The Undercover Bookshop by Katherine Reay: Audiobook Review of a Cotswolds Spy Mystery

🎧 Listened in audio | 📢 Narrated by Fiona Hardingham
⏱ Duration: 10 hours | Genre: Historical Fiction
🏷️ Publisher name: Harper Muse Audiobooks
ARC by NetGalley

Book blurb

Recently moved to the Cotswold village of Great Rollright in the winter of 1950, amateur sleuth Gemma Brown wants the idyllic life she has read about in her favorite mystery novels. She is better at solving puzzles and setting up the village’s first bookshop than at baking or small talk, but she finds friends in Peggy and in Ursula Beurton, the village’s best baker. Then Gemma starts to suspect that Ursula is a Soviet spy. With MI5, the KGB and the mysterious Lady Marchmont circling, a dangerous favor leads Gemma to the Undercover Bookshop.

Let’s talk about the book

I went into The Undercover Bookshop expecting to be bored, and I was thoroughly proven wrong. The story held my attention from start to finish.

Set in the Cotswolds in 1950, the novel follows Gemma Brown, an amateur sleuth with an impeccable memory who dreams of living out the idyllic village life she’s read about in her favorite mysteries. Her suspicions fall on Ursula Beurton, the village’s best baker, and together with her friend Peggy (and with the local constable, Charlie, as her beau), Gemma is drawn into a game of cat-and-mouse. I particularly enjoyed how Gemma’s baking lessons double as a way of piecing together clues.

Gemma’s character development is splendid and completely believable. In her place, I would likely have done the same. Fiona Hardingham’s narration is beautifully done and adds a great deal to the experience. I also loved the name play on Nora Marple.

The women in this book hold the real power: the Soviet spy, the MI5 lead agent, and our main character. It was a refreshing portrayal.

My one small quibble is that Gemma often recounts her observations to Charlie, Peggy, or Ursula, and the story is then retold from her point of view. It isn’t a flashback, but we’ve just read those events ourselves, so the retelling felt unnecessary. The way the Undercover Bookshop comes to be also feels slightly more than believable, but it’s fiction, so it’s fine! It didn’t change my overall enjoyment.

I’ll admit the ending didn’t land quite the way I expected. I was braced for something more traditional, but what Katherine Reay delivers is grounded and realistic, and it fits the story better than a neat bow would have. The author’s note, revealing that Ursula is based on a real person, sent me back through the book with fresh eyes and made the whole experience richer.

Would I recommend it?

I did not expect to love The Undercover Bookshop by Katherine Reay, and now I can’t stop talking about it… Gemma’s sharp mind, a wonderfully crafted cast and Fiona Hardingham’s beautiful narration made this an unexpectedly amazing listen. Would I recommend it? ABSOLUTELY, especially if you love historical fiction with a clever, bookish heart. It’s out now (October 6, 2026), so add it to your TBR.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If You Loved The Undercover Bookshop, Read These:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Another post-war English story with a bookish heroine and a close-knit community full of secrets.
   
2. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. If the women holding the real power in The Undercover Bookshop worked for you, try this novel of women codebreakers and spies.
   
3. A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie. Since you loved the Nora Marple name play, go back to Miss Marple herself in a classic village whodunit.
   
4. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin. A historical novel where a bookshop is at the heart of the story, for readers who loved how the Undercover Bookshop came to be.
   
5. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman. An ordinary woman with no training gets pulled into the world of spies, much like Gemma gets pulled into hers.
   

Spy or Baker? Tell Me What You Think

Have you read The Undercover Bookshop, or are you adding it to your TBR? Tell me in the comments if you have a favorite book where the friendliest person in the village turns out to be hiding something.

Book Links

Want to purchase this or any of your favorite books while supporting a local bookstore? Consider purchasing using the sites below. These sites work with independent local bookstore owners to fulfill your book orders. #SupportLocal

Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | Litsy
Follow Katherine Reay for the latest news and new releases
Check out more books from Harper Muse Audiobooks