This was an amazing story that shifts seamlessly from the present to the past and back again. Kate Murray is a Canadian journalist in London to cover a trial when she is approached by an elderly gentleman who wants to tell her a story about a murder that was never solved. Preoccupied with her laptop, she doesn't pay much attention to the stranger. She does agree to meet him the next day to hear his story. Then he takes his leave, remarking that she has her grandmother's eyes. Moments later, Kate watches as the man dies in a hit and run accident that happens right in front of her.

Feeling guilty, Kate decides to attend Andrew Deacon's funeral where she meets his nephew who seems to believe that Andrew and Kate had met and Andrew had told her his story. He mentions a report that Andrew wrote and sent to Whitehall and to Lisbon. He thinks that Kate had read it and was going to write a book or an article to make things right.

When the nephew is killed in what looks like a home invasion and Andrew's house is ransacked, Kate becomes intrigued about the mystery that he wanted to share with her. But she's on her way back to Toronto and doesn't know what to do next. When she tells her grandmother about Andrew Deacon's death, she finally learns secrets she had never known about her grandmother's past during World War II when she worked for British Intelligence in New York and Washington. Then, while they are talking, shots are fired into her grandmother's kitchen killing her and sending Kate on the run.

This action-packed story switches seamlessly from the present to World War II as we learn what happened in New York and Lisbon those many years ago and whose murder needs to be solved. And who still, sixty years later, wants to keep all the secrets well-buried and is willing to leave a trail of bodies behind.

I loved this story. I loved that it was often told from Kate's viewpoint in the first person which I found very engaging. I mostly listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it though I did think the narrator got a little too excited at a few very dramatic parts of the story. The story really engaged my emotions and I found myself near tears many times as I was reading it. ( )

I downloaded this ebook without realizing that it was one of Kearsley's books under a pseudonym, and thus a somewhat different style than the previous book of hers I read (Shadowy Horses). I found it a fast and easy read, with the mystery flipping back and forth between a historical and contemporary setting. ( )

Kate is a journalist working in the UK when she’s approached by an old man who has a story he wants to tell her. An old murder, but one still deserving of justice, he says -- before he’s hit by a car. His death spurns Kate on to investigate, and she soon realises that by asking questions she is putting not only herself in danger.

I stayed up far too late reading this. There were a lot of things I loved: the sense of danger, the descriptions of scenery and places, the history -- the story about what happened during WWII, the mystery, the romantic moments. But I think the story could have worked just as well if fewer people had been murdered in the present.

It needn’t have diminished the tension in any way, and would have been more satisfying. I keep brainstorming what should have happened instead! And there are complications which heighten the tension but also make it difficult to, satisfyingly, serve justice.

All the murders reminded me of why I tread warily around contemporary mysteries. (Not my cup of tea.) That said, I’d read any number of books with extra murder if they were written by Kearsley. I really like how she writes.

I couldn’t see the lighthouse, but I saw the long, straight line of Lisbon’s harbour wall stretched like an arrow pointing out to the Atlantic, to the whitecaps faintly visible beyond the mirror stillness of the bay. Even the clouds didn’t dare venture past that stillness. They kept farther out, like great plumes of spray tossed in the air by the ocean, enraged that it couldn’t come near. ( )

enjoyed this well but it wasn't meaty emough. too many coincidental meetings leading to Mish mash predictable happenings that felt too forced. and for all the death in the book, there wasn't enough chase em down or suspense. they nearly all are shared after the fact and without alot of suspense. ( )

Every Secret Thing is a combination of a historical fiction and a modern day mystery novel. However, the pacing was to slow for a true mystery or thriller. I also thought the author spent too much telling and not enough showing. One character had a very long monologue with information that I thought could be handled better by putting the events in the action.

I had trouble keeping the characters straight but that happens to me sometimes when I listen to a mystery or thriller on audio. The print version may have helped me because I could have flipped back and forth.

I liked the love story between Deacon and Kate’s grandmother more than the murder plot line. I would have liked a romance novel just about the two of them. Deacon is a great character. I thought it was neat that the book The Language of Flowers played a part in it, since I have read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

The narrator for Every Secret Thing, Katherine Kellgren, did a good job of having a different voice for every character. Even though she was a female, she was able to do realistic male voices. I liked the choice of using a different voice for Kate’s internal narrative and her dialogue. The narrator also brought excitement to the book in the dramatic way she read the exciting or surprising parts of the book.

This book has tons of five star reviews on Amazon so I am clearly in the minority of not loving it. If you like historical fiction about the intrigue associated with WWII, then you may very well enjoy this book. ( )