Blue Madonna

Written by James R. Benn

Narrated by Peter Berkrot

Billy Boyle, US Army detective and ex-Boston cop, faces his toughest investigation yet: infiltrating enemy lines in France as the Allies invade Normandy. It's late May 1944. Captain Billy Boyle is court-martialed on spurious charges of black market dealings. Stripped of his officer's rank, reduced to private, and sentenced to three months' hard labor, Boyle is given an opportunity: he can avoid his punishment if he goes behind enemy lines to rescue a high-value Allied soldier. A secret chamber and tunnels, once used by escaping Huguenots in the 17th century, has since been taken over by the Allies. But this "safe house" on the outskirts of Chaumont turns out to be anything but. Two downed airmen, one Canadian and the other American, have been murdered. Billy is flown in as part of a three-man team on June 5, 1944, the night before the Normandy invasion. Billy must solve the mystery of who is behind the murders, then lead a group escape from France back to England, with both the Germans and a killer hot on their heels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501932199

James R. Benn

James R. Benn is the author of the popular Billy Boyle World War II mystery series. The debut title, Billy Boyle, was a Dilys Award nominee and one of Booksense’s top five mysteries for 2006. Subsequent titles have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, and two have been tagged as “Killer Books” by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Benn lives in Hadlyme, Connecticut, with his wife, Deborah Mandel. For more information, visit his website at www.jamesrbenn.com.

Reviews for Blue Madonna

[ethel55_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Billy Boyle begins this mystery being court martialed on trumped up charges that even he doesn't understand. All become clears when Colonel Harding makes an appearance and the investigation into black market goods, gangs and the military begins. Boyle, his friend Kaz and a radio operator are dropped into France shortly before what will become DDay. Hiding out at a chateau with missing airmen, members of the French resistance and a lot of art work makes this story encompass a lot of what you hear about WWII in one book. They just keep getting better and better and I wonder what Benn will do when he runs out of war.

[jamespurcell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Benn takes a mundane WW2 military theft investigation into the war itself as Billy goes into occupied France to retrieve a witness, a US aircrewman. That it is on the eve of D-Day adds a sense of urgency as well as opportunities to show the Nazis at their worst and the Resistance at their best. An interesting locale and a well-engineered rail bridge destruction add a level of genuine authenticity. With Billy still in France as the story end; one hopes the series continues.

[ronrose1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I first picked up this book about a secret mission, by an ex-Boston policeman turned military investigator, named Billy Boyle (who names their tough guy hero Billy?), into France during World War II, I expected another run of the mill adventure yarn loosely based on the war in Europe. After a few chapters setting up the premise and introducing the characters, I came to find a good story laced with accuracy and plenty of action and suspense. The telling is in the details. This fast paced tale of theft of military property and black marketeers highlights a problem that was rampant in England during the Allied occupation in preparation for the D-Day invasion of Europe. The problems of theft and desertion from the Allied armies eventually spilled over onto the continent. As the story evolves, it presents a good portrait of the operations in France of a small group of brave men and women who operated behind the lines as undercover agents in France risking certain death or worse if they were caught. As the Allies pushed through France and on into Germany, thousands of tons of supplies were stolen by deserters who allied themselves with black marketeers trying to make fortunes off of supplies desperately needed for the Allied fighting men. This is an interesting tale of a part of the war that is often overlooked. Book provided for review by Amazon Vine.