The War Widow

The War Widow is a well-researched novel that dives deep into historical details of post-WWII Australia. It is within this vividly described backdrop that the detective mystery featuring Billie Walker is set. Billie is a female PI whose ideals and independent nature make her an interesting protagonist. She is a woman ahead of her time and finds herself constantly pushing the boundaries that society has set for her - boundaries which she has no use for, thank you very much.

I enjoyed the Australian setting and how the story focuses on several post-war issues and its sassy female protagonist who has an interesting pedigree, a mysterious past and a take no guff attitude. There is an impressive amount of research and historical detail and I particularly liked the issues relating to women's rights and the aftereffects of war. But at times the inclusion of detailed descriptions of clothing, furnishings and atmosphere felt heavy handed and took away from the building tension of the detective story. I also found the repetition of the plot a bit excessive as was the repeated use of the term 'little woman in her gut/tummy' - referring to Billie's gut instinct.

In this first installment, readers are introduced to several secondary characters who greatly added to the plot. I suspect (and hope) that a few (namely Sam, Hank and Shyla) will make appearances in future books so readers can get a better feel for them. I'm also interested in more details about Billie's life as a war reporter and her brief marriage to her MIA photojournalist husband, Jack.  

This is a great pick for readers who love a strong female main character and a hearty dose of history along with their mystery (it reminded me a bit of the Sawbones series by Melissa Lenhardt). I appreciate how Moss weaves interesting and important historical issues into this mystery that has a compelling array of characters and a couple of nail-biting action scenes which culminate into an impressive start to a new series.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Dutton Books for providing me with a complimentary digital copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Tara Moss

Genre: Historical Mystery, Canadian

Series: #1 in the Billie Walker Mystery series

Type and Source: eBook from NetGalley

Publisher: Dutton Books

First Published: December 29, 2020

Opening Line: The night was starless pitch, enveloping him as 

in the featured wings of a giant black raven.

Note: Also known as Dead Man's Switch

Book Description from GoodReads: The war may be officially over, but journalist Billie Walker's search for a missing young immigrant man will plunge her right back into the danger and drama she thought she'd left behind in Europe in this thrilling tale of courage and secrets set in glamorous postwar Sydney.

 
Sydney, 1946. Though war correspondent Billie Walker is happy to finally be home, for her the heady postwar days are tarnished by the loss of her father and the disappearance during the war of her photojournalist husband, Jack. To make matters worse, now that the war is over, the newspapers are sidelining her reporting talents to prioritize jobs for returning soldiers. But Billie is a survivor and she's determined to take control of her own future. So she reopens her late father's business, a private investigation agency, and, slowly, the women of Sydney come knocking.
 
At first, Billie's bread and butter is tailing cheating husbands. Then, a young man, the son of European immigrants, goes missing, and Billie finds herself on a dangerous new trail that will lead up into the highest levels of Sydney society and down into its underworld. What is the young man’s connection to an exclusive dance club and a high class auction house? When the people Billie questions about the young man start to turn up dead, Billie is thrown into the path of Detective Inspector Hank Cooper. Will he take her seriously or will he just get in her way? As the danger mounts and Billie realizes that much more than one young man’s life is at stake, it becomes clear that though the war was won, it is far from over.