In this, the fourth installment of Noel Hynd’s hugely popular Flowers from Berlin series, William Thomas Cochrane returns to Berlin as part of a permanent intelligence posting, replacing an old friend. Cochrane has a special knowledge of Berlin and its people, having worked there undercover during the Hitler era, during World War II, and during the successful 1948-49 airlift. But before Cochrane can safely settle his family in Berlin, he finds himself investigating the suspicious death of the man he succeeded.

It is now the early 1950s. The former capital of Nazi Germany has emerged as the most volatile flashpoint of the Cold War. In Washington, Dwight Eisenhower is the newly elected President of the United States. In Moscow, Joseph Stalin is gravely ill but more aggressive than ever. He rules a Soviet Union that has gone from a backward nation to a world power in four decades. Emboldened now by atomic weapons, the Soviets are hell-bent on forcing the Western Powers – France, Great Britain, and the United States – out of the still-divided former capital. The pro-Moscow Communist government of East Germany controls East Berlin while the United States and its wartime allies control the other half of the city.

And that is only where Cochrane’s problems begin. Soon after his return, a simmering labor conflict explodes between East German workers and their government. The government demands increases in work quotas but without an increase in state-subsidized pay. Shortages of food and clothing accompany the rationing of electricity. A strike among construction workers grows into a mass protest involving fifty thousand East German citizens. Some Berliners in the angry protest demand the removal of the pro-Moscow East German government. East German police and Soviet troops move in and fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.

Within days of his arrival, Bill Cochrane faces a Berlin that is a more treacherous place than ever. Old friends come in and out of the rain and fog above the Rivers Spree and Havel. But so do old enemies. And so do some old friends who may actually be new enemies. Treachery and violence hang in the air, as do menace and betrayal. Berlin is a city where no one is safe, and nothing is sacred. People disappear. Traitors are everywhere. Murders are common.

And then there is the biggest enemy of all: Das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, the Ministry for State Security, the new East German secret police agency. Modeled on the Soviet KGB, the “Stasi” has quickly become the most feared and vicious secret police agency in the postwar world.

Quickly, Bill Cochrane realizes that the assignment confronting him will require a painstaking voyage through the murky, multi-faceted world of his own past and Soviet-American espionage. Within days of his arrival, Cochrane finds his life, his family, and his career under attack. But from where? From East Germany? From the KGB in Moscow? From an old adversary stepping out of the past? Or from a betrayal from within that is too venal and personal for him to even imagine, much less face?

Working as Ruslan Oryolov’s personal assistant is the job from hell.
After a long day spent tending to the billionaire’s every whim, I need some stress relief.
So when I get home that night, that’s exactly what I do.

Problem is, my thoughts are still stuck on the bosshole who’s ruining my life.
That’s fine—because of all Ruslan’s many sins, being gorgeous might be the most dangerous.
Tonight, fantasies of him are just what I need to push me over the edge.

But when I look down at my phone squished next to me,
There it is.
A voicemail for 7 minutes and 32 seconds…
Sent to Ruslan Oryolov.

I panic and throw my phone across the room.
But there is no undoing the damage done by my very vocal O.

So what can I do?
My plan was to just avoid him and act like it never happened.
Besides, no one that busy checks their voicemails, right?

But when he schedules a one-on-one meeting with me for exactly 7 minutes and 32 seconds,
One thing is for certain:
He.
Heard.
Everything.

Spend the holidays than with #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery in the town of Fool’s Gold, where wishes come true!

ONLY US: A FOOL’S GOLD HOLIDAY

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YOURS FOR CHRISTMAS

Famous former NFL stars don’t date single working moms like Bailey Voss. She’ll allow herself to daydream about Kenny Scott’s muscles and killer smile, but wanting more would lead to post-holiday regret. Then Kenny volunteers to run a toy drive with Bailey, and she learns that he’s not just hot…he’s also generous, funny, nice. And as festive spirit spreads, Kenny gets wrapped up in Bailey’s kisses — and decides to make this the first of many Christmases together…