‘Murder at Bletchley Park’ by Christina Koning

Published by Allison & Busby,
21 December 2023.
ISBN: 978-0-74903058-2 (HB)

Spring, 1941, and  World War II has entered a new and deadly phase, with British shipping being torpedoed by German U-boats, and nightly bombing raids on the UK’s major cities. Frederick Rowlands, blind veteran of WWI, is alarmed when his daughter, Margaret, announces that she’s leaving her university course in maths for a war job. She can’t say any more, but she’s been head-hunted for top secret work at Bletchley Park, where the race is on to crack the German Enigma code.

She brings a friend home for Christmas: a dashing young socialite called Paula Wingate, whose father, she says, is a diplomat in Kenya, where she grew up, and who seems to have far too many boyfriends among Britain’s minor aristocracy. Rowlands doesn’t take to her, and isn’t totally surprised when she goes missing, although Margaret is worried. Then Margaret’s arrested for being in possession of top secret documents, and Paula’s found dead ...

One of the things I really enjoyed about this novel was the character of Frederick Rowlands, and the way the novel’s events and investigation were described through his eyes, though in the third person. Rowlands works as an organiser for a residential home for blind ex-servicemen, and commutes daily from his home in Ealing. Naturally the description focused on sounds and smell, which made it wonderfully vivid. Chief Inspector Douglas and the exotic Iris Barnes made good foils for Rowlands’ practical sense and flashes of intuition. The anxieties of the nightly Blitz raids were particularly well done – you really got a sense of what city dwellers throughout Britain, particularly Londoners, had to live through. The plot was intricate and fairly clued, and there was an exciting finish as Rowlands and Douglas raced to save a life and catch their perp.

A wonderfully atmospheric wartime whodunnit with an interesting detective, clever plotting and a great variety of supporting characters. This is the eighth in the series, and worked well as a stand-alone, but there were references to previous cases (though no spoilers) and series characters, so if you want to read them in order, the first is The Blind Detective.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Christina Koning is an award-winning novelist, journalist and academic. She was born in Kuala Belait, Borneo, and spent her early childhood in Venezuela and Jamaica. After coming to England, she was educated at the University of Cambridge, Newcastle College of Art, and the University of Edinburgh, eventually settling in south east London.As an academic, she has taught Creative Writing at the University of Oxford and University of London, and was the 2014-15 Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge.She has taught at Cambridge University's Institute of Continuing Education at Madingley Hall and was Editor of Collected, the Royal Literary Fund's magazine.Christina Koning has two grown-up children and lives in Cambridge.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
A Shetland Winter Mystery

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk