Description de l’éditeur
In the eighteenth installment in this fan-favorite WWII mystery series, US Army Captain Billy Boyle investigates a murder in a charming English village, where personal vendettas tangle with wartime espionage.
Norfolk, England, November 1944: After a series of dangerous missions in the South of France, US Army Captain Billy Boyle is finally on leave, and is settling into a peaceful rest at the country estate of Sir Richard Seaton, the father of Billy’s British lover, Diana. Seaton Manor is a comfortable haven, and Billy is eager to spend a few precious days in Diana’s company pretending the war is far away.
Unfortunately, Billy’s leave is cut short when a crashed German bomber resurfaces off the coast with the corpse of a British officer in the pilot seat. The nearby village of Slewford hosts a top-secret military intelligence operation, home to high-ranking German POWs, and so the crash is a matter of national security. Billy is assigned by the commander of the POW facility to investigate. After the plane is discovered, a local villager is murdered—and suddenly what had appeared to be a failed enemy military operation takes on an even more sinister aspect. All Billy’s ex-Boston cop instincts are put to the test as he interviews the grieving, angry, and conniving citizens of this idyllic English country village in search of the truth.
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Murderous tensions rock a quiet corner of the English countryside in Benn's masterful 18th Billy Boyle mystery (following 2022's From the Shadows). In 1944, Boston cop turned U.S. Army captain Boyle is en route to Norfolk, England, for a vacation at the country home of his girlfriend, Diana, and her father, Sir Richard Seaton. When he arrives, the locals put him on edge, acting secretive and uneasy in ways he can't quite place. After a storm, a crashed German bomber with the corpse of a long-missing local Englishman in the pilot's seat washes ashore, causing pandemonium heightened by the fact that the area is home to one of the royal family's country estates. Ordered to investigate by the commander of a nearby POW facility, Boyle clashes with a British chief inspector who despises "Yanks" and with Norfolk residents who don't take kindly to questions about their private lives. Benn combines the best elements of traditional small-town mysteries and WWII thrillers, developing a firm sense of place and never letting the suspense flag. This long-running series shows no signs of fatigue.
