DEATH'S DOOR: 7th Billy Boyle World War II Mystery from James R. Benn

Considering that the United States only took part in World War II for three years, James R. Benn is doing a fantastic job at packing an entire series of mysteries into the timeline. The seventh of the Billy Boyle investigations -- rich, lively, exciting, and tautly plotted -- opens in February 1944, as the Irish-American police officer recruited to assist "Uncle Ike" in Europe is juggling a mix of fear and resentment: His beloved, Diana Seaton, a special agent also working for the Allies, has reportedly been captured by the Gestapo and is being held in Rome.

And not only is Billy unable to get there, and unsure of whether Diana is alive -- he's being ordered back to England.

Luckily, by the third chapter, Billy and his close friend Kaz -- that is, Lieutenant (and Baron) Piotr Augustus Kazimierz, of the Polish Army in Exile -- have found a way to turn their backs on home and move toward Rome, where the power politics of the Vatican and the Gestapo together create a level of threat equal to, maybe even exceeding, what's come their way in earlier volumes.

Benn's dexterity with his battles-and-brigades timeline runs much deeper than a tale of war coupled with detection (Billy's role). He enriches the novel with the growth and changes of Billy and Kaz's friendship, as well as their pursuit of Diana's whereabouts and hoped-for safety. Diana's role as an agent also makes this series especially enjoyable, as she navigates the line between being Billy's lover and being a strong and savvy agent able to choose her own risks.

Most of all, Benn pushes both Billy Boyle's curiosity and our own, along with sometimes unsettling observations in the casual voices of the two friends. After Billy and Kaz search for details and truth from some of the Vatican's finest, they talk over what they've unearthed:

"Interesting," Kaz said after May had left. "Two men, Brackett and May, in the same circumstances. One retreats inward, not daring to take any chances. The other seems to thrive, rising about the situation he finds himself in."

"You never know about a guy," I said. "Before the war, Brackett was probably a big shot, and May a servant. War, even if it isn't a shooting war, puts pressure on everyone. Some can take it, others can't. There's no predicting." I looked at Kaz, who'd been a skinny student before the war. He probably never thought he'd go near a gun or harm anyone. Now he was a scar-faced killer -- wiry, wary, and strong.

"No," Kaz agreed. "Life is strange, Billy. It is why I have come to appreciate it."

DEATH'S DOOR goes onto my re-read shelf because of this willingness to explore character and change. Benn's not just taking us through the war -- he's taking us through the formation of people's inner selves. Loyalty, integrity, and courage all demand testing. I found myself cheering for Billy precisely because of the way he handles those testing moments.

How many more Billy Boyle mysteries will there be? I'm sure James Benn has it planned -- but don't tell me. I'm enjoying the suspense from book to book. I'm also appreciating Benn's ability to surprise me with intriguing details of the war, and to keep the war itself suspenseful -- even though we believe we know how that part will eventually end.

World War II Suspense, in BLUE MADONNA, James R. Benn

With this 11th in the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series, author James R. Benn crafts a tight and un-put-downable suspense novel and proves that the past is crammed with surprises -- and danger.

Fans of the series know that Billy Boyle's Irish-American cop family thought they were getting him out of wartime danger by helping him get assigned as a crimesolver for a slightly related U.S. officer, Dwight Eisenhower -- but when "Uncle Ike" took over running the European part of American operations in World War II, Boyle's investigations moved global. Wherever Eisenhower and his top leaders need Boyle to solve a crime, he's there.

As BLUE MADONNA opens, Billy Boyle looks like he's lost his stripes as punishment for taking part in running a black-market scam. Even though he knows his actions were part of successfully solving a crime earlier in the war, Boyle realizes he can't fight the court martial system; he's headed for prison and humiliation.

So it's a great relief to discover the whole trial is a setup to infiltrate Billy into a massive criminal operation that's snagging shipments of necessary supplies from the Army and speeding them out into England's hungry black market. With eventual backup from his colleague Kaz, and the possibility of seeing his beloved Diana in her undercover role in occupied France, Billy leaps into the infiltration operation -- which lands him in France on June 5, 1944, the night before the Allies invade at Normandy.

And that's the pin that James Benn provides to move us one notch further along in the global war that engaged so many combatants for so many years. Checking a "World War II timeline," I realized Anne Frank and her family were still hidden when Billy Boyle dropped from an airplane, to tackle this mission behind enemy lines.

You might think knowing the "history" would lower the suspense. But Benn's gift of walking the timeline in short bursts of action also involves tapping into little-known events and connections of the action -- this time, into the French Resistance with fresh intimacy. The "Blue Madonna" turns out to be a painting, in a mansion-turned-fortress that once hid a very different kind of resistance. Tunnels, diverse enemies, and the oncoming force of the war raise the ante, and when Billy and Kaz finally land, they're in huge danger:

Silence.

Cold sweat dripped down the small of my back.

Slowly sounds from the woods overcame the silence. A rustling of leaves. A scurry in the underbrush, a small creature on the prowl.

A boom echoed in the distance. An explosion miles away. We duck-walked to Kaz, who held a finger to his lips as his gaze flitted about. . . "I thought I heard voices," he whispered. "What do you think that explosion was?"

"The Resistance," Topper said quietly. ...

"Of course," I said, trying not to betray my nervousness. It was eerie being out here, alone on a hilltop in enemy territory, not knowing who might be closing in or what was going to happen next.

Billy must pass himself off as crooked -- which is what the fake court martial should have established -- and figure out who in France is connected with the biggest criminal gang in England, and how. Meanwhile, his surroundings include a multiple murderer (if he can just figure out which of the dangerous men around him that might be), as well as the Germans, whose motives are both war-related and criminal, and not easy to sort out.

This is a fast-paced tale of action and risk, and Billy Boyle works hard to gain enough facts to get close to resolving his investigation. Just as we know World War II goes on beyond BLUE MADONNA, we know Billy must survive also ... but who could he lose from his close friends and loved ones long the way?

I especially enjoyed learning from the author's notes of all the "real" components woven into this exciting crime-and-war novel. It's getting harder with each book of the series to remember that Billy Boyle is a fictional sleuth. Of course you can read BLUE MADONNA without having read any of the earlier titles -- Benn's skill as a series author makes that easy -- but series fans will shiver with even more feeling as Diana and Billy and their team plunge once more into necessary dangers.

From Soho Press, with release on September 13. When you've read BLUE MADONNA, you may have a list of people you want to share this with, and they absolutely don't need to read the "usual" war fiction -- this series is rich with friendship, puzzle-solving, and adventure, and lots of intriguing twists. I'm adding it to my holiday giving list, for sure.

[PS - More Billy Boyle/James R. Benn reviews here, or browse the entire review blog here.]

Billy Boyle World War II Mystery #15, THE RED HORSE, from James R. Benn

How long can a mystery series about six years of warfare last? How complicated can the plots become, when we all "know the ending" -- our side won?

The answer that James R. Benn makes me think of is, how many people have complicated stories of the war? (Hint: Many thousands.) Well then, that's how many mysteries there may be room for along the way.

THE RED HORSE takes two enthralling facets of the British side of the war -- the use of an asylum as a recovery center for people whose information and importance shouldn't be risked in ordinary medical care, and the espionage teams playing back and forth between the Allies and the Axis -- to spin a risky and highly suspenseful tale of detection that our investigator, Captain Billy Boyle, feels compelled to sort out. Not only is the conduct of the war at stake, but so are his friends. And in every James Benn mystery, those friendships forged in mutual risk are the vital threads of the action.

In the preceding Billy Boyle mystery, Boyle raced around occupied Paris confronting crime and trying to liberate his beloved Diana. Reaching the end of When Hell Struck Twelve didn't resolve all of Boyle's issues, and the new book opens with his struggles to get hold of himself again, as he's locked away in an asylum where doctors may be trying to wipe out his memories, as he sees it: He's witnessing extensive forces of guards, and terrifying maneuvers around him. On the way to an appointment with the psychologist in charge, he admits to himself that he's "scared as hell." And against his own inner rules, he admits out loud:

"Everything's wrong. Shattered. I don't know how to get back. It feels like it's going to be like this forever."

"When you were brought here, you were severely exhausted, in a state of profound confusion," Robinson said. "It takes a while to come back from that. You were physically and emotionally spent. Add to that the effects of the drugs you'd taken, and anyone would have a hard time."

"It was only a few pep pills, Doc, come on."

"You continue to minimize the seriousness of the drugs you took. It was methamphetamine, and from what you said, you took enough to win the Kentucky Derby without a horse. Just because the Germans gave them to their troops doesn't mean they're safe. We're talking about Nazis, remember."

All of Billy's instincts for self-preservation argue against letting the doctor try the rest cure suggested, a medically induced sleep for some 40 hours, to reset his mind. But there are two vitally important things Billy needs to do: find a way to help his very close friend Kaz recover from a heart ailment, and resume the effort to rescue his beloved. When it looks like he can't do those without taking the cure, he yields—and for a while, even the reader won't know whether he's made the right choice.

As it turns out, some things go well from that cure. But not everything he's "witnesssed" while his mind was malfunctioning was a delusion: He's seen a death that looks increasingly like murder, and even for the sake of helping his friends, Billy can't let go of his hunt for the criminal and justice:

So far, there was nothing anyone had said about [the victim] Holland that hinted at a motive. Or even a relationship with a single person at Saint Albans.

Except for Doc Robinson, and he wasn't talking. From what I'd learned, Holland was likely to have been as uncommunicative with him in his sessions as he was the rest of the time. Maybe the files would tell the real story.

Maybe not. After all, the SOE and the OSS were not known for their fidelity to the truth.

Of course, Billy recognizes the kinds of trade-offs being made around him. And he's honest about his own limitations: "In a place so far down in my heart and soul that I might never find my way back from it, I could sacrifice hundreds of people, maybe thousands, to get Diana back ... they could all vanish in a flash if it would bring Diana safely home from Ravensbrück."

Fortunately, he won't have to go that far. But he will have to convince his superiors that a crime (or more than one) has been committed, that he's recovered enough to be the investigator, and that he's willing to put himself into the hands of the asylum staff again, to get to the truth.

James R. Benn is in no hurry to "finish" Billy Boyle's war; there are many marvelous quirks and twists of real history for him to braid into the investigative adventures that Boyle undertakes on behalf, in the long run, of his "uncle" General Eisenhower and staff, and the Allies. In the process, readers get more than the breath-taking risks and close-shave escapes of Captain Boyle and his friends: They get to witness a brash young American growing up in the theater of war, and see the groundwork that will in turn, after the work of many more men and women, lay a basis for a lasting peace.

Benn's writing is well polished, paced with suspense and surprises, and historically trustworthy. As he lays out the war, on multiple fronts, he also lays out the strength of friendship and loyalty. His books are a smooth blend of both facets, and worth every minute of exhilarating reading. You won't need to devour the other Billy Boyle titles before this one, but give yourself the great pleasure of catching up with them afterward. 

Publication date is September 1, from Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Crimesolving in the Trenches: WHEN HELL STRUCK TWELVE, James R. Benn

What do you value in a good mystery book? Pace? Character? Clues? A certain level of darkness but some restraint on gory moments?

I want all of those -- and a recognition that someone's got to take action against that darkness -- but I also want to respect the sleuth, feel challenged by watching for clues with the protagonist, and earn my satisfaction with the book's resolution. I may not "solve the crime" before the book's main character does (and I surely don't want to solve it in chapter 1 and then wait impatiently for him or her to catch up!), but I want to feel like I was somehow on the right track. I could have done it, if I'd had the good friend, or the moment of stress, or that head-knocking sudden new view of the people and their actions that have crowded around me in the book, right?

That sense of working toward satisfaction, coupled with the value of friendship and some good moral choices: Those are the components that make me a fan of the Billy Boyle mysteries. Or, as the covers now say, "A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery."

James R. Benn works with a well-defined stage of action and timeline. After all, World War II ended some 74 years ago, and we "know the ending." We won. So to speak.

But the details of the war years include many surprising twists and tales, and Benn's two most constant characters in this series, Lieutenant Billy Boyle (of the Boston cop Boyles) and his Polish military intelligence buddy, "Kaz," have already trudged through Spanish battlegrounds, across North African terrain, and among Roma Gypsies, while working for SHAEF, a special operations wing under General Eisenhower's personal direction.

Now in the 14th book of the series, WHEN HELL STRUCK TWELVE, Billy and Kaz undertake operations in northern France in August 1944. Back on the Allied line of action, they're caught at the opening of the book with a group of Free Poles stranded on a hill under vicious bombardment. "Every Polish soldier knew what surrender to the SS meant. Execution... There was only one choice—to fight to the death." For the Poles are all aware of the valiant Warsaw Uprising, crushed and massacred by Nazi SS troops. In Billy's grasp of the Polish situation, readers too bond with the valiant effort and with the exhilaration as the tide of battle turns: "In the midst of all the yelling, I heard a familiar voice, and saw Kaz join us. He chanted Warszawa with the rest of them, tears streaming through the dirt and dust on his cheeks."

So this isn't a "war book" -- it's an emotionally charged journey of friends under fire. And to this, Billy and Kaz's boss, Colonel Harding, adds a crime-solving mission: The team must find and isolate a traitor among the leaders of the French resistance groups, before General Patton moves into his final fierce maneuvers to retake Paris from the Nazi forces. Some of those resistance leaders aren't exactly nice people, even when gathered at an all-allies confab for final plans:

One of the bodyguards delivered a cup of coffee to Jarnac, who gave a slight nod, indicating they could relax and take their turn at the sugar bowl.

"It seems you may still be in danger," Kaz said, watching as the two hulks waited at the coffee urn.

"Simply a precaution," Jarnac said. "Old habits are hard to break. Look, even Louvet comes with his guard of honor!" ... Louvet had his own beefy men behind him, eyeing the crowded room with suspicion. No one had entered with rifles or machine guns, but there were enough revolvers and automatics in holsters, waistbands, and pockets to kick off our own gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

By the time the coffee-and-conference is over, murder's been committed, and since a coverup of the suspected traitor seems the likely motive, Billy and Kaz launch a risky and clock-racing investigation.

Fans of the series can expect other stars from earlier volumes to appear as the team gets closer to re-taking the City of Lights. Benn also hurls startling twists into the book's finale, promising an intense next book in the series.

If you're curious about the book title, here's the epigraph at the front: "O childhood, the grass, the rain, the lake water on stones, / oh moonlight when the hell struck twelve. ... / The devil's in the tower right now." From Hellish Night, by Arthur Rimbaud.

That's right. Every fiercely good mystery takes part in the battle of good and evil. Part of the suspense is in wondering how the good guys (whether at the O.K. Corral or in 1944 France) will muddle through, when (by choice) they're not using the nastiest weapons in the fight. And the other part -- which James Benn evokes so well -- is wondering ... at what cost??

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

An Evening of 40 Authors, 2 Publishers, 1 Editor, 1 Agent -- and Dozens of Mystery Lovers

Gala Mystery Night, New England Mobile Book Fair

[all photos by Dave Kanell]

Last night (Thurs. Dec. 6), the New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton Highlands, Mass., hosted its first Gala Mystery Night, featuring 40 mystery authors and all the great people who come along with them (publishing teammates, spouses, volunteer photographers, you name it) -- and dozens of people eager to talk about mysteries, meet the authors, and purchase books signed right there in front of them by the hands that wrote them. It was a resounding success, thanks to owner Tom Lyons (read his story here), organizer David Ambler, and all the happy readers and writers on hand. If you've ever attended one of the famous holiday parties held at (now sadly closed) Kate's Mysteries in Cambridge, Mass., you'd recognize this gathering as a direct descendant with some great changes: more space, hourly changes of featured authors, and the largest independent bookstore in New England to explore whenever you need a break from the merry crowd.

I was excited to be there with COLD MIDNIGHT -- I may have brought the only "young adult" mystery, unless you count the books Jennifer McMahon (also of Vermont) is spinning out, which often involve teen characters but aren't usually called YA (these are dark, fierce, wonderful books -- and I'll be talking about her January release in a couple of weeks).

Linda Barnes, James Benn, McMahon, Steve Ulfelder, and Katherine Hall Page all signed their books for us; Dave got a chance to visit with Dave Zeltserman, as well as talking for quite a while with Benn, and briefly with Michael Palmer, Hallie Ephron, and Hank Phillippi Ryan, whose blockbuster thriller THE OTHER WOMAN is doing so well. (See review here!) Dave also enjoyed time with William Landay and William Martin, and caught some great photos of Joan Parker, widow of mystery Grandmaster Robert B. Parker, receiving a special award from the bookstore and giving, in return, a wonderful reading of a letter from her late husband.

BIG NEWS! Ellen Larson, the editor of the new YA imprint of Poisoned Pen Press -- titled, with charm, the Poisoned Pencil -- chatted with a number of authors at the event, and (ta-DAH!) has finished her initial readings of submissions for the imprint, choosing three manuscripts to go forward as an initial publication round. Larson, a seasoned "substantive editor" and writer herself, is looking forward to this next stage of helping authors get their books ready for publication. I can hardly wait to find out whose work she's picked and what the mysteries are! For more about Poisoned Pencil, check out the press announcement here.

Yours truly, with COLD MIDNIGHT

Dave Zeltserman

James Benn

Joan Parker receives award from Tom Lyons

Joan Parker reading letter from her husband Robert B. Parker

Crime-Solving in the Solomon Islands: THE WHITE GHOST (Billy Boyle 10), James R. Benn

The Billy Boyle World War II mysteries span a very particular time period -- but that hasn't stopped author (and former librarian) James R. Benn from fitting in plenty of Billy Boyle's adventures during those years! In fact, this 10th in the series begins with a short note explaining that there's a gap in time between books 3 and 4 ... and THE WHITE GHOST fits into there: a South Pacific interlude for Boyle in 1943 in the Solomon Islands.

Don't go thinking "vacation" for this investigator, though! Usually working quietly for General Eisenhower (an "uncle" by extension to his Boston Irish family), this time the no-longer-green cop from the States is under orders from Ike's boss, General Marshall, Chief of Staff. There's a lot of mystery to the abrupt summons, and Billy's only relief is that his partner in solving so many crimes already, Kaz -- Lieutenant Kazimierz -- is under orders with him. The pair quickly learn who's puling the strings for their assignment: Ambassador Joe Kennedy, whose son Jack (yes, THAT Jack Kennedy) not only is suffering from a sunken PT boat and injured feet, but also stands accused of the death of a "native scout." Kennedy clout and power even then were enormous, and the grand American-Irish family can demand Billy Boyle's services to straighten things out and get Jack out of trouble.

Emphasis on family. It turns out the Kennedys and the Boyles have very bad blood between them, and much of the antipathy is actually between Billy and Jack. There isn't time for Kaz to get the full story before the investigators start their series of flights to the far-away islands (marking the first time this series has gone to the Japanese war theater), but revelations arrive along the way. Bottom line: If Billy can clear Jack Kennedy, everyone will believe it's true because the bad feelings are well known -- and if he fails to clear the Ambassador's son, Jack will still be OK, because then everyone can assume Billy had it in for the man and merely framed him in some way. Talk about a bind! Still, there's not much Billy and Kaz can do, considering their orders, other than buckling down to solve the crime, and any other complications that come along (many of them personal).

Benn's tightly woven plotting shines here, along with his deft characterizations that allow him to show the inevitable disaster between Billy and the young JFK but also make room for gradual changes through the book. He has ample room in the black history of the Kennedy clan from those years, for framing both criminal and immoral circumstances. This is also a great opportunity for Benn to highlight Billy and Kaz as a team isolated from their usual supports, working out the lay of the land (and water) in this military-overrun seascape.

Especially intriguing is the American interplay with the Chinese in the region, and Billy and Kaz enter an uneasy alliance with the very intelligent and secretive Miss Chang, who is soon more than a friend for Kaz ("Please, call me Jai-li, Billy. The baron [Kaz] spoke so much about you, I feel we are already friends.") It's Miss Chang who helps them see more clearly how alien they themselves are as "gwai lo" -- white people -- in the Solomons.

"Billy, to most of the people here, all gwai lo look alike."

"White ghost," I said. "Or is is white devil?" I'd heard the term plenty back in Boston's Chinatown, never uttered in a kindly tone.

... "And all three are dead, with no trace of the killer," Jai-li said. "It is indeed a white ghost you are seeking."

Benn's writing keeps Billy Boyle and his investigation in the heart of traditional crime-solving terrain, with both history and military machinations (like radio networks) smoothly woven into the page-turning action. And as is the case for every really good mystery, it's Billy's choices of how to honor his own integrity under pressure that make this a very satisfying read.

Highly recommended -- and no, you don't need to read the other Billy Boyle books before this one. But I'm betting most readers who race through the Solomons with Billy and Kaz will want to start collecting the entire series. James R. Benn, Soho Crime ... it's a partnership as good as they of Billy Boyle and Lt. Kazimierz. And as Billy observes: "War makes white ghosts of us all."

BLIND GODDESS: New Billy Boyle WW II Mystery from James Benn

I marvel at each new Billy Boyle World War II mystery from James R. Benn: We all know how the war ends, and we recall some of the prominent moments along the way -- yet Benn provides enormous suspense within each of his mysteries, by delving into the details of life at the front and behind the scenes.

A BLIND GODDESS opens in March 1944, with an estranged friend of Billy's, Tree (nicknamed for his height), uneasily asking for a hand in England as the troops gather for the promised upcoming invasion of France. Sergeant Eugene "Tree" Jackson doesn't want to ask Billy Boyle for anything; their friendship, back in Boston, ended very badly, tilted by Tree's black skin and Billy's Irish connections. But there's been a dire miscarriage of justice in the rural town where the Black forces are waiting for their part in the invasion, and the victim is the gunner for Tree's Tank Destroyer Battalion, and the unit needs him back right away, before the orders for Europe arrive.

This eighth in the series digs into race relations at mid century, plainly and boldly. Negro units in the American forces experienced the bite of segregation, name-calling, and abuse even as they prepared to give their lives with their White compatriots. In fact, at the opening of A BLIND GODDESS, White Americans have just smashed every barroom drinking glass in the town, as they prepare to take over where the Black ones have recently been served -- "So they wouldn't have to drink from the same glasses as Negros had," Billy immediately perceives.

Billy's close partner in his investigations -- which he does for his vaguely related "uncle" General Eisenhower -- is Kaz, a Polish officer, Lieutenant Kazimierz, and as the Americans explain the particulars, Kaz is moved to comment (just in time to keep the "frenemies" from more friction):

"It is interesting, you know," Kaz said, in a casual conversational tone. "The Germans have the same rule in Poland. Poles have to stand aside when any German walks by, upon pain of death."

"Yeah, but there's one big difference," Tree said. "I'm going over there to kill those god-damn Nazis who make you step off the sidewalk. But when I go home, white men will still want me in the gutter."

Because Tree's request is an unofficial one, Billy can't put official time into looking for the real criminal to replace Tree's gunner in prison. Moreover, Billy's direct superior, Major Cosgrove, wants him to tackle a new case of murder where an American soldier is involved, and where there's some hidden reason to treat all investigation very carefully. Soon he's enmeshed in what looks like a German/English politically charged tangle of possible espionage, murder, and threats -- while trying to clear up the racist coverup that's snagged Tree and his men.

A side track that will interest those already following the series involves Billy's long-time girlfriend, Diana Seaton, in her struggle to get British politicians to acknowledge the factory-style killings in the concentration camps in Germany, so that urgent action can be taken. But there's no need to have read any of the preceding seven books -- this one stands well for itself, and I'm looking forward to a second reading, still marveling at how clearly Benn has used his mystery plot to point to the largest miscarriage of justice Americans have experienced: that of the color line.

A BLIND GODDESS moves at intense pace to a highly satisfying ending -- with one thread still dangling, and a strong suggestion that the next book in the series will be back on the European continent, in the action of the trenches and the invasion. I can hardly wait!

NOTE: Publication release of A BLIND GODDESS is scheduled for Sept. 3.

A MORTAL TERROR, by James R. Benn

The newest Billy Boyle World War II mystery from Connecticut historian, librarian, and author James R. Benn reveals a deft touch in turning "we know what happened" into suspense, with a fine investigative thriller embedded in 1944's European theatre of war. Well done, and worth the reading!

Series readers already know Boyle as the Boston Irish rookie cop, recruited to assist "Uncle Ike" -- General Eisenhower, a family connection by marriage -- with delicate police matters best kept behind the scenes, so that dignified warfare can continue. This is the sixth volume; the others, Billy Boyle, The First Wave, Blood Alone, Evil for Evil, and Rag & Bone, have taken aspects of the Second World War's varied locations and themes, and woven them into lively murder investigations by this appealing young man whose sense of honor and determination to solve crimes have by now netted him some appealing friends and an attractive -- and undercover -- long-term lover, Diana Seaton.

In A MORTAL TERROR, Diana makes only a brief appearance at the start, although Kaz, Billy's very European pal in police work -- Lieutenant Baron Piotr Augustus Kazimierz, late of Poland and now on the general staff -- comes through as a working partner as Billy labors to discover who in Italy is killing an escalating set of powerful officers. And, more to the point, why.

Not only does Benn handle the twists of plot smoothly and effectively, but he's mastered the very challenging skill of making "known history" into a packet that includes questions, uncertainties, and dubious outcomes. Here's a passage as an example of how he also weaves in just enough detail on military terms and procedures to keep me informed enough, but not distracted:

I decided to radio Colonel Harding and ask for Kaz to be sent down from London.

The column finally passed and the traffic moved along, toward Caserta. I ran through the leads that I had to follow. Pay a visit to Bar Landry in Acerra and see what the scuffle was all about, and why Landry and Flint went down there to pay damages. Find out whom Louie owed his next paycheck to. Go back and find Major Arnold, Schleck's second-in-command, and see if he'd be more talkative. Ask Sergeant Jim Cole why he didn't tell me about knowing Landry and Galante. An infantry division is a big place, about fourteen thousand guys and full strength. He should have mentioned it, even if it was only a coincidence. He didn't, and I wanted to know why. I also needed to find out how Galante had gotten a squad killed, and why Cole was supposed to know about that. Maybe it was just a rumor that Schleck glommed onto, but if true, it would be a motive for revenge. Then ask the same question around the 32nd Station Hospital, and see what Galante's colleagues had to say.

It was a lot of legwork, and none of it might end up being important. But it gave me the illusion of being on the right track, and I might get lucky and stumble onto something I'd recognize as a clue.

I love this series, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a rattling good tale. From the ending of this one, it's clear the next volume will contain a strong dose of what I especially like in Benn's books: challenges to Billy's growth and depth as a person and an investigator (in his family's Boston cop tradition!), and to his ties among his friends and his beloved. So -- grab a copy, and get up to speed.

Yes, you can read this one on its own, but it's a much better read if you've consumed the earlier five in the series. You'll understand better how important Kaz is, and why the book's final twists hold such significance. Go for it!

Shelve this one with your Charles Todd and Jacqueline Winspear books. And that in itself should tell you what an unusual "war" series this is -- equally accessible to war junkies, readers who savor emotional development, and those who just love a good plot. Thanks, James R. Benn. Here's a tip of the hat to you, and to Soho Crime, a publisher with great taste in fiction.

New Billy Boyle World War II Mystery, A BITTER WIND, by James Benn

About six weeks from now, the latest World War II mystery featuring Captain Billy Boyle comes out. That seems like a long time in terms of what's happening in my garden in the meantime ... but this may also be a perfect moment for a heads-up about an enthralling new adventure that you could want to pre-order, or at least place on your autumn reading list, or even reserve at the local library.

A BITTER WIND (the title's from a Sherlock Holmes quote) is the 20th in this lively series. James R. Benn adeptly reintroduces Boyle and his allies for those new to the group: Billy works in a special task force for General Eisenhower, solving crimes in the Allied forces and behind the lines of battle. Who would guess that on Christmas Day 1944, as the war seems closer to ending and Germany is in retreat in many locations, England's own shores would be unsafe?

Yet Billy and his girlfriend Diana, a leader in the Special Operations Executive ("dangerous work in occupied Europe"), literally stumble upon a murdered officer on a seacoast cliff on one of their few days off together. When Billy locates top-secret documents in the dead man's pocket, it's clear that espionage is underway. Unexpectedly, Diana is the senior officer in the investigation. So a pressing question is, can Billy and his own best friend Kaz, short for Lieutenant Piotr Kazimierz, keep to an agreement that Diana and the other women in this coastal secret base will take the lead?

Like Billy and Diana, readers will find almost no quiet time in this rapid-action adventure. Deaths multiply, and savvy women hold many of the threads of information that Billy needs to pull. Series fans who bonded with Kaz's sister Angelika, a recovering concentration camp victim, will see her come into her own in this book: How could she not be of value to the British, with her many languages, analytical skills, and determination to defeat the Germans?

What fun it is to discover the daughter of Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle as a character in this history-hugging novel! As Billy agrees not to ask officer Jean Conan Doyle about her father and she offers not to quiz him about Eisenhower, she admits, "So it seems we are bound by our more famous relatives, are we not?"

Conan Doyle decides to send Billy into occupied Yugoslavia, to connect with partisans there and track down the strands of espionage and murder, as well as prisoners who've escaped the Germans. It will be dangerous. She explains:

The north is crawling with armed bands, some young men seeking to avoid conscription by Mussolini's army or forced labor for the Germans. I imagine the SOE is actively aiding them, but that's not my department. Our job is to intercept the information and pass it on. ... While the Croatian fascists are savage, they understand how to obey their masters. The German transmissions make it clear they want the escapees captured and returned.

Billy's already aware that Yugoslavians are a conflicted bunch:

I was aware that Josip Broz Tito led the Partisans, and that they were giving the Germans a run for their money. Tito's bunch were Communists, which didn't seem to trouble anyone as long as they kept killing Germans. The Serbian Chetniks supported the former king and didn't like Communism.

Confused yet? So is Billy, but the bottom line is, once he's back in an active war area, all of those forces are coming after him. Whether he and his team can rescue the witness they need for their British murder investigation will depend on being able to dodge ammo, ride horses, and forge alliances with the "right" people.

Ties to an earlier European murder investigation will take series readers back to "the criminal who got away," with Benn supplying enough reminders or quick explanations for old and new fans to realize how the danger to Billy Boyle swiftly ramps up. We know it's a series—he's got to survive—but for a while, the outcome looks chancy.

Crime solvers won't get a full workout in A BITTER WIND because the explanations for the murder twists tumble together near the end in a set of hasty connections. But maybe Billy's got no other way to absorb them, considering the risky and challenging adventure underway. 

This is a true page-turner. Watch especially for Angelika's actions. Benn's sleight of hand reveals wartime as a season of heroes of all genders. That's part of the results of his consistently solid and astounding research, once again.

World War II Detective Fiction from James R. Benn, THE DEVOURING

With each new Billy Boyle crime novel from James R. Benn, I wonder again: How will this author maintain suspense, and surprise the readers, when "everybody knows" how World War II began, continued, and ended? Aren't the facts so plentiful that the fiction can't be a wild ride, if it's true to the history as well?

And each time I pick up a new Billy Boyle, I confirm all over again: There's a lot more to even this relatively recent global conflict than most of us realize. In Benn's hands, the surprising details take on new life. And the plot twists? Complex, and intriguing.

In THE DEVOURING, Benn sends Captain Billy Boyle and his friend Kaz into supposedly neutral Switzerland in the final year of World War II, as the Allies are becoming sure of eventually winning the war. But as Billy and Kaz learn, winning won't be as sweet if the Nazi leaders manage to escape justice -- and carry off their murder-related loot in the process.

What are a Boston-born Irish cop and a Polish baron doing in a shepherd's abandoned cottage in southeastern France? The short answer is, wartime makes strange companions. Readers of this series know the intricacies of Billy's recruitment by General Eisenhower to be the crime-solving part of the American leadership's staff, and of the tragic murders of Kaz's family members and the various twists that brought these two men together (including the women they love). Enjoying the first 11 books will certainly add depth and perspective to reading THE DEVOURING, but Benn's a strong enough storyteller that newcomers to the series will be able to step right into the action. Here's Billy Boyle's explanation of the situation as the book opens, for him and Kaz:

Last night we'd had a rendezvous with an SOE Lysander. Special Operations Executive, that is. Lysanders are SOE's preferred means to ferry agents in and out of occupied France. We'd expected to be taken back to London after our last assignment, but someone had a better idea: send the two of us to the Swiss border, smuggle us across, and then have us make contact with the OSS, a different group of highly dangerous letters. The Office of Strategic Services was an American outfit, modeled after the SOE Why they wanted us in neutral Switzerland, I had no clue, but I did have hopes it would be a rest cure in a peaceful nation.

Well, scratch those hopes. Not only will the border crossing be much more risky than Billy and Kaz expected, but the neutral Swiss turn out to be well enmeshed with a lot of German officers hanging around, and the mission turns out to involve tracking some of those in a very dangerous way.

The intriguing aspect that separates Benn's World War II fiction from many another war tale is Billy Boyle's detective skills, with the expectation that he'll solve crimes along the way. Consider Billy's approach to a murder that affects their mission:

Kaz went to find the inspector, and I stood still, studying the room, trying to get a read on what had happened here. [The victim] was the one who wanted to leave the reception first. Now it was evident why. Maybe his date was already here, waiting. They drink some wine, do some cavorting, and then what? Sleep? Or does she go home? I couldn't really find a decent hiding place, not one that would have stood up to the concerted search that had gone on here.

Or maybe the dame was part of the setup.

The book's title comes from a Gypsy, or Sinti, expression for how the Nazi forces were eradicating this relatively landless people of Europe before and during the war, and Billy and Kaz find themselves repeatedly depending on the skills of a very angry and desolate member of that group, Anton Lasho. Will Lasho's anger and recklessness be assets to the mission -- or put the investigators at deadly risk themselves?

Benn adds an espionage-related "dame" to the complex plot, as well as a heartbreaking visit to a prisoner camp in "neutral" Switzerland. Not everything will be resolved by the end of the book -- but that's part of the structure of an effective series, isn't it? I could hardly wait for THE DEVOURING to become available (it hits the stores on Sept. 12 and can be pre-ordered). Count me as a fan of this series for its friendships, quirks of personality, unusual details about the war, and of course the pursuit of crime-solving throughout. I'm in no hurry for the fictional war years to reach an end!

From Soho Crime (Soho Press), as are the other 11 in the series -- and at the moment, the publisher is offering 40% off when ordering those entire 11:

Book 1: BILLY BOYLE
Book 2: THE FIRST WAVE
Book 3: BLOOD ALONE
Book 4: EVIL FOR EVIL
Book 5: RAG AND BONE
Book 6: A MORTAL TERROR
Book 7: DEATH’S DOOR
Book 8: A BLIND GODDESS
Book 9: THE REST IS SILENCE
Book 10: THE WHITE GHOST
Book 11: BLUE MADONNA

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Soho Crime Fest Last Night in Mass.: Garry Disher, Cara Black, Henry Chang

We left home at about 11 a.m.; we got back about 12 hours later. All this, in order to attend an author event with all of the above, plus James Benn as MC and Kate's Mystery Books as bookseller of the night, at Stellina's Restaurant in Watertown, Mass.

Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY.

I took notes like mad while the authors answered questions, panel style. Baseline info: Garry Disher, born in 1949, here thanks in part to a travel grant from the Australia Council for the Arts to Soho Books, to bring him to this side of the globe. Cara Black, born in 1951, is at home in San Francisco but flies to Paris for research for each of her Aimee LeDuc mysteries -- and recreates Paris in her mind when she's writing. Henry Chang, born in 1951 also, native to New York's Chinatown, three-quarters through the first draft for his third Jack Yu investigation. All three are among the Soho Crime authors carving out a new role for global fiction and cultural exploration, within their suspenseful mysteries.

And now, back to Garry, whose photo is above.

Garry Disher's police procedurals feature Inspector Hal Challis and his fellow investigator Sergeant Ellen Destry. Set in the Mornington Peninsula of Australia, about an hour and a half from Melbourne, they center in a region that's lush, has plenty of rain (trash that old Australia image you carry), lots of pine trees, a beautiful coastline, and wineries -- but also, said Disher last night, the doubling in size of some of the old towns of the peninsula combined with global economic issues has created social distress -- and this is what he mines as he writes. Admitting with a laugh that he inflates the murder rate in order to make better fiction -- Australia is nominally gun-free, and he says most of its murders are domestic, with either a knife or the handiest blunt object -- Disher sees his task as partly one of teasing the reader into prolonged suspense, over each book and over the series.

Writing from eight in the morning to "lunchtime" is his regular routine, and he spends the afternoons converting his longhand to typing (doing a "first edit" at the same time) and/or doing research. Usually working from a plan for each book, he places absolute trust in his instincts. And if the instincts lead him off the plan, he follows.

My favorite tidbit: He cites an Irish author as declaring each book, to be written, must have a character, a situation, and a promise.

More tomorrow on Cara Black; then Henry Chang; then I'm going to indulge in a long piece on James Benn, who held back last night in order to be a great MC, but whose new book, coming in September, features Northern Ireland and his latest insights into a long stretch of significant history.

Soho Crime Fest 2: Cara Black Brings Paris (and Aimée Leduc!) With Her

Dave and I love what Soho Crime has done for the international mystery scene: publishing series by authors who live or write from experience of international cultures. Meeting four of the Soho authors at once last week -- well, we couldn't pass it up, even though it called for a lot of driving.

Actually, we'd already met James Benn briefly at Kate's Mysteries (Cambridge, Mass.) last December. Trim, elegant, the exact opposite of the cartoon version of a librarian (his "day job"), Jim ensured that the panel of authors could relax and enjoy the questions, conversation, and capacity crowd. (I'll offer a longer piece on James Benn's novels later in the month; I've enjoyed them enormously.)

We'd seen photos of Garry Disher (Australia) and Henry Chang (New York's Chinatown) that matched pretty closely the authors as they strolled in. Reading all of Disher's Inspector Hal Challis investigations has been a huge treat; watching Henry Chang's career expand from his debut with CHINATOWN BEAT to last fall's YEAR OF THE DOG is a pleasure, and we shared the excitement as he told us he was about three-quarters done with the first draft of "book three."

So Cara Black, creator of Aimée Leduc in an award-winning series of Paris mysteries, was the author we were most curious to meet in person. How French would she look? What kind of accent would she have?

Coming in through the back door of Stellina's (a smashing Italian restaurant in Watertown, Mass.), Black instantly brought that sense of Paris into the room. If those weren't French jeans she was wearing, I'll eat my page -- and Dave instantly fastened his gaze on her French sailor's scarf in bold stripes of black and white. And yes, when she speaks, even though she lives in California, her voice has the lilt and gentle hesitations of someone to whom French is a second linguistic home.

"I think Paris chose me," Black reflected. "I grew up in a Francophile family where food and discussion over dinner was very important." In the 1970s when she first went to Paris, she got the sense of a collection of villages -- "not the Paris of the berets and the baguettes," she quipped, and not Hemingway's Moveable Feast (which of course she's read). But 20 neighborhoods that saw themselves as complete and particular. "I'm trying to find the flavor and the uniqueness of each part of Paris." And in each one, she's placing a mystery. So far, that's:

Murder in the Marais (1998)
Murder in Belleville (2000)
Murder in the Sentier (2002)
Murder in the Bastille (2003)
Murder in Clichy (2004)
Murder in Montmartre (2005)
Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (2007)
Murder in the Rue de Paradis (2008)
Murder in the Latin Quarter (2009)

For each one, Black travels again to Paris (often bunking on a friend's couch) and re-immerses herself in the feel of the neighborhood, while working out the plot. She does much of her writing in Paris too, but also in California, where she carries the scenes with her -- images on the wall, maps, more. Getting up in the morning, she writes, and she commented that if she doesn't check her e-mail, she gets a lot done! She said, "Once I've got to page 100, I've got my place [Paris neighborhood], and then I timeline it and I finish it and then I rewrite."

One plus of listening to Black within the multiple-author event was the range of questions people asked, especially those who know this author well. Prompted by someone excitedly asking her to retell it, she revealed how her research led her to firing a gun with the Delta Force in Paris. Wow! Here's a link to that story in her own words.

Most of all, I enjoyed hearing Black talk about Aimée Leduc and how the series is shaped around this computer security pro turned accidental detective. "Aimée is flawed, vulnerable," Black explains. "It makes a better story that way." And, she finds, this sets Aimée into the great tradition of the "lone detective."

Of course, the effect can be a bit different on the other authors: After listening to how pleased Cara Black is that she has a framework of Paris locales that promises 20 Leduc detective novels (based on those 20 "villages" of the city), Henry Chang suddenly suggested, "I'll have to go to each of the fifty or sixty Chinatowns throughout the world!"

More on Henry Chang and his writing, later this week.

Soviets and Night Witches Link With Billy Boyle, in ROAD OF BONES from James R. Benn

You could spend weeks, months, a lifetime, reading your way through the evidence of what happened during the Second World War.  And sorting out heroes and villains.

Or instead, you could trust the kindness of author James R. Benn, who unearths unusual details of the war that enchant and inform, while investigator Billy Boyle pursues crime on behalf of the American forces. Blunt-spoken as this Boston Irish detective can be, he's also dedicated to supporting his friends and allies, and this 16th Billy Boyle World War II Mystery is another "keeper" for solid enjoyment and excitement.

After an exhilarating opening chapter in which Billy fills in on a bombing run in a B-17 Flying Fortress (Benn makes it easy to slipstream names and terminology in mid scene), the point of his new mission -- partnered with "Big Mike, aka Staff Sergeant Miecznikowksi -- is an Office of Special Investigations order that the team sort out a double murder at an airbase ... in Russia. More specifically, it's at an air base in Ukraine, part of a plan Billy recalls: "Take off from England, land and refuel in Russia, then hit the Germans again on the way back."

With the Russian allies blaming the Americans and sure the murderer must be a "Yank," immediate action is called for -- Billy and Mike need to identify the real murderer(s) to avoid a devastating international incident. And just to make things a bit more challenging, they'll need to collaborate with a Russian cop to smooth things over.

If that only meant the attractive and American-enchanted Lieutenant Maiya Akilina, life would be good. But complications pile up swiftly: Big Mike's transport abandoned him where he's likely to end up in a prison camp, and Billy's got to locate and retrieve his partner. Worse yet, the Russian colleague assigned is Captain Kiril Sidorov, and Billy already knows him from a London experience soaked in treachery in several directions.

"My homecoming was not as I expected," Sidorov said, a sigh escaping between his lips. "I have been in a labor camp in Kolyma. ... Little food, very cold, long hours. Many prisoners die there. Because of the frozen ground, the authorities decreed that interments be made in the roadbed as it is dug. Much more practical. Hence, road of bones."

"Why did they send you there?" I asked. I had a pretty good idea, but it seemed like Sidorov wasn't aware of the role I'd played. Otherwise, he'd be at my windpipe right now.

As the murder investigation reveals a drug component and potential inventory crime, Billy (and, he hopes, Big Mike) must watch their backs in every direction. 

Special interest in ROAD OF BONES comes from collaboration with a little-remembered group of women aviators on the Russian side, the Night Witches -- once again, author James R. Benn dips into details of the historical war and finds intrigue and adventure. Adding personalities (and charming figures) to these female heroes is par for the course in this crimesolving series, lightening the interactions among the investigators and adding charm and amazement to what might otherwise be a very male-focused plot line.

Memorable twists to the action include seeing a Russian officer demoted from NKVD status to prisoner (delicately sketched with much sorrow), and wrestling with an alliance that puts the Americans at risk of Russian betrayal. For instance, is it better for the Russians at the base to assume that Billy's been shot down in the midst of action? Billy admits, "They may think I'm already dead. It may be easier to let them think so a while longer." His host congratulates him on learning to think like a Russian: "There is an old saying. 'Close to the Tsar, close to death.'" For Billy, "it made perfect sense, God help me."

Series fans know that at least Billy is likely to survive the action, whether imprisoned or not. But the risks to his friends multiply, there's endless confusion about who's an enemy and how, and it doesn't just take the rewards of crime to produce lies and betrayal in wartime. 

This lively series makes for great reading. No need to read the other titles before this one, but there's plenty of incentive to pull more onto the TBR shelf afterward, to enjoy a gifted storyteller and a full deck of unusual historical details.

ROAD OF BONES releases on September 7, from Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Billy Boyle #9, THE REST IS SILENCE, James R. Benn (World War II)

The ninth "Billy Boyle World War II Mystery" from James R. Benn came out last fall -- and, knowing it would be an exceptional read, I tucked away a copy of THE REST IS SILENCE for later enjoyment. The reviews that came out at publication were terrific, and I now can add my "yes!" to the others.

Benn's series began with Billy Boyle in 2006, as Soho Press brought the first book out within its Soho Crime label. On his author website, Benn describes the books as a historical mystery series set within the Allied High Command during World War II. That means the first book opens in 1942, as Billy Boyle, a young police detective in a Boston Irish family, discovers that his parents' attempt to keep him home for the war has failed -- "Uncle Ike," General Eisenhower, is headed out to the battlefields, and Boyle, an investigator for the general's most private quandaries, is also on his way to war.

Each volume has moved the war along to another locale, another crisis point, and at the start of THE REST IS SILENCE, it's April 1944 and Billy's assignment takes him to the southwest coast of England, where Allied Forces are preparing to invade Europe -- preparing, that is, for D-Day. The discovery of a murdered man in a very sensitive location means Boyle and his investigating partner Kaz (Lieutenant and Baron Piotr Kazimierz) need to nail the crime and criminal swiftly, to make sure nothing in the D-Day plans has been compromised.

But the family in the gracious home they visit nearby, where a wounded colleague who's been Kaz's friend is recovering, turns out to be much stranger than the first assignment, and soon Billy and Kaz are probing cautiously in an explosive mix of British antagonisms that range from class prejudice to sibling rivalry. When another death takes place, among a much larger disaster nearby, the Allied High Command detective unit expands in number, focus -- and risk.

In spite of its setting and timing, THE REST IS SILENCE is a classic police procedural, in which Billy Boyle's well-nurtured habits of appraisal and inquiry are explored deftly in Benn's polished and often evocative storytelling. I'm sure I should have put the book down more often, to tackle other tasks ... but I didn't want to, and eventually I fixed a final massive mug of tea (in sympathy with the Brits on scene) and charged through the final and engrossing chapters. I found just the right number of plot twists, and the hardest part about finishing the book was keeping them quiet -- because my husband (and partner in crime fiction) is reading this next.

No pressing need to read the earlier books in the series before this one, but if you do, some small comments  that Billy makes, as well as the book's final scene, will have extra resonance. And besides, why would you want to miss out on such good (and historically well-tuned) entertainment?

(PS: The next Billy Boyle mystery comes out in Sept 2015; start now and you have time to read, or re-read, the entire series before then.)

Short Story Collection from James R. Benn, THE REFUSAL CAMP

Crime and war. Unfortunately, they go well together. Especially in the hands of James R. Benn, whose 17 Billy Boyle mysteries place an Irish-American cop at various sites and trenches of World War II, investigating the dark side of moneyed warfare on behalf of his distant cousin General Dwight Eisenhower.

THE REFUSAL CAMP gives Benn the space to air tales of other wars, other time periods, and of course other motivated protagonists (although there is a gem of a Billy Boyle story tucked among these). The collection opens during the years when Connecticut settlers still enslaved Africans, and unfolds from the point of view of an enslaved teen. It swiftly becomes a crime story, one where the most disadvantaged person on the scene must summon both courage and insight, as well as a clever riposte, if he's to escape hanging.

There are eight more stories—one published in an earlier Soho Crime Collection, The Usual Santas. Billy Boyle fans will especially enjoy the Boston investigation "Irish Tommy," featuring police lieutenant Daniel Boyle, as well as "Billy Boyle: The Lost Prologue," a tale removed from the first Billy Boyle mystery before publication. The cleverest may well be "The Secret of Hemlock Hill," a haunted Civil War tale brought into the present. "The Refusal Camp" offers a concentration-camp possibility that reminds us that "victims" often found effective ways to hold their own.

Seasoned Benn/Boyle fans need this collection for their shelves featuring the youthful, loyal, and often rash wartime detective; those new to Benn's work may find the character-focused and neatly plotted and twisted stories so satisfying that they'll wish to dip into the full Boyle series.

Best of all, this nicely balanced collection can temper the rest of the Northern Hemisphere winter season, providing good reading for the last of the fireside evenings and lazy weekends before the yard, gardens, and outdoor sports reassert their siren calls.

Soho Crime/Soho Press will release the collection on March 14; this is a good time to place a pre-order to be sure to get a copy "hot off the press," as Billy Boyle would have said.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here. 

Third Linda Wallheim Crime Novel, FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITIES, from Mette Ivie Harrison

There's a marvelous uncertainty about jumping into a crime fiction series as a reader, not starting with the first book. Will the experience be more powerful because the author has grown in the process of writing earlier books in the series? Or lack resonance because you as the reader don't really know what's developed in the protagonist's life before this book? Or will it be sort of neutral -- because the author is skillful enough to paint the important details of the past without being long-winded, so it doesn't matter whether you've read the earlier books or not?

An example of a series where it's important to read in sequence is David Downing's John Russell espionage series, set in Berlin, Germany, during the Second World War. Russell and his lover Effi Koenen, an actress uneasily performing for the German High Command as John forcibly serves British, American, Russian, and German needs, grow and change in their priorities and goals across the series (and across the war). Start with Zoo Station and savor the author's process, the characters' journeys, and the plots that stand alone in each book, yet dovetail smoothly into the war's history.

A parallel crime fiction series with a very different feel is another Second World War series, the Billy Boyle investigations, written by James Benn. Boyle, new generation in a family of Boston cops, works secretly for General Eisenhower as a detective, and although subsequent books sketch in deftly some of the adventures Boyle and his friends experienced in the earlier ones, his development is the kind you'd expect for a police detective growing more skillful and more dedicated over the years -- it's enjoyable to enter the series at any book, and even to skip around among them. Benn frames each as its own special world of risk and intrigue.

Where in this set of considerations should we place the books by Mette Ivie Harrison? Her third in her Linda Wallheim series, like the other  two (The Bishop's Wife, His Right Hand) exposes the protagonist to a disturbed family situation that she feels obligated to address -- because she is the wife of a leader in the family's religious community, the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka LDS). FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITIES sees Linda Wallheim grapple with another of the reasons that she finds her church difficult: its history of plural marriage and the fragments of existing cults that still cling to that tradition. Wallheim's earlier "amateur sleuth" investigations have involved the duty of spouses to each other, and the acceptance (or rejection) of same-sex love when family members reveal they no longer fit the church's doctrines.

In a sense, Harrison's series resembles Benn's -- the protagonist does not rely on her emotional or mindful learning from earlier books as she goes along, and Harrison's adept portrayal of the church she herself loves supports each book's plot well. When friction arises at the start of this third book, Wallheim is horrified by what she hears from her son Kenneth as he reveals details about a new girlfriend:

There was a long pause and I realized we weren't done with the difficult part of the conversation. "We met at a former Mormons group. We call it Mormons Anonymous."

Mormons Anonymous -- like Alcoholics Anonymous or Gamblers Anonymous? As if my religion were some kind of addictive behavior that you had to recover from?

Harrison has been open in sharing some of her own struggles with that church. Having experienced a profound loss of faith and then a restoration of it, she is a member in good standing in the LDS. Her website admits that her first crime novel was part of her struggle with how to face the conflicts in the group. She is careful to note the differences between her own faith journey and Linda Wallheim's; still, she is clearly still tugging at the most painful issues of the mainstream LDS structure, and showing some of the issues through her fiction.

Wallheim stumbles, through wanting to help her son, into a group that's living with plural marriage -- the usual form, multiple wives (and children) to one powerful husband. She's soon aware of dysfunctional undercurrents in the situation, and overdoes her involvement.

When the plot blossoms into a death, possibly a murder, Wallheim makes an enormous error of judgment (and making an error of judgment is of course classic in an amateur sleuth plot): She goes along with not calling in the police.

And here, as a mystery reader, I found myself in deep disagreement -- I could not "buy" that this experienced wife of a dedicated church leader would jeopardize her marriage and commit a crime herself (helping to cover up the death) for the sake of holding this terrible family together.

My flaw? Or the book's? I'd love to hear from other readers on this issue.

However, my reaction changes how I feel about the series: If you are new to it, start with the first two books, please! You'll have a good chance of bonding to this smart, questioning, impromptu investigator and grasping the love and (overblown?) sense of responsibility that drive her into the sleuth role. And in that case, you'll definitely want to have book 3, FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITIES, to fit into the arc of narrative and the important changes to Wallheim's own family.

I'd suggest not jumping into book 3 without the others ... I think it won't stand well on its own, but may well be critical to read before we all have the chance to savor Harrison's fourth book in the series (which is doubtless mostly written at this point). Like Louise Penny's books, there's clearly an overall progress through the series -- and I want to enjoy every bit of it. From Soho Crime, another must-read series.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

THE NINTH CIRCLE, New Billy Boyle World War II Mystery from James Benn

 Released today (Sept. 1, Soho Press), THE NINTH CIRCLE is a fast-moving wartime thriller that takes Captain Billy Boyle, Boston Irish cop chasing criminals for General Eisenhower, into the wildest parts of Cuban life during the Second World War. Thank goodness for his long-time investigative partner, Lieut. Piotr Kazimierz: The two are assigned to figure out the funny business behind the murder of a naval intelligence officer.

But Billy and Kaz quickly discover they'll need local allies too, and in this case, the offer from the British Legation in Havana isn't enough -- considering that part of the network of nasties involves action at the Gran Casino Nacional, what could be the peril of accepting backup from gangster Meyer Lansky?

With this strange collection of allies (strange might be an understatement for Lansky), life gets even more complicated for the team when Kaz clearly develops an understanding of passion with one of the locals, the lovely and intelligent Solana. Although this leaves Billy as a third wheel at times, it also nudges him into deep reflection:

I thought about all the guajiro [good friends] in other lands, their peaceable meals and traditions shattered and destroyed by war. A war that was still being waged, even here in this land of sun and palm trees. It was fought in hidden rooms and dark alleys, but it was war all the same. A war of spies, betrayals, and deceit.

These moments deepen Benn's page-turner, which spins crisis and conflict at a quick pace. The clever writing allows enough of these diversions to keep the body count in perspective. There's also the peril of becoming pals with a gangster who's got to protect his own investment first. Billy sees it:

I sort of trusted Lansky. Trusted him to act in his own interests, which coincided with ours in that he clearly didn't wish Hitler and his goods well.

Brace for battle, explosions, a touch of love and plenty of loss. This is book 21 in the series, and we readers can assume Billy will survive to the end of the war, as Benn keeps unearthing fascinating twists of history to enliven Billy's assignments. But there are no guarantees for his friends, are there?

Need a reminder of Dante's ninth circle of hell? It's the one for traitors. 

[For more reviews of the books in this enjoyable series, click here.] 

 

FROM THE SHADOWS by James R. Benn, Intriguing Billy Boyle World War II Mystery

As the 17th Billy Boyle investigation opens, it's October 1944, and the long-hoped-for end to World War II is still a long way off in terms of daily life. Sure, the Germans are retreating from France—but what permanent changes have they left behind among the people who stay? Who's been and remains a traitor (and France has flip-flopped some ... it's been hard to tell what was right), and who's still destroying humans and landscape on behalf of "the Boche"? 

Forms of violent payback flourish. So for Billy Boyle, a criminal investigator in General Eisenhower's special staff, every step forward holds peril from two sides at once. Delivered by boat to occupied Crete, on a "simple" pickup assignment to bring a Special Operations Executive officer to France, Billy finds his blunt American assessment of good guys and bad ones under challenge right away. And he'll have to test each ally as he goes along, because nobody's telling him much that he can rely on:

The brass wanted him for some SOE business in the south of France. That's all I was told because that's all I needed to know. Need to know is a big thing in this war, a concept I never much liked. As I gazed out over the unwelcoming shore while we rolled on the dying swells, I would have preferred to know why I was risking my neck.

Series fans and new readers alike will appreciate Billy's relief when he finds his trustworthy and intriguing Polish friend Kaz joining the mission in France. But on their way up the steps to their first joint meeting with the brass, shots ring out,. "I instinctively turned to look," Billy describes, "and heard a sharp sound, followed by a sting at the back of my neck." Nicked by a bullet, Billy's wound isn't bad, although another has pierced the top of Kaz's pierced military cap. Either there are some might casual shooters on the base, or a really accurate sniper has just delivered a warning.

Part of the intense interest of James R. Benn's Billy Boyle mysteries is the way Benn assembles details of the war that aren't often taught in the American classroom. This time, in addition to a failed uprising in the French resistance, and all the friction among passionate groups, there's a remarkable addition to the armed forces at hand: the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit of Nisei (men of Japanese descent born in America and eager to enlist). 

FROM THE SHADOWS refreshes the feel of a more raw America where national origins and ethic differences had high significance. From Billy Boyle's American-Irish background, it's an unusual reach to men whose Japanese families may even be suffering internment in California. Every chapter ends with a clif-hanger, and offers historical and human revelation, along with solving the conundrum of who's taken up crime in the ranks.

The book has a September 6 release date from Soho Press. Cushion the onslaught of back-to-school calendars, ends of vacation, and autumn changeable weather by ordering a copy for your reading stack. Every twist is well knotted, and Benn pulls off another satisfying investigation into the human reality of war, crime, friendship, and honor.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Billy Boyle Becomes a Top Mystery Series: James R. Benn's World War II Crime Fiction

Congratulations to Soho Crime author James R. Benn, whose newest Billy Boyle crime novel hit the ground running yesterday with an enthusiastic review from Marilyn Stasio in the New York Times.

If you haven't read the preceding three volumes, here's my take on them: Yes, this is a series that I think is best if you start at the beginning. But EVIL FOR EVIL, this year's volume, could be jumped into right away, for all the great material especially on Northern Ireland. At any rate, here are the other three, and maybe it will give you enough background to plunge directly into number four.

The series begins with BILLY BOYLE (2006). Consider Billy's situation -- he's a young Irish-American cop from Boston, following in the family business, and already the heir to plenty of his dad's stories about how things get done (good and bad). He knows that you use connections; that you accept a bit of grease for the wheels now and then; and that if you take too much, you won't be able to live well with the shame of it. Thanks to family connections, as World War II breaks out, Billy scoots off to office candidate school and expects a cushy stateside job in the office of his "Uncle Ike" -- not quite his uncle, but close enough, and better known at the time as Dwight D. Eisenhower. What neither Billy nor his family could have guessed, though, was that "Uncle Ike" would be suddenly picked to command the US Army forces in Europe. Ike sees Billy as his personal private investigator, able to track down criminal activity that could otherwise cripple operations -- and willing to keep it quiet and turn over the results to Ike for discrete and rapid action.

Billy's police background is real and potent, even though it's short; soon he's advising a buddy, Kaz, about how to question people and look for guilt, which is quite different from shock:

Guilt. I turned down a path in the garden, white roses hanging damp and heavy from thick shoots spiked with sharp thorns. Guilt will out, Dad used to say. Guilt will out, except if you're dealing with a crazy person. Normal people just couldn't keep guilt from showing, and all you had to do was know where to look for it. That was the hard part.
"Guilt has its own special look and sound."
"Sound? What do you mean?"
"A catch in the voice, an uplift in tone. You can hear it all the time if your listen. It doesn't even have to do with crime. It can be emotional." ...
"Are these the things a Boston detective thinks about on a case? Self-deception, guilt, the knife in the back?"
"Cops always look for things that are out of place. Very little things, which sometimes lead to bigger things, like why a knife in the back."

But there isn't a lot of time for talk, because Billy and Kaz are in the midst of plans for espionage and invasion. "It struck me how close I was to the center of everything, the historic first strike against the Nazis," Billy reflects as he finds out some of the unfolding plans. "I felt like I was ... important." Of course, most of the people around him don't agree -- he's a "kid" in all this, along with all the boys arriving from the States. Still, something inside him warms up to the adventure:

I was hooked. Just like I was hooked the first time I worked a homicide. I knew then that I was different from everyone else, set apart from the concerns of everyday life that swept everyone else forward, on a river of errands, work, dates, drinking, eating, and sleeping. I was going in a different direction, toward revelation and retribution, and there were damn few of us headed that way.

A few pages later, Billy inspects a body for signs of rigor mortis, explores clues, and discovers that he's got to become a successful spy catcher, or else let down Uncle Ike -- unthinkable.
But catching a spy will turn out to be far more direct an action than working through the complications of falling in love. Between Billy and Kaz, and two courageous British sisters, love and suspense become a fearsome tangle with tragedy hovering in the winds. This is war, after all. Billy may be able to solve the crime, but he can't prevent death and destruction from exploding all around him.

Brace for a swift change of geography and climate as Benn's second Billy Boyle unfolds in THE FIRST WAVE (2007): The scene is Algeria in North Africa, and the Vichy French are the wild card: As the US forces arrive and battle Rommel's Afrika Corps, will the French put their weight with the "liberators" or with the Nazi-led occupation? For Billy, the tasks of serving at the front are complicated hugely by the presence of Diana Seaton, the woman with whom he's deeply in love. When Diana is abducted, Billy's priorities take a forceful twist away from orders. He admits readily:

There's nothing like a corpse to put things into perspective. I was tired, but Jerome was dead. ... I would have thought he was still asleep except for his eyes. ... They seemed to seek me out, as if Jerome had a last message to pass one. All I got was a shover up my spine as I reched down and closed them. ... Two brothers dead for what they believed in when they both could have sat it out and played it safe.

Playing it safe isn't Billy's way, although it takes a war to help him realize this. He has friends to assist, and a rescue to mastermind. And even if he pulls of the rescue, will Diana already hate him for not arriving in time to protect her from humiliation, degradation, and powerful evil?

Yes, Diana, who is also a special agent, will re-appear in the third book, BLOOD ALONE (2008). But this time, Billy has a long way to go before he even remembers who she is and where he has left her: He's lost his memory, awakening in a field hospital in Sicily with a post-concussion amnesia. Long before he can even pull together his name and rank, or be sure of which side he's fighting on, he's a target of assassins. Why? What mission was he assigned to? And which group of deadly Sicilians is after him now? He's handicapped in part by how readily he sees even foreign people as like his own:

A wave of sadness passed over me. This village was awash in death, an everyday occurrence. Not from the war, but from a lifetime of killing labor and poverty. This was what my family had left Ireland to escape. This was what Sciafani couldn't escape, even with his position and education. The life of suffering of the peasant. It had descended upon him as he walked into the village, apologizing for the smell. It is better when it rains.

The basics of forensic analysis, the search for clues and motives, the revealing of how death is stalking its victims alongside the wholesale slaughter of war, these are Billy Boyle's tools, along with the sense of himself that he's brought along from Boston. Sure, these three volumes include great details of World War II, and of Eisenhower's work in the Allied command -- but they are first and foremost a deeply satisfying set of detective novels, with the sense of inner mystery and longing that enhances the best crime writing anywhere.

Kudos to James R. Benn, a librarian and media specialist and long-time World War II buff. By painting the human heart, he's opened the war to any reader who longs for a good story of "redemption and retribution."