A Maddie Lynch Mystery
Michael McKinley & Nancy Merritt Bell
WINNER: INDIE GOLD GRAND PRIZE
For more than 500 years, the best intelligence service in the world has been run from a palace in Vatican City, home of the Pope. To the world, the Vatican spy service doesn’t officially exist. But it does to Maddie Lynch, as the Vatican spies need her help…
Magdalena “Maddie” Lynch, 29, never set out to be the Vatican's Jane Bond. Yet the very real evil of the world confronts her so harshly that she can’t say no to the Vatican spymaster, especially if fighting evil will help her solve the mystery of how her father died in a war in Lebanon. But first she has to deal with:
A murdered priest. Who stole more than 250 million Euros from the Vatican.
A rogue Catholic group that wants to start a new Crusade.
A US presidential candidate who wants total war in the Middle East.
And the Pope coming to America…
Maddie's life as a spy begins when the Vatican needs a secular, smart outsider to pursue their investigation of the murdered priest and the missing money. Maddie is their woman. And so the Vatican spymaster sends Maddie on a quest that takes her around the world, to New York, to Dublin, to Jerusalem, and ever closer to the stunning assassin who killed the priest, while keeping a few steps ahead of the smart, sexy Israeli agent who just might want to help Maddie -- or want her dead. When Maddie discovers that the murdered priest and the stolen money and the murder of her father are all lining up, the killers come after her.
If she wants to keep fighting evil, now she has to save herself...
About:
For more than 500 years, the best intelligence service in the world has been run from a palace in Vatican City, home of the Pope. To the world, the Vatican spy service doesn’t officially exist. But it does to Maddie Lynch, as the Vatican spies need her help…
Magdalena “Maddie” Lynch, 29, never set out to be the Vatican's Jane Bond. Yet the very real evil of the world confronts her so harshly that she can’t say no to the Vatican spymaster, especially if fighting evil will help her solve the mystery of how her father died in a war in Lebanon.
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“The most entertaining duo writing in the English world is Michael McKinley and Nancy Merritt Bell. It’s that simple. Their prodigious storytelling is at full strength in this spellbinding tale of glamor, evil, shock, and awe.”
“With the intrigue of Dan Brown and eerie parallels to today’s headlines, The Glamour of Evil propels readers through the corridors of power—from the White House to the Holy See—where faith, money, and ambition collide.”
Book Details
IMPRINT: BookGo
PUBLISHED: November 7, 2025
AVAILABLE IN: Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook
LANGUAGES: English
About Michael McKinley
Michael McKinley is the author of more than a dozen books, many about his native Canada’s national sport, hockey. They include Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player, nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and his debut crime novel The Penalty Killing, nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award. As a writer and producer for television, he has made documentaries for CNN, Discovery, NBC Peacock and Sky UK. The Two Marys won a Gracie Award.
About Nancy Merritt Bell
Nancy Merritt Bell is an award-winning playwright and editor. She has developed new plays for theatres from New York to Berlin, and more than 20 TV series for the CBC, BBC and Disney, including the Emmy-winning The Odyssey. Her screen adaptations include Anne’s House of Dreams and Harriet the Spy. As a book editor she has worked on more than 20 titles for publishers including Penguin and St. Martin’s Press. She is co-author of the thrillers The Glamour of Evil and Squawk 7700. As a person with a hearing disability, she loves to share stories about the lives of people with disabilities.
