NORA BARON

     Nora Baron is an agent with the CIA.
     She isn't when we first meet her. When that happens, she is a very happy woman as far removed from the cloak and dagger world as one might expect. She is very happily married to Jeff and has been for over two decades. She has a mostly grown daughter, Dana aged 20 and a student at NYU, of whom she is quite proud. She has a terrific job as a teacher in the art department at Stony Brook University on Long Island, instructing students in acting and theater.
       That all comes to a shocking an abrupt change in the very opening of the first recorded adventure when she learns that her Jeff, working in England for the last few weeks, had died in a car accident. A hurried packing and flight across the Atlantic to learn more of his death and to prepare him for his final trip home, knowing she had to tell her daughter but not sure how because she could scarcely believe it herself.
       It is on this very unpleasant journey that very unpleasant things will start to happen to her and before too long, through absolutely no desire on her part, she will find that the world of the espionage operative will envelope her and nothing will be the same again.
     Baron is described as "a tall, slender, forty-nine-year-old white woman with green eyes and shoulder-length chestnut hair". The age is the most interesting aspect of this person because it is not often that someone will change careers so drastically at that age but not only does she make the switch, she obviously adopts her new cloak and dagger sideline with considerable enthusiasm.
     But then, when remembering her 'day job' for so many years of her marriage, before she learned the truth about Jeff's vocation, Baron had taught acting and had taken part in lots of productions. In many ways being undercover for the CIA was just another form of acting, minus the bullets and bombs and such.

     You are familiar, I am confident, in that feeling when you meet up with an old friend after some months have passed and prepare to play catch up? There is a comfortable and welcome feeling to it, like coming home. That is the sort of feeling I get with this series. I know I'm going to enjoy the conversation and the time taken to have it.
     The Nora Baron 'thrillers' have that affect on me. I put the quote around the word because thriller is what the publisher designated the books. It is not inaccurate because there are more than a few thrilling events in each adventure. Still, it does not give any indication as to that feeling of 'home' I mentioned.
     I would happily welcome more adventures of Nora Baron, if just to have some time with an old friend again.