Apricot Marmalade and the Edmondson Transmittal

Ed Reynolds, Don Cooper, and Lt. Col. Spencer G. Morgan, along with a few other characters working for military intelligence in Thailand during the Vietnam War, are tasked with finding out what happened to a soldier who died during a parachute accident. Was he connected to a theft at a military warehouse that resulted in some weapons going missing? And what about the CIA agent who died before he could transmit his intelligence report to the CIA? Was that connected to the case as well? Time will tell, but only if things don’t go too far awry for this dedicated but mismatched band of soldiers as they try to investigate in Apricot Marmalade and the Edmondson Transmittal.

I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed this book. Frankly, it was a delight to read. I found myself chuckling during the Prologue when Cooper had to use his boxer shorts as a flag of surrender, which suggested that there might be more amusing scenes to come. And I wasn’t disappointed. The incident with Cooper thinking he had rabies will stay with me for a while. In addition, Bernice gave me a laugh or two, as did Morgan and his “manly” one-upmanship when it came to the affair with Maureen.

The characters in this story were well developed and memorable. The author had a marvelous style of pulling me into the events and scenes. I think this was because his characters were often poking fun at themselves, and he included a lot of good background details that allowed me to get to know their personalities well.

I also liked how the story developed. It started with the parachutist’s death and then snowballed into something more complex and exciting. All of this drew me in and made me feel like I was part of the fun. I thought the author did an excellent job of peppering the tale with nostalgia when needed, keeping it firmly set in the past but still somehow fresh and engaging. And he was able to propel the story forward at every point so that I was eager to know what would happen next.

Overall, I enjoyed getting to know these characters, and I hope there will be more to come from this author in the future. However, I do wish that he had included a little more about himself at the end of the book, as getting to know more about an author is always interesting, especially after such a good and satisfying story.