The Miford Secret 5 - The End (Pages 289 - end)

 RATING: VERY GOOD

SPOILERS!!!

The end of the book is thrilling and surprising. I had my suspicions but it was exciting anyway.

Louisa and Debo go to the Dowager's house, and when nobody answers, they dare to walk in. They find the woman very sick and her dog is dead by her side. The Dowager is not dead, and the doctor is called at once as well as the men from the house. When they say that Lucie has packed and is gone, Louisa knows that she is the person who poisoned the Dowager and the dog Rosie. 

Guy is arriving today, so Louisa goes to the station, and Lucie is arrested. Louisa is glad to have Guy with her. Things become clear when she talks to Max, the gardener, who replaced the watchman the night that Mrs Hoole died. Max has a great deal of information to share. Max has been in the house for many years, and he is German and came to England as a spy, but he got scared when some German spies were executed. In the house he met Joan, and they fell in love. It wasn't his father who was with Joan when Charles walked in on them; it was Max. Joan got pregnant, and they were happy. They couldn't say a thing or marry because the truth about Max's origins would have come to light. Max talked to the old Mr Ellis, who was going with his employers to Canada, and they agreed for Joan to go there, and Max would follow when he could. Joan had the baby on the ship but died, and the baby was given away, and Max never knew where the baby had gone. Louisa reveals that Lucie Dupont is his daughter, who came to England with the intention to have her revenge against those who had caused her to be abandoned. Max is pleased to hear that his daughter is so close, and Louisa tells him that as the Dowager didn't die, Lucie may have a lighter sentence.

Max also explains that Captain Nesbit knew he was German and tried to blackmail into helping the Nazis. He was there the night that Mrs Hoole died, and Max says that the woman saw him and Nesbit and talk in German. Louisa realises that he is the killer. Nesbit is not in the base, and they think that he is on the property, and they go to the tunnels, where they finally stop him and haave him arrested. 

I enjoyed the book just as much as all the other novels in the series. This is the last one in the series and I hope that there will be more mysteries for Louisa and the Mitfords in the future.