Review: The War Widow (Billie Walker Mysteries #1)
The War Widow by Tara Moss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Author Tara Moss has served up a historical mystery set in post-World War II Australia. Her protagonist Billie Walker, a former war journalist whose war photographer husband Jack disappeared while reporting in German-occupied Europe. Billie gave up on looking for him to try to reach Sydney before her father died, but alas, it was too late. Now Billie has taken up her father's profession, private investigation, though most of her cases have been marital infidelity. When a reserved, foreign-sounding mother hires Billie to find her missing son, the last thing she and her war-veteran assistant Sam expect is to be drawn into more Nazi-related wrongdoing.
This is an engaging installment in Moss's new series. From the grave limits posed by post-war rationing to its enlightened take on the abuses of the aborigines and its dark look at the legal migrant Italian "enemy aliens" interned in Australia (just as America interned Japanese-Americans) and Italian POW camps, the backdrop that Moss painted a detailed picture of Sydney in 1946. I know some criticize Moss's passion for detail, but it works well in a historical fiction novel. Some aspects of the plot, like chasing after killers, require a little bit of suspended belief, but overall, the story flies. Billie is a plucky and witty protagonist. There are hints of a potential suitor in Detective Inspector Hank Cooper, but personally, I just can't get enough of Billie's intrepid mother, Baroness Ella.
The audiobook is narrated by Corinne Davies, with a lovely yet very easy to understand Aussie accent.
Please note this novel was released in Australia as Dead Man Switch.
I received a digital review copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Author Tara Moss has served up a historical mystery set in post-World War II Australia. Her protagonist Billie Walker, a former war journalist whose war photographer husband Jack disappeared while reporting in German-occupied Europe. Billie gave up on looking for him to try to reach Sydney before her father died, but alas, it was too late. Now Billie has taken up her father's profession, private investigation, though most of her cases have been marital infidelity. When a reserved, foreign-sounding mother hires Billie to find her missing son, the last thing she and her war-veteran assistant Sam expect is to be drawn into more Nazi-related wrongdoing.
This is an engaging installment in Moss's new series. From the grave limits posed by post-war rationing to its enlightened take on the abuses of the aborigines and its dark look at the legal migrant Italian "enemy aliens" interned in Australia (just as America interned Japanese-Americans) and Italian POW camps, the backdrop that Moss painted a detailed picture of Sydney in 1946. I know some criticize Moss's passion for detail, but it works well in a historical fiction novel. Some aspects of the plot, like chasing after killers, require a little bit of suspended belief, but overall, the story flies. Billie is a plucky and witty protagonist. There are hints of a potential suitor in Detective Inspector Hank Cooper, but personally, I just can't get enough of Billie's intrepid mother, Baroness Ella.
The audiobook is narrated by Corinne Davies, with a lovely yet very easy to understand Aussie accent.
Please note this novel was released in Australia as Dead Man Switch.
I received a digital review copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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