"Agent-in-Place, the second entry in Mark Matthiessen's Shelby's Creek series, continues the tale of Valentin Schmitz, pacifist Iowan farmer, as he infiltrates Nazi-occupied Paris to search for the only family he has left, his grandparents, who he hopes are alive and hiding somewhere in the city. Valentin, fluent in French and a great lover of the history and culture of Paris, has made a deal with the American OSS and the British SOE to act as one of their men on the ground assisting the French Resistance--for he can see no way into Paris without their help. His cover as an arts critic at a Reich-approved newspaper is a job he is uniquely suited for. He finds Paris strangely familiar and yet horribly changed, ravaged with hunger and barely controlled rage but still undeniably beautiful, holy. He cannot picture how his grandparents could still be alive, nor how he will ever return to Shelby's Creek, his home, but he knows he must try. But how long can he control his rage? How can he keep his disgust in check? How long can he maintain his cover? Agent-in-Place is an excellent read, a rich and suspenseful page-turner sure to please any lover of historical fiction, and anyone else just looking for their next good book." ~ BookFuel Editor, Justin Luzader