About the Book

“What I am looking for—what I desperately need, Mrs. Weiss—is a spy.”

Adolf Hitler is still a distant rumble on the horizon, but a Jewish spymaster and his courageous spies uncover a storm of Nazi terror in their own backyard.

In the summer of 1933, a man named Adolf Hitler is the new and powerful anti-Semitic chancellor of Germany. But in Los Angeles, no-nonsense secretary Liesl Weiss has concerns much closer to home. The Great Depression is tightening its grip and Liesl is the sole supporter of two children, an opinionated mother, and a troubled brother.

Leon Lewis is a Jewish lawyer who has watched Adolf Hitler’s rise to power—and the increase in anti-Semitism in America—with growing alarm. He believes Nazi agents are working to seize control of Hollywood, the greatest propaganda machine the world has ever known. The trouble is, authorities scoff at his dire warnings.

When Liesl loses her job at MGM, her only choice is to work with Leon Lewis and the mysterious Agent Thirteen to spy on her friends and neighbors in her German American community. What Leon Lewis and his spies find is more chilling—and more dangerous—than any of them suspected.

Code Name Edelweiss is based on a true story, unknown until recent years: How a lone Jewish lawyer and a handful of amateur spies discovered and foiled Adolf Hitler’s plan to take over Hollywood.

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In My Opinion

Before the second world war, the Germans started by spreading propaganda. And the best place to do that? The movies, of course. Stephanie Landsem offers a tale of danger, intrigue, and one woman brave enough to stand against injustice in Code Name Edelweiss. Find out how Hitler tried to infiltrate Hollywood.

When Leisl Weiss is fired from MGM, she’s desperate to find work. She has to take care of her two children and her mother, and sometimes her brother. When asked by a lawyer to spy on her neighbors, Leisl accepts and is immersed in the uncovering the plot.

Landsem’s detailed research gives this story a wonderful air of intrigue and edge of danger with lots of twists and turns. There is a very light romance thread as you continue to guess who is on which side throughout the book.

Disclosure statement: I receive complimentary books from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.