London, 2044. The St James’ Park pelicans have gone missing – the day before the British President unveils the country’s new pelican flag. At the same time, British intelligence uncovers coded messages about possible anti-Government activity. Who are the bird-nappers? What do they want with London’s prized pelicans? And who is behind those secret messages? Britain’s hungriest secret agent, Howie Pond – licence to lunch – reluctantly agrees to try and find out.

Howie’s newshound fiancée, Britt, has a secret mission of her own – to identify the mysterious owner of Windsor Castle. That means calling on the help of her alter ego, Miss Pellie Cann, and her American charms. And to add to the chaos, Howie and Britt are supposed to be getting married tomorrow…

‘We Have Lost The Pelicans’ is the second comedy-thriller novel in the We Have Lost series and carries on from where ‘We Have Lost The President’ left off. It’s packed with the same great humour and exciting action, and a double mystery that will keep you guessing. Meet some old friends and a host of new characters when you take another trip to London, 2044.

We Have Lost The Pelicans is the second outing for Paul Mathews’ hapless secret agent wannabe Howard “Howie” Pond. Some months after the brief disappearance of President Jan Polak and the election of Vice President Zayn Winner, Howie looks forward to carrying on a sedentary life as Presidential spokesman.

Just when life seems to be calming down for him, head of National Security and Intelligence Service Martha Blake sweeps back into his world with another Code Red situation. Some encrypted e-comms have been intercepted, and seem to imply some suspect activity. Not great news on the eve of the President unveiling his new flag for the Republic.

To make matters worse, the pelicans of St James Park – the symbol of the Republic – have gone missing. Given his contract to work for Martha was a 12 month contract, Howie sees he has no choice but to investigate what is going on. The evidence points to the disgruntled and failed opponent to President Winner being involved in the disappearance of the pelicans. Is she attempting to bring down the President to put herself in the big job?

Meanwhile, Britt is offered an opportunity to move out of the small pod she shares with Howie, and earn herself an incredible pre-wedding gift from the owner of the newspaper she works for, a luxury apartment. At what price? All she needs to do is track down the name of the owner of Windsor Castle, so he can make an offer to buy it.

Doning her persona of American journalist Pellie Cann, Britt sets out to uncover the true identity of Windsor Castle’s mysterious owner, even if that means breaking in. Her investigation ends up with her and a former Presidential staff member in a dangerous situation. Howie’s investigation crosses paths with that of his wife-to-be with the same dangers along the way.

We Have Lost The Pelicans is a brilliant follow-up to We Have Lost The President. It brings the laughs like it’s predecessor, but with a hint more menace. It’s well paced, entertaining and brings mystery, deception and Royal uprising along for the ride, setting things up very nicely for the third book. Something the author does very well is covering the trials Howie goes through in both his private life and in the course of his work, without either one tripping the other up.

My rating: