Something to prove

Billy Boyle's father is a pretty good police detective in Boston, and through his dad's influence Billy gets on the force and becomes a fledgling detective himself. Then the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, and Billy finds himself in the Army. Again thanks to family influence, he gains a quick appointment to lieutenant and a supposedly cushy and safe post under his Uncle Ike, none other than Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, in London. Then Billy learns Uncle Ike, seemingly under the impression the young man has more police experience than he actually does, appoints him his investigator. His first mission: find  a spy among the Norwegian officers planning an invasion to retake their country from the Nazis.

So begins Billy Boyle (2006), the first book in James R. Benn's series of World War II mysteries and a book that will make you want to seek out the others in the series.

The best thing about Billy Boyle is Billy Boyle, an intriguing and likable character who is unsure he actually possesses any of his father's investigative skills and who, expecting to sit out the war in relative safety, finds himself in an extremely dangerous situation, leading to his own personal invasion of Norway. If you were making a movie of this story 50 years ago, you would have wanted James Garner in the starring role.

Other characters in the novel, including British naval officer Daphne Seaton and Polish officer Piotr Kazimierz, prove interesting, as well. Both Daphne and Kaz are assigned to assist Billy in his investigation and prove invaluable, often doing better detective work than Billy himself.

The light tone with which Benn opens the novel soon turns dark, as both the war and the espionage plot (and later a murder) become deadly serious. Billy proves up to the task, although his abilities as a detective remain somewhat in doubt even as the story ends. The happy ending proves to be due as much luck as skill. So Billy still has something to prove, and to learn, in the other books in the series. These include A Blind Goddess and Blue Madonna.