While some reviews mentioned that Jacqueline Winspear’s readers would like Michael Oren’s Swann’s War, I’d suggest if if readers enjoyed Jess Montgomery’s Kinship series. Both books feature women who took over police positions in the absence of their husbands. Oren introduces an angry, brooding protagonist who finds herself in over her head, but finally steps up to her job.
Mary Beth Swann always wanted to be a police officer, and she became the third generation in her Irish-American family to serve in Boston. But, when she married Archie Swann, she followed him to Fourth Cliff, an island twenty miles off the coast of Massachusetts where he was Police Captain. It was only when he enlisted in World War II that she made herself police captain. Who was going to object? The only other officer was considered “too dumb for the draft”. And, the only power on the island was the owner of the shipyard, the de facto mayor. There’s a small residential population year-round with tourism when it isn’t wartime. The industries are fishing and cranberry bog farming. Now, there’s also a POW camp with Italian prisoners, and a small military base assigned to watch the coast.
She might be bored, but Mary Beth is fine when she just patrols the island. She’s not prepared to investigate a murder when the fisherman find one of the POWs wrapped in a fishing net. Unfortunately, the residents know she’s not up to the task, calling her names, and taunting her with “What would Archie do?” Well, Archie’s in the Pacific, and he’s not there to step in.
As more Italian POWs are killed, Mary Beth is overwhelmed. When two FBI agents arrive, they take over, but they brutalize everyone they interview, even Gold Star parents. They flee the island when the Mafia shows up, but now Mary Beth is expected to help them find someone who is killing Italians.
Mary Beth Swann is an angry woman who sinks into self-pity, feeling abandoned on the island. It will take two tragedies to force her to take action to find that killer.
I’ll admit Swann’s War is a bleak story with a complex lead. But, if you’re up to reading a mystery that depicts the isolation and loneliness of the home front, you might want to try this book.
Swann’s War by Michael Oren. Dzank Books, 2022. ISBN 9781950539604 (hardcover), 256p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I read a galley to review for a journal.
