrance Day

In the UK a poppy is worn in the run up to 11th November as a sign of remembrance for those who have lost their lives fighting for their country. The hostilities of World War I officially ended at the 11th hour of the the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. Paper poppies are made and distributed for donations by The Royal British Legion with the funds going to support families of the Armed Forces, whether veterans or those on active service. Services of remembrance are held on the nearest Sunday and a minutes silence will be observed by some on 11th at 11.00am. The poppy is a prominent symbol of remembrance throughout the Commonwealth and was chosen due to the large numbers of the flowers that appeared in the battlefields and graveyards of Northern France after the First World War. Poppy seeds will lie dormant in the soil for many years, germinating once the soil is disturbed. They are mentioned in the poem In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and were first suggested in 1918, adopted by the American Legion in 1920 and the British Legion's first Poppy Appeal was in 1921.

In France there is no poppy appeal, but the 11th November is a public holiday. Every town and village has a memorial to it's 'children' who lost their lives 'mort pour la France'. Flags and flowers will be displayed and ceremonies of remembrance will be held in the morning of 11th by the local Maires. A vin d'honneur will be served in our village and probably in many others as well. 

Our French neighbours are pleased that we join them for their remembrance ceremony and have grown used to seeing us wearing our poppies with pride. Our two countries may well have different traditions and ways of remembering this shared date, but the important thing is that we all, young and old, remember. How do you remember this important date?

Remembering Victory in Europe Day

Our Maire at the village monument

Today, the 8^th May is Victory in Europe Day, and a public holiday in France to commemorate the end of the Second World War for Europe. Every year, as for the 11^th November, we have a small ceremony in our village. Our Maire reads out a passage from the defence minister, the few veterans who are still with us proudly wear their medals and stand with the village flag and a small number of villagers gather to remember. This is followed by a vin d’honneur (wine of honour) in the Salle des Fetes accompanied by some boulangerie made savoury nibbles and lots of chat before everyone heads off for lunch.

My Grandfather Albert

My Grandfather (who genetically passed on his love of veggie growing) was in northern France during the Second World War and although we can’t be certain, Dad believes he was here for the liberation. He was certainly involved in the repatriation process afterwards and we have a very fragile flag that was given to him by a grateful French villager as they passed through – or so the family story goes. 

The girls with the flowers

We always ensure Ed joins us at this small service, despite the number of children present never being many and some years he is the only one. Happily today the younger generation were slightly better represented than normal and two young girls were delighted at being asked to carry the flowers to the monument, something they undertook with great seriousness. The younger generation remembering is something we feel is very important.

The Bois-Cambert monument

The weather is often a little unsettled on this date, but today although umbrellas were present and we have had rain, the sun shone at the right moment. For our village the 8^th May ceremony alternates between the village monument and a site just outside of the village in the woods of Bois-Cambert. Here, a monument stands in a small clearing to mark the death of three young men who were executed by the occupying German troops on 24^th July 1944. Members of the local Resistance, they were captured in the vicinity that morning and held in a convoy of lorries that was patrolling the area. A local lad spotted the convoy as it passed through our village that evening and as a refugee from the forced German labour camps he was lucky not to have been seen. The convoy stopped at the corner of the Bois-Cambert woods where the three men, one from our local town, were executed. Their bodies were found the next morning by a 19 year old from a nearby hamlet. Unfortunately, monuments like this one are a common sight in this area. This information has come from ‘Histoire de nos Villages’ by Marcel Daniaud.

The rest of this week is officially holiday, for the schools at least, despite only returning from a two-week break at the beginning of last week. Tomorrow is Ascension Day, another bank holiday and Friday we are ‘making a bridge’ and taking another day off to join the bank holiday to the weekend - a very French idea that I just love. 

On the Migratory Route

Spring is my favourtie time of year (often making me feel bubbly and silly inside) and although I can’t decide what my favourite spring thing is, one of them has to be the moving and arrival of the migrating birds.

Migrating birds at sunset

One of the most spectacular sights to see as they often move in great numbers is the migration of Storks, Cranes and Geese that fly overhead in early spring. Having spent their winter in Spain they are making their way back to Scandinavia and the Baltic for the summer. As they are calling/'clapping' to each other all the way I often hear them before seeing them. I have also been known to dart off the main road and head down a track to get a better glimpse, such is my excitement at witnessing this spectacle. I will admit I am not an expert on their habits, so not sure why, but some seem to enjoy the Charente-Maritime summer so much they nest in the marshland around Brouage. Whatever the reason, I certainly enjoyed watching them when I cycled around the marshes last year.

Summer residents, Brouage marshes

As winter is beginning to turn I often see the Northern Lapwings, part of the plover family, while out walking the dog. They enjoy moist habitats, so the open fields surrounding the village that are prone to flooding provide a perfect winter location. Prior to heading back to Scandinavia and Russia they congregate in large groups and can be very noisy, but are quite a sight en masse.

Lapwings

Possibly the most exotic looking visitor is the Hoopoe who is found year round in Africa but some migrate north to breed in the summer. They like dry habitats especially orchards, vineyards and olive groves and are also quite happy in gardens. Feasting on insects, but also small mammals and reptiles, their long probing beaks are ideal for ground foraging. Nesting is often low to the ground and in holes in walls, so the old stone walls of the barns around here, combined with the orchards and vineyards make it a popular breeding area for them. I will admit they are a beautiful sight to see, but as they are very shy it is more common to hear them rather than see them and I’m quite happy with that. To sit in a quiet spot in the garden and listen to the rhythmic call of the hoopoe is almost hypnotic.

Hoopoe in the garden

Feeding time

My favourite summer visitors are the Swallows, with the first one usually arriving from Africa in mid March. Their arrival is so important I note the first sighting in the calendar every year. They spend their summers here, nest building in the barn, breeding and teaching the youngsters to swoop and fly – often dive bombing the cat and dog as they walk across the courtyard. Feasting on the flies they are perfect for keeping the fly population down, another reason I am glad to have them. Their happy chattering sound is lovely to hear so it is sad when they all congregate on the telephone and power lines in September getting ready to depart for a warmer winter (not that I can blame them). However, I am pleased to announce that I have seen and heard all of these visitors this spring, so all is well with my world. Living in the middle of nowhere may not be for everyone, but when I get to see and hear sights like these I am very happy.

Swallows preparing to head south in September