Last week, I celebrated the release of the third book in my Mystery Bookshop Mystery Series, THE NOVEL ART OF MURDER, with a Facebookparty at Cozy Reading Library (thank you to Colleen Finn and Stacey C. Toneyfor hosting me). The format for the party was Q&A which differed from most of the Facebook parties I’ve attended. I found one of the questions particularly intriguing. The moderator (Stacey) asked, “concerning the setting for the historical mystery portion of the novel(Great Britain, late 1930’s, pre-WWII.) Why did you pick this location/time period for Sam to highlight in her novels?” I’m sure others have asked this question but for some reason, this time I really thought about it and it caused some deep thought on my part. I’ve always been fascinated by World War II, but I think it honestly boils down to two C’s character and codes.
World War II was dominated by larger-than-life characters.This includes characters who are viewed today as good like, Winston Churchill,Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Charles de Gaulle. There were also characters who are viewed today as evil like Joseph Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. After World War I, most nations were unwilling to engage in another war. Appeasement was the preferred strategy and anyone opposing appeasement was publicly criticized.Nevertheless, there were people like Winston Churchill who had the courage to stand firm in his convictions. There were people with the courage and the will to speak out. It was a period where spies, secret agents, and average men and women risked their lives in organizations like the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) to fight for their nation and for freedom. When you take into account that the average life expectancy for a radio operator in occupied France was six weeks,it’s remarkable that over 470 agents (39 women) were sent into France during WWII.
One of the things I love most about cozy mysteries is the puzzle. Readers sift through a story to find the clues, look past the red herrings, and figure out Whodunit. During World War II, there were countless people at places like Bletchley Park,dedicated to cracking codes and deciphering encoded messages. Enigma machines,Navajo Code Talkers and men and women who used their skills to crack codes, identify patterns and connect-the-dots were vital to the allied war effort. Where would we be today without Alan Turin and Agnes Driscoll? Never heard of them? Keep reading the Mystery Bookshop Mystery Series—you will.