Review by Booklist Review
In Blitz-torn London, Bridey Kelly's standing as a nurse trainee is in jeopardy after she makes a disastrous mistake. She attempts to restore her supervisor's favor by agreeing to care for a group of children fleeing the city's constant bombings. Greenway, the evacuees' bucolic Devon rental, is owned by renowned mystery author Agatha Christie, a fitting detail considering the foreboding that Bridey has determinedly ignored since she boarded the train. Her secretive fellow nurse, Gigi, seems oddly familiar with a mysterious trio who have followed them from the London station to Greenway. When one of the three is killed, Bridey recognizes signs of strangling and only then learns of several other recent deaths that the village's new doctor has written off to natural causes. Ever the sharp-eyed survivor, Bridey suspects that the deaths are tied to Gigi's past and the rumors of a possible Nazi fifth column in the village. Rader-Day, known for masterfully weaving historical elements into her female-focused literary thrillers, imbues this wartime whodunit with palpable emotion as Bridey reconciles her family's bombing deaths through a plan to save another life.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In 1941, trainee nurse Bridget Kelly, the heroine of this richly nuanced mystery from Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Rader-Day (The Lucky One), is mourning the bombing deaths of her mother and siblings when she makes a medication dosing mistake that kills a man. Her supervisor assigns her to care for children being evacuated from London and promises that if she does well, her training can resume. With 10 infants and toddlers and a fellow nurse who says her name is also Bridget Kelly but goes by Gigi, Bridget travels to Greenway, the Devon holiday home of author Agatha Christie, which is empty except for staff while Christie and her husband do war work. Gigi is unreliable and faints at the sight of blood, but her effervescence helps lighten Bridget's sadness and self-doubt. When a strangled corpse is found in a nearby river, Bridget recognizes it as a man whom she discovered wandering in Greenway's garden one morning. Soon afterward, Gigi disappears. Through multiple viewpoints, Rader-Day nicely evokes the isolation and dislocations of people in WWII Britain while revealing her characters' complexities. Despite the many allusions to Christie's life and work, she eschews an artificially neat conclusion. Fans of both Christie and Rader-Day will relish this. Agent: Sharon Bowers, Folio Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In the vein of the classic British mystery, Rader-Day (The Black Hour) has created a remarkable tale set in World War II Britain. Bridget "Bridey" Kelly, a trainee nurse in London, has lost her family, and now due to a critical error, has lost her chance to be a nurse. She takes the only opportunity available--being a nurse to a group of 10 evacuee children who will be sheltered at Greenway, Agatha Christie's holiday home in the south of England. If anyone finds out that she isn't a fully trained nurse, all will be lost, Bridey knows. But Bridey's secret is only one of many among their little evacuee group. And when a body is found nearby, Bridey realizes they all are in danger from more than just the air raids. The narrative alternates between different characters' perspectives, adding layers of intrigue. Exceptional narrator Moira Quirk seamlessly transitions between characters and accents, bringing the evocative writing to life. VERDICT A story to remember and ponder. Will be popular with fans of Charles Todd and Kate Atkinson.--Donna Bachowski
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