“Delightful.”—
Kirkus Reviews
"Charming and exciting...the perfect cozy mystery, with a brilliant heroine you’re sure to adore."—Apple Books, Best of the Month Selection
Set in a charming British village during World War II, Stephanie Graves’ debut mystery introduces Olive Bright, a spirited young pigeon fancier who finds herself at the heart of a baffling murder...
Though war rages across mainland Europe and London is strafed by German aircraft, the little village of Pipley in Hertfordshire bustles along much as it always has. Adrift since her best friend, George, joined the Royal Air Force, twenty-two-year-old Olive Bright fills her days by helping at her father’s veterinary practice and tending to her beloved racing pigeons. Desperate to do her bit, Olive hopes that the National Pigeon Service will enlist Bright Lofts’ expertise, and use their highly trained birds to deliver critical, coded messages for His Majesty’s Forces.
The strangers who arrive in Pipley are
not
from the NPS. Instead, Jameson Aldridge and his associate are tied to a covert British intelligence organization known as Baker Street. If Olive wants her pigeons to help the war effort, she must do so in complete secrecy. Olive readily agrees, but in the midst of her subterfuge, local busybody Miss Husselbee is found dead outside Olive’s pigeon loft. Is the murder tied to Olive’s new assignment? Or did Miss Husselbee ferret out a secret shameful enough to kill for? With the gruff, handsome Jameson as an unlikely ally, Olive intends to find out—but homing in on a murderer can be a deadly business...
“Utterly charming… A marvelous read.” —Tasha Alexander,
New York Times
bestselling author of
In the Shadow of Vesuvius
“Smart, energetic, and witty.” —
Publishers Weekly
“A fresh, quirky, and charming new heroine.” —Susan Elia MacNeal,
bestselling author of the Edgar-nominated Maggie Hope series
“Entertaining.” —
Criminal Element