Death in a Blackout

by Jessica Ellicott

Overview

The first in a brand-new WWII historical mystery series introduces WPC Billie Harkness - a female police officer who risks her life to protect the home front in the British coastal city of Hull.

1940. Britain is at war. Rector's daughter Wilhelmina Harkness longs to do her duty for her country, but when her strict mother forbids her to enlist, their bitter argument has devastating consequences.

Unable to stay in the village she loves, Wilhelmina - reinventing herself as Billie - spends everything she has on a one-way ticket up north. Hull is a distant, dangerous city, but Billie is determined to leave her painful memories behind and start afresh, whatever the cost.

The last thing Billie expects on her first evening in Hull, however, is to be caught in the city's first air raid - or to stumble across the body of a young woman, suspiciously untouched by debris.

If the air raid didn't kill the glamorous stranger, what did? Billie is determined to get justice, and her persistence earns her an invitation to the newly formed Women's Police Constabulary. But as the case unfolds, putting her at odds with both high-ranking members of the force as well as the victim's powerful family, Billie begins to wonder if she can trust her new friends and colleagues . . . or if someone amongst them is working for the enemy.

DEATH IN A BLACKOUT is a perfect pick for fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Rhys Bowen and Susan Elia MacNeal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448306527
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Series:	A WPC Billie Harkness mystery , #1
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	517,365
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.82(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Agatha award nominee Jessica Ellicott loves fountain pens, Mini Coopers and throwing parties. A member of Wicked Authors, Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, she lives in northern New England with her dark and mysterious husband, exuberant children and a precocious poodle named Sam.

Editorial Reviews

03/14/2022

In 1940, Billie Harkness, the protagonist of this so-so series launch set in England from Ellicott (the Beryl and Edwina mysteries), tries to join the war effort after her clergyman father becomes a German POW, but her controlling mother, Martha, who wants her to adhere to traditional domestic roles, prevents her from doing so. Martha’s subsequent death in a hit-and-run accident prompts Billie to leave her small village of Barton St. Giles for the city of Hull, where she’s been invited to live by a cousin she’s never met. The move comes with a radical life change as well. After Billie comes across a dead woman in a café who was ostensibly killed in an air raid, her attempts to identify the body lead her to accept an offer to join Hull’s new women’s police constabulary unit. That position enables her to pursue her suspicions of foul play. The whodunit doesn’t compel, and while Billie engenders sympathy, she doesn’t leave much of an impression. The concept—probing a homicide amid the chaos of WWII—has been done plenty of times before and better. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

'A plucky heroine, a meaty mystery, and a satisfying conclusion’  – Booklist

‘Brisk and colorful'  – Kirkus Reviews

'A treat for readers'  – Publishers Weekly on Murder Comes to Call

From the Publisher

2022-03-02
A young woman from the country finds adventure in World War II–era England.

At first things look bleak for Wilhelmina "Billie" Harkness of Barton St Giles in rural Wiltshire. Her father, a rector, is a prisoner of war, and her brother’s missing in action. Her mother, after tearing up Billie’s enlistment papers, is run down by a car and killed, leaving Billie alone in the vicarage with her father’s rector, Ronald Kershaw. Afraid of the scandal his living under the same roof as an unmarried woman threatens, he gives Billie an ultimatum: marry him or leave her home. Fortunately, a letter from a cousin she’s never met rescues her. Lydia Harkness, who has pots of money, invites her for an indefinite stay in her gracious home in Hull. A port city, Hull is bigger and busier than sleepy Barton St Giles. It’s also a target of German aircraft, as a raid during Billie’s first night proves. Lydia arranges a job for her cousin in the library, but Billie’s made for more challenging stuff. Before she even starts her new post, she’s recruited as one of Hull’s two female constables, an innovation brought on by the need to send every able-bodied man to the front. After the bang-bang pace of the events that bring Billie out of the vicarage under the watchful eye of her mum to semi-independence in her cousin’s house, readers can expect the very different treat of watching her negotiate for respect in her newly created post. Tackling everything from the theft of Father O’Connell’s bicycle to the death of a young woman the night of the air raid, Billie proves herself more than up to the task.

Brisk and colorful.

Kirkus Reviews

A plucky heroine, a meaty mystery, and a satisfying conclusion

Booklist

A fresh and different take on WW2 stories as an appealing young heroine finds herself investigating petty crimes and divided loyalties in the midst of the Blitz. Shades of Foyles War

New York Times bestselling author of the Molly Mur Rhys Bowen

This historical cozy will appeal to those who enjoy Frances Brody's Kate Shackleton and Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series

Booklist on Murder Cuts the Mustard

A plucky heroine, a meaty mystery, and a satisfying conclusion

Booklist

The first in a WWII mystery series, narrated with energy by Elizabeth Sastre, features plucky British Women’s Police Constable (WPC) Wilhelmina “Billie” Harkness. When a timely letter from a distant cousin, an effervescently voiced Lydia, arrives after a tragic accident, Billie seizes the opportunity for a fresh start in a new city. She soon joins the recently established WPC to investigate the suspicious death of a young art student. Sastre energizes Billie with verve and determination as she doggedly pursues answers. Alongside her reluctant partner, the earnest Special Constable Upton, she engages with an Irish priest, an irate councilor, and other well-characterized residents. Disparate threads surrounding the case come together gradually, presenting listeners with a few twists and more than a few red herrings. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JULY 2022 - AudioFile

The first in a WWII mystery series, narrated with energy by Elizabeth Sastre, features plucky British Women’s Police Constable (WPC) Wilhelmina “Billie” Harkness. When a timely letter from a distant cousin, an effervescently voiced Lydia, arrives after a tragic accident, Billie seizes the opportunity for a fresh start in a new city. She soon joins the recently established WPC to investigate the suspicious death of a young art student. Sastre energizes Billie with verve and determination as she doggedly pursues answers. Alongside her reluctant partner, the earnest Special Constable Upton, she engages with an Irish priest, an irate councilor, and other well-characterized residents. Disparate threads surrounding the case come together gradually, presenting listeners with a few twists and more than a few red herrings. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JULY 2022 - AudioFile