***** 5 stars By Gaucho on April 7, 2019 Velvalee Dickinson: The “Doll Woman” Spy This is a fascinating story of a little-known American woman who played an important role in WW II by spying for the Japanese against the United States. Casey not only has done her research, she presents the story in an entertaining way. Like her other two nonfiction books, Assata Shakur: A 20th Century Escaped Slave and Kathryn Kelly: The Moll behind Machine Gun Kelly , Casey’s writing style is unique and enjoyable to read. Anyone who enjoys reading true crime, biographies, and historical nonfiction will want to read this.

**** 4 stars By Our Town Book Reviews on April 4, 2019 A female spy with dolls, huh? This is a difficult book to describe; not a bad book at all, just hard to verbally describe. Let me start out by saying that at first it was not what I expected. I had in my convoluted brain that it would be more story like. A story about a woman spy who liked dolls. And it was that. It is exactly what it says it is, biographical. But as I continued through the book, I found that Barbara Casey had a way of flowing from facts to an interesting piece of descriptive writing. Really sort of back and forth, creating a nice flow for reading a non-fiction book.The above may well be the style of the author as I have not read her other books. It is better researched than any dissertation. It is laid out beautifully. Every source, every credit and an Index to die for. Being a retired librarian, I tend to go to the back of the book first. I was overwhelmed at the work and organization. This isn’t just well-written, it is a book which obviously involved a LOT of time and work. Having said the above, I want to say that this book does encompass true crime, biography and of course non-fiction. It is also a history lover’s read. The people and the places as well as the instances are all here, but as I said earlier it seems to flow well and reads easily. In looking at previously published works by Barbara Casey I found all have very good reviews. Obviously, a good author to check out.

Velvalee Dickinson was born in Sacramento, California, graduated from Stanford University, married three times, and then in the early 1930s moved to New York City where she eventually opened her own exclusive doll shop on the prestigious Madison Avenue. It was there that she built her reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele that included Hollywood stars, members of high society, and other collectors. She was the highest paid American woman who spied for the Imperial Japanese Government during World War II. By hiding coded messages in her correspondence about dolls, she was able to pass on to her Japanese contacts critical military information about the US warships. After surveilling Velvalee for over a year, the FBI arrested her and charged her with espionage and violation of censorship laws. She became the first American woman to face the death penalty on charges of spying for a wartime enemy.

***** 5 stars By Amy on April 7, 2019 It was amazing Velvalee Dickinson: The Doll Woman Spy is an interesting read. It tells the true story of Velvalee Dickinson. I have never heard of her before reading this book. She was an American woman charged with spying for Japan during the World War II. It was fascinating to learn about her, as well as, her friendship with Eunice Kennedy Shriver. I give Velvalee Dickinson: The Doll Woman Spy five stars. I recommend it for readers who like to read about true crime and historical events.

***** 5 stars By Ani G's on Jun 03, 2019 An amazing non-fiction spy book. I absolutely love reading historical books! However, I usually prefer reading historical fiction, since many of the historical non-fiction books I have read are not very well-written, and therefore very dry and boring. This was not the case with Velvalee Dickinson: The Doll Woman Spy. My favorite historical time period to read about is World War II. I will read just about any book that has anything to do with WW II. Surprisingly though, I had never heard of the story of Velvalee Dickinson–in fact I did not even know she had existed–before reading this book, so it was neat to hear about a completely new story and person. Her story was so unbelievable that if it were not for the FBI-proved evidence, I would not have believed it. I would say that this was on my list of most-readable history books, however, i did think a few parts were a little dry. Overall, though, I would say that it was very readable. I thought Velvalee’s story was unique enough that a movie could be made on her–and I would totally watch it. I was disappointed on the ending of the book because I think that any person who betrays his/her country should be punished by death. Velvalee Dickinson was charged with espionage and given the death penalty, but somehow it all fell through and she just died peacefully at home of old age. I am not taking off any stars for the ending though because this is a non-fiction book, so the author did not choose the ending. I believe that the author did an amazing job of writing about this extraordinary story, and I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys historical books and especially the topic of WW II.

***** 5 stars By Debra Schoenberger on Apr 30, 2019 I really liked it Barbara Casey has provided a glimpse into the bizarre and complicated life of Velvalee Dickinson. It was fascinating to learn how a tiny, university-educated woman could prove to be such a threat to the American government and its citizens. The book is purely biographical in nature and in chronological order. The author includes several pages of photographs that lend credibility and interest to what could have been a dry dissertation. However this was definitely not the case as I could not put the book down. One determines from the onset that Velvalee is a survivor. However, her moral compass was somewhat askew as she had no qualms about pinning blame onto innocent parties, including her dying and mentally impaired husband. This well-researched, gripping account is easily read in a couple of hours.

***** 5 stars By Misty on Jun 07, 2019 It was outstanding Velvalee Dickinson: The "Doll Woman" Spy by Barbara Casey was an intriguing non-fiction True Crime / Historical / Biography. I liked the way that the book focused not just on Velvalee Dickinson, but also on the time period. Velvalee Dickinson was a very interesting and pragmatic woman who managed to have a large impact on the war. I found myself disagreeing with her choices, but also understanding them and sympathizing with the position she was placed in. Overall, I felt like I learned a lot about Velvalee Dickinson who I did not even know existed before reading this book.

**** 4 stars By Angela on June 3, 2019 Great for historical true crime fans Velvalee Dickinson is well researched and well organized. The author took a little known crime figure--in this case a quiet, doll enthusiast turned spy during World War II--and shared a wealth of information for readers. Readers learn about the crimes committed by Velvalee as well as about her life, her high society connections and the woman beneath the criminal spy. The novel followed "the doll woman" from wife and business owner to Japanese spy in a detailed, organized fashion that managed to entertain and inform. Velvalee Dickinson: The Doll Woman Spy offers a glimpse into American life during WWII. The author creates much more than a history book profile of Velvalee Dickinson. Readers learn about doll collecting and society life during the WWII era. Whether you are familiar with the main character and her historical espionage and censorship trial or not--history lovers will enjoy Casey's storytelling, attention to historical detail, and time period specific setting creation throughout the novel.