Joyce St. Anthony debuts a new series, the Homefront News mysteries, with Front Page Murder. It’s set in May 1942 as the Pennsylvania homefront is still gearing up for World War II. And, women have taken the place of men in some of the jobs in Progress, PA.

Irene Ingram has been training for her new job since she was a child. Her father, Pete Ingram, is owner and editor of the Progress Herald. Now, with Pop off to the Pacific as a war corespondent after Pearl Harbor, Irene is the new editor in chief. Fortunately, her best friend, Peggy, is her secretary, because some of the men aren’t happy to have a woman in charge.

Between running the paper and writing the weekly women’s column, Irene doesn’t have much time to worry about her fiance, Bill, who enlisted. She’s covering day-to-day events in town, such as the anti-Semitic note left on the the door at the hardware store. Who would write “Go Back Where You Came From Jew”? Irene suspects some of the new people in town who work at Tabor Ironworks, where the factory has been geared up for war work. When her future father-in-law, the police chief, doesn’t seem too worried, Irene wants to find out who is responsible, because it’s the right thing to do.

And, Tabor Ironworks seems to be in the middle of several incidents in town, including a fight and an accident involving a janitor there. But, Irene is sidetracked when she finds the body of one of her reporters, a man known to go off on his own investigations. Although the police chief calls it an accident, Irene isn’t so sure.

St. Anthony highlights the war by using war news as the chapter headings in her mystery. It works, and fits in perfectly with the small-town newspaper. Irene Ingram tries to investigate while also keeping up with victory gardens, rationing and scrap drives. For two weeks in May 1942, she has big news on her hands. While some of the men in town won’t talk, some of the women at Tabor Ironworks cooperate with Irene and her newspaper.

If you read Carolyn Hart’s Letter from Home almost twenty years ago, a mystery that went on to win the Agatha Award for Best Novel, you might want to try Joyce St. Anthony’s mystery. In Front Page Murder, she not only introduces a new series, she includes interesting tidbits about life on the homefront at that time. It’s an enjoyable story with an intrepid reporter and a solid supporting cast,

You’ll find Joyce St. Anthony’s (Joyce Tremel) website at http://www.joycetremel.com/

Front Page Murder by Joyce St. Anthony. Crooked Lane Books, 2022. ISBN 9781643858982 (hardcover), 304p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me a copy of the book, hoping I would review it.