A shipwreck, two Nazi spies and the Boy Scout who noticed

Editor’s Note: The opening passage is excerpted from Sara Vladic’s The Dangerous Shore: How a Motley Crew of Scientists, Mobsters, Double Agents, Retirees, Volunteer Pilots (and a Boy Scout) Stopped the Invasion of America (HarperCollins, 2026).

That night, snow falls in heavy, wet flakes, coating Hancock Point in a thin, white blanket — the first snow of the season. Harvard Merrill…