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Billy Boyle WWII Mysteries #18
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.
"Murderous tensions rock a quiet corner of the English countryside in Benn's masterful 18th Billy Boyle mystery...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." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The mystery is first-rate, the dialogue is period correct and the series as a whole is the best set of wartime novels since those of the legendary Nevil Shute." —BookPage (starred review)
"Benn skillfully advances the stories of the characters he's developed over several previous novels while strategically revealing pieces of the complex murder puzzle. This long-running series grows in breadth and depth with every installment." —Kirkus Reviews
"Benn's Billy Boyle series has enchanted readers for many years and Proud Sorrows is an excellent addition. Benn is a master of suspense; his work builds to the end and never loosens its grip upon the reader. Even if this is your first Billy Boyle Mystery you will find Proud Sorrows a satisfying read!" —Charles Todd, author of the Inspector Rutledge mysteries and the Bess Crawford mysteries
This information about Proud Sorrows was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries. The debut, Billy Boyle, was selected as a Top Five book of the year by Book Sense and was a Dilys Award nominee, A Blind Goddess was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, The Rest Is Silence was a Barry Award nominee, and The Devouring was a Macavity Award nominee. Benn, a former librarian, splits his time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and Connecticut with his wife, Deborah Mandel.
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by Christina Lynch
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