There’s rarely a book series that I’ve started from the beginning. Often I pick up a book mid-way in a series, then if I like the book, try to locate the earlier books. James R. Benn’s Billy Boyle series might be an exception, as I read the first book in the series first, then skipped some of the sequels. I’ve read six of his novels to date, some out of sequence, and some in a row. It’s a strange method, hopping from one event to the next, not paying too much attention to what went before.
All the novels do fill in parts of the back-story, at least in terms of the main character. A former Boston police officer who made detective shortly before Pearl Harbor, the titular character is related to General Eisenhower, and gets a cushy assignment to the general’s staff, or so he thinks. He’s quickly assigned as a sort of roving detective for the general, sent here and there to investigate various crimes, usually involving murders, he finds himself in many of the crucial battles or locations of WWII.
The first novel, Billy Boyle, takes place mostly in England, but also in Norway. It’s not the strongest of the ones I’ve read. Others, like Death’s Door, takes place in the Vatican and Rome, still under German occupation. A Blind Goddess deals with racism, highly prevalent in the US Army despite its waste of resources. The Rest is Silence bring attention to preparations for Normandy, and how secrecy pervades everything, even massive disasters. A Mortal Terror veers into serial killer territory, while Rag and Bone alludes to the Katyn forest massacre, and how the British alliance with the Soviets covered up this horrible crime.
I think Benn’s written more than 14 novels in this series, so clearly I have a lot more to read. If you like historical fiction, with a focus on WWII, this is one series to bite your teeth into.
