By Balogun Iyanu

Cover Blurb:

A fortune. A missing baby. A murdered lawyer who knew too much. A village with a deadly secret. England 1952: Lawyer Toby Whitby's poor eyesight stole his chance to serve his country during the war but now the war has come to him. When a lawyer in Toby’s office is murdered Toby is given the opportunity of a lifetime to prove his worth by taking over the dead man’s most important case. The granddaughter of the Earl of Southwold was kidnapped from the village of Rose Hill during the war. The earl is on his deathbed and now it is up to Toby to find his heir. As Toby meets the villagers of Rose Hill and learns about the Americans who were stationed there in 1944, he starts to suspect that his client is not telling him the whole truth about the missing child. Sam Ruddle, the earl’s gardener hints at dark secrets that were revealed on the night when an air raid targeted Rose Hill; the village postmistress shows Toby a letter from a war bride in America; an Irish midwife tells the story of bombs falling on a clinic, and Toby’s research leads him to German prisoners of war who worked on the earl’s estate. As the villagers reluctantly reveal their secrets, the body count begins to rise and Toby understands that his own life is in danger. He must uncover the truth before it is too late and to find the truth he must dig back into the dark days of World War II.

Air Raid (Toby Whitby Murder Mystery Series Book 1) by Author Eileen Enwright Hodgetts – Book Review

An excellent choice for readers who love a story of murder, secrets and lies. Air Raid is set in Sussex in 1952 in a Britain where rationing persists, war bomb damage is still visible and times are changing. A solicitor has been murdered in his office while he was looking into a case for a local aristocratic family. The Earl of Southwold is dying, which he soon does, and his daughter Lady Sylvia, his heir, claims that she married an American officer, who was killed after the Normandy invasion, and that she had a daughter.

The nursing home was bombed and most babies died, but she says her child was taken by a local village woman to America, having married an American serviceman. Her supposed American parents-in-law are wealthy, can find the little girl and obtain and return her and will undoubtedly prove very generous. The junior solicitor in the practice, Toby Wright, takes over the case to search for legal evidence. Is Lady Sylvia’s story true or is there a devious plot with more behind it to secure money for the future? Who is the mother of the little girl and who was her father?

With events in the present and flashbacks to events in the war, some local villagers clearly know certain things. A member of staff at the nursing home comes forward and is then murdered and an old gardener of the estate is attacked.

Secrets and lies are exposed as events progress to a thrilling and dramatic end. A page turner and to which I award 5 stars.

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