Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery [Kindle Edition]

James R. Benn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A promising premise—placing a callow Boston police officer in the midst of WWII intrigue—isn't fully realized in this first of a new historical series from Benn (Desperate Ground). Soon after Pearl Harbor, Billy Boyle escapes a combat tour because his Southie family pulls strings to place him on the staff of a distant relative by marriage, a general named Dwight Eisenhower, whom Billy calls "Uncle Ike." Billy's untried detective skills are soon put to the test in London, where he's assigned to unmask a spy who may compromise Allied plans to drive the Nazis out of Norway. When one of the chief suspects turns up dead, an apparent suicide, Billy displays a knack for forensics as he uncovers medical anomalies that suggest homicide. Hopefully, Uncle Ike will have more to do in future installments—and Benn will introduce the sort of character complexity that distinguishes, say, Charles Todd's WWI-era psychological whodunits (A Long Shadow, etc.) or PBS TV's Foyle's War, which also involves murder investigations during WWII. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Billy Boyle is a Boston cop, from a family of Boston cops, but he is a reluctant soldier who prefers walking the beat in Southie to fighting Nazis. Using her cousin by marriage, a certain General Eisenhower, Billy's mother lands her son a seemingly soft job with Ike's staff in London. But Ike wants Billy to use his investigative know-how to sniff out a possible spy in the Allies' inner circle. Young Billy, oversold by his mother as a crackerjack detective, is definitely in over his head, especially when it turns out that the apparent suicide of a Norwegian dignitary may have been the work of the spy. Benn has a tantalizing premise here, but he doesn't quite deliver on it: his prose slips into wartime cliches a little too often, and the supporting love story reeks of WWII melodrama. Yet the action builds to a suspenseful climax, and there is even a hint of moral ambiguity in the wrap-up. A not entirely satisfactory debut, then, but Ken Follett fans will want to give Billy and his uncle a chance to develop. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2086 KB
• Print Length: 303 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1569474338
• Publisher: Soho Press (September 1, 2006)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001E0JM18
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,552 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Writing the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series has brought me an immense amount of joy. I've gotten to meet people in person and online from all over the world and hear their reactions, feedback, and most importantly, their own stories.

My idea for a historical mystery series set within the Allied High Command during the Second World War began with the first title, Billy Boyle, which takes place in England and Norway in 1942. The second, The First Wave, carries on a few months later during the Allied invasion of French Northwest Africa. The third, Blood Alone continues the story through the Allied invasion of Sicily. In the fourth installment, Evil For Evil, Billy Boyle voyages to his native Ireland.

The fifth book in the series deals with the infamous Katyn Massacre of Polish Officers by the Soviets, and how the uncovering of that crime affected the war, especially Polish-Americans and the Poles in exile in England. It is titled Rag and Bone (from the Yeats poem), and was released in September 2010.

Number six, titled A Mortal Terror, will be out in September 2011. It is set in southern Italy and within the Anzio Beachhead, where Billy tracks down the Red Heart Killer, who is targeting officers of increasingly senior rank. Mortal terror also refers to combat fatigue and the terrible effects of prolonged exposure to the not only combat but the rigors of winter in the mountains.

I live in Hadlyme, Connecticut, with my wife Deborah Mandel, a psychotherapist who offers many insights into the motivations of my characters, a good critical read, and much else. Our dog Ranger lives with us. We have two sons, Jeff and Ben, and seven grandchildren (Camille, Claudia, Emma, Luke, Nathaniel, Noah, Oliver).

I'm a graduate of the University of Connecticut and received my MLS degree from Southern Connecticut State University. I am a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and the Author's Guild. I've worked in the library and information technology fields for over thirty-five years. I am currently director of the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, Connecticut.

I've learned two valuable lessons since I started writing which have helped me greatly. The first is a quote from Oscar Wilde, who said "The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one's pants to a chair." The second is from novelist Rachel Basch, who told me "the story has to move down, as well as forward." Both sound simple. Neither is.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A soldier-detective learns the lessons of war, August 29, 2006

By 

Ruth Greiner "Mystery reader" (Camp Hill, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery (Hardcover)

Straight out of Officer Candidate School, Lt. Billy Boyle finds himself not in a sheltered stateside billet but in a freezing B-17 on his way to war-torn London, assigned to Hq, European Theater of Operations. How did he get here? As he's arrived at so many other destinations in his young life: through family connections, this one on his mother's side--the Douds. When he arrives, his "Uncle Ike," General Dwight D. Eisenhower, briefs him on his first assignment, to use his skills as a detective in finding a spy who has infiltrated "Operation Juno," an Allied operation centered on Norway.
There are things that Billy doesn't know about "Operation Juno," and things that Ike doesn't know about Billy, particularly that Billy passed the detective's exam only with some family help. And Billy himself doesn't know how he's going to pull this off, but he knows his duty when he sees it. And he's been a Boston cop for five years, and has learned a lot about detection from his father, himself a veteran South Boston cop.
So Billy begins his investigation, and then there's a murder, and then another death, a heartbreaking one. Billy moves about, from London to the English countryside, and to other military bases, learning all the time--from his associates, from the people he meets along the way, and from his own memories of his father's life and what his father has taught him. Things like "chasing a lie" to find the truth, and looking for remorse when it should be found, but isn't always.
The writing here is absolutely excellent, skillfully interweaving Billy's search for a murderer and for justice with the lessons that he's been learning all his life, now concentrated in a war-time environment. The characters are beautifully realized, and all have something to teach Billy. Eisenhower appears only a few times, but each time he introduces a theme of the novel: family, the inevitability of loss, and the terrible costs of war. And the author shines in his characterization of Billy, who at the start of his tale is simultaneously cocky yet unsure of himself in this brand new milieu; as his investigation continues, he learns the lessons of war, and of family, of true bravery, and of manhood.
The various settings are perfectly detailed, whether in bombed-out London, at an English country house, or in a newly-built mess hall in England, so new that the sawdust from its construction still lies in straight lines on the ground nearby. Likewise, dialogue is true to the period, yet never trite.
This is a fine book, with an engaging hero. It is suspenseful, often charming, and always thoughtful, right up to its exciting denouement. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AS GOOD AS IT GETS..., October 4, 2006

By 

Alex from Houston "Enjoys a good mystery" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery (Hardcover)

The reason I like James Benn is that he incorporates the best of Alan Furst, Robert Wilson, Philip Kerr and Eric Ambler. If you like 'Film Noir" you'll love 'Book' Noir. Billy Boyle takes place at a time when good and bad were clearly defined, unlike today. The novel's characters relect that trend yet they have the human flaws that are incumbent in all people, but so well described in this work by Mr. Benn. This is a book that is a mystery and really is. The obvious is not so obvious and the surprises come out of left field. I read this in two nights. It would have only taken me one night but I needed to sleep since I had to work the next morning, but you know, I could have skipped work and it would have been worth it.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars world war II brought to life, October 9, 2006

By 

Debbie (CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery (Hardcover)

Billy Boyle is much more than a mystery. It is also much more than a war story. It is a coming of age story of a young man sent to war against his better judgement. It is a love story. It is a story about what one person does when faced with moral choices. It is a story about strong women as well as men, making this a book to be enjoyed by women and men. The setting, London during WWII, provides a great look into life during the times. The combination of a true historical event with fictional components was compelling. A very good, can't put down read. I can't wait until the next one comes out!