MRD Reads Billy Boyle a WWII Mystery

The January selection for our Mystery Reading Discussion Group at Firewheel Barnes and Noble for January was by a new author for our group. The author is James R. Benn and he is not really a new author but was new to most of us. The book we read was the first book in the series and it is called Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery.

There were 5 of us in attendance for the discussion and the vote was three liked the book, one was undecided, and one did not particularly care for it. Incidentally, another member who did not attend tonight indicated she liked the book as well - even though one of the characters she enjoyed was murdered in the book.

Billy Boyle just recently became a detective in the Boston Police Department. With the entrance of the US into the war, he manages to get sent to England to be a part of General Eisenhower's / Uncle Ike's staff. As a new and inexperienced detective, he is a little surprised when he is tasked to find a traitor in the war. On top of that he gets pulled into the investigation of the death of a foreign government official. He has to learn first hand how to conduct an investigation.

This was a very interesting story and I enjoyed the time period (and location) it was set in. Incidentally, I also read the next book in the series as well. It was called The First Wave. I know there are other books in the series by the author as well. If you want to learn more about the author, you might want to check out his website at
http://www.jamesrbenn.com/. I will be looking forward to reading other books by the author.