I, Spy, L. M. Kemp
I, Spy, L. M. Kemp
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

I, Spy
A Novel

Author: L. M. Kemp

Series: I, Spy #1

Narrator: Ell Potter

Unabridged: 7 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2026


Synopsis

Ex-spy Kendal was one of the best, but now she’s wearing the toughest disguise of her career: Mom.

“An incisive feminist thriller and heaps of fun.”—Margot Douaihy

Kendal Carter is out in the cold and she wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been four years since her daughter Rosie was born and Kendal has kept her miles away from the danger of her former life as a spy. But when their hiding place is discovered, Kendal is forced to turn to old contacts for help. Her longtime friend and ex-handler Rico doesn’t miss his chance to pull his best spy back in. Whisking them to London, Rico offers them a luxury safe house in an area with good schools. How can Kendal resist?

But there’s a catch, of course. Rico wants Kendal to come back to work for his espionage agency Bon Temps. He’s offering an assignment with no apparent downside, investigating one of the dads at Rosie’s new school who works at one of London’s biggest, murkiest tech firms and suspected of being up to no good. It should be easy enough for someone with her experience, and luckily, mother is the perfect cover.

However, it doesn’t take long for Kendal to realize that Rico’s got an agenda of his own. The tech firm may be dealing in darker and more deadly secrets than they all realize, plus the world of coffee mornings and playdates comes with its own web of allegiances and betrayals. Kendal soon finds herself in way too deep . . .

A gripping blend of suspenseful spy thriller with heartfelt women’s fiction, I, Spy is the first in a propulsive debut series about the masks we all wear, whether as a spy or as a parent.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

About L. M. Kemp

L. M. KEMP lives and works in upstate London (Essex). She writes for a vast variety of creative, cultural, corporate and clandestine clients: most recently co-authoring personalized books for Wonderbly; reviewing pilot episodes, cheap perfumes and random Instagram accounts for Ralph Magazine; and editing lengthy and devastating reports for Greenpeace. For the last two years her work has been dominated by the research and development of I, Spy and a deep dive into the murky world of modern spycraft.

About Ell Potter

Ell Potter (she/they) graduated from LAMDA in 2019. While studying, she was named Audible’s ‘Breakout Star’, recording their bestselling Thriller of the Year and gaining an Audie nomination for her debut performance. She has since recorded over 90 audiobooks for major international publishers including Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperAudio, and the BBC.Ell is a nine-time AudioFile Earphones Award-winner, and her narration of Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell was named a Washington Post Audiobook of the Year. Before training as an actor, she read English at the University of Oxford, where she graduated with first class honours and was the winner of the Nigel Smith Memorial Prize for English Literature. Ell admires writing that is muscular, intricate and unexpected, and her narration style pays close attention to the musicality of a text—always with full emotional commitment.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jason on January 22, 2026

Reading is subjective to one’s taste. The reviews of others have no bearing on whether or not I’ll like something. The same goes with my own opinion. This debut by L.M. Kemp is a great example of that. Personally, I loved it! It passed the PEACH test. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Min......more

Goodreads review by MichelleZ on February 23, 2026

4 1/2⭐ What a fun fast read I, Spy was! I absolutely enjoyed I, Spy, it's about a mother, Kendall, and her 4 year old daughter Rosie. For the last 4 years, Kendall has been hiding in plain sight with Rosie. Her past comes back to haunt her and she needs to exit her new quiet life quickly. She gets t......more

Goodreads review by Nicole on January 27, 2026

3.25/5 This was an interesting read with a promising premise, however I struggled to be invested in the plot. I will say that I enjoyed the characters we were introduced to. It was interesting to dive deeper into Kendal's past and see how her upbringing and past work as a spy led to her current appro......more

Goodreads review by Sue - Recos and Reads on March 28, 2026

Such a fun audiobook and a seriously impressive debut. It sits in the thriller/mystery space, but the themes give it a much broader appeal, especially with a sharp, modern female lead at the centre. Kendal grew up with a mother who was a spy, but now she’s a mom herself she’s determined to give her d......more

Goodreads review by Amber on March 25, 2026

Thank you #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this early copy of I, Spy by L.M. Kemp. I was invested in this fun debut from the first page! I, Spy is a novel of modern spy craft. Kendall is an ex-spy who is now a single parent raising her little girl. Estranged from her mother and mourning the loss o......more


Quotes

I, Spy is an incisive feminist thriller and heaps of fun. L. M. Kemp blends tradecraft and intimate reckonings in an enthralling tale of motherhood, the business of secrets, and the biggest mystery of all, the self, ‘with beauty, with magic.’ A stellar speedrun of a novel and a fresh take on the alluring dangers of espionage.”—Margot Douaihy, bestselling author of Scorched Grace

“Kendal Carter’s life is about to get hella complicated. A former spy, she’s been hiding out ever since her cover was blown and her lover was killed. But now her former colleagues have tracked her down and have asked her to complete one more mission—it’s never one, is it? She doesn’t feel like she has a choice, but how exactly is she going to do this with a four-year-old in tow? A fun look inside the shadow world of private spies and counter-measures, I spy a hit!”—Catherine Mack, USA Today bestselling author of Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies