Death in a Blackout by Jessica Ellicott

Death in a Blackout
by Jessica Ellicott

ISBN-13: 9781448306527
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Severn House
Released: May 3rd 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
1940. Britain is at war. Rector's daughter Wilhelmina Harkness longs to do her duty for her country, but when her strict mother forbids her to enlist, their bitter argument has devasting consequences. Unwilling to stay in the village she loves, Wilhelmina - reinventing herself as Billie - accepts a cousin's offer to come for a visit to the British coastal city of Hull.

The last thing Billie expects on her first evening in Hull, however, is to be caught in the city's first air raid - or to stumble across the body of a young woman, suspiciously untouched by debris. If the air raid didn't kill the glamorous stranger, what did? Billie is determined to get justice, and her persistence earns her an invitation to the newly formed Women's Police Constabulary. But as the case unfolds, putting her at odds with both high-ranking members of the force as well as the victim's powerful family, Billie begins to wonder if she can trust her new friends and colleagues or if someone amongst them is working for the enemy.


My Review:
Death in a Blackout is a mystery set in 1940 in England. It's more of a historical as the first two-thirds of the story didn't focus on the mystery. At that point, newly-sworn-in police constable Wilhelmina and her partner actively asked questions, followed up on leads, and put things together. Historical details provided a distinct sense of time and place, but they were so heavily added that they slowed the pacing. For example, Wilhelmina was supposed to ask questions while a woman did her mending, but instead she watched a sock get mended (in detail) then thought about how people were now encouraged to mend things and why. This could have been cut without changing the story.

The characters were likable but I got little sense of their personalities. We're told a bit about them, but their thoughts and speech patterns were similar and rather monotone. Wilhelmina was extremely observant, focused to the point of not noticing danger, and devoted to justice, but we're never told why she's like this. While the mystery was complex enough that the solution wasn't obvious, this feeling that the characters were stilted and had no real, personality- and motive-forming past beyond the beginning of the book dropped my enjoyment of the story.

There was no sex. There were a couple uses of bad language. Overall, I might recommend this to fans of historical novels that contain a mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.