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Summary
Summary
US Army Lieutenant Billy Boyle is back in England, just in time for two cases fall into his lap at once. Sergeant Jackson, who grew up with Billy, is part of the battalion poised to make history by being the Army's first combatant African American company. But the 617 faces racism at every turn. One of Tree's men has been arrested for a crime he almost certainly didn't commit. Tree knows US top brass won't care, and asks Billy help. But Billy can't use any of his vacation time to investigate - an accountant has been murdered in an English village, and all of this just might be connected.
Author Notes
James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries. The debut, Billy Boyle , was named one of the top five mysteries of 2006 by Book Sense and was a Dilys Award nominee. Subsequent books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal , and been listed as the Bookpage Mystery of the Month. Two have been tagged as a "Killer Book" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. A librarian for many years, Benn lives in Hadlyme, Connecticut, with his wife, Deborah Mandel.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Pervasive racism in the U.S. Army during WWII frames Benn's excellent eighth Billy Boyle whodunit (after 2012's Death's Door). In March 1944, Billy receives an appeal from an old estranged friend, Sgt. Eugene "Tree" Jackson. A member of Tree's "colored" battalion has been arrested for the murder of Thomas Eastman, an English policeman, who was found with his head bashed in on his father's grave in the village of Chilton Foliat. Tree is positive that the accused was mistakenly arrested. Boyle wants to help, but he's pulled away into another homicide investigation west of London in which MI5 has an interest. The intelligence service's role may be related to the fact that the victim's landlords were two Germans who fled their native country because they opposed the Nazis. The superior plot and thoughtful presentation of institutional racism directed against American soldiers about to risk their lives for their country make this one of Benn's best. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
The eighth adventure in Benn's engaging WWII series finds recently promoted Captain Billy Boyle, special investigator for General Eisenhower, assigned to find the killer of a seemingly ordinary citizen in a country village. An odd assignment for a military man, made odder by the fact that Billy has been given orders not to investigate the German family who run the boarding house where the victim lived. Meanwhile, Billy has reconnected with an old friend from Boston, a black man called Tree, a sergeant in a tank destroyer unit. There is bad blood between Billy and Tree, but Tree puts that aside to ask for Billy's help in freeing a friend from his unit, wrongly accused of killing an Englishman. Juggling both cases, Billy finds himself in the middle of a simmering racial conflict between the black soldiers stationed in the area and their white counterparts, who resent the fact that the blacks have been warmly received by the English. The mysteries themselves are pretty standard fare, but Benn's thoroughly researched exploration of segregation in the wartime armed services is revealing and sensitively handled. Another nice mix of human drama and WWII history.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
In the weeks building up to the anticipated invasion of France, D-day, things are hectic in southern England. Capt. Billy Boyle, a military detective, is surprised when an old Boston friend, Sgt. Eugene "Tree" Jackson, asks him to look into the case of a black U.S. serviceman who has been arrested in the murder of a constable. Tree's unit, a segregated division stationed nearby, helps Boyle snoop around as he tries to figure out who has made the enlisted man a scapegoat. Concurrently, Boyle has been assigned to help MI-5 investigate the murder of a British loan officer. Adding fuel to the fire, a missing girl's body turns up. Boyle steps carefully through the minefields of racism, espionage, and child abduction until the three cases intersect in a volatile, whirlwind finale. VERDICT Elaborately plotted, Benn's eighth entry in the series (after Death's Door) has his World War II sleuth investigating a deplorable side of U.S. military history. His use of an ongoing narrative throughout the book to explain Billy and Tree's backstory is particularly well done. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.