Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE GRANDDAUGHTER’S IRISH SECRET (Magnolia Manor Book #2) by Susanne O’Leary on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Rose places her hand protectively on her grandmother’s necklace and looks up at Magnolia Manor’s vine-covered walls. The jewels are her most precious possession, but she is terrified to tell her family the truth about where they really come from…
Standing in the doorway of her grandmother Sylvia’s home, Rose Fleury thought returning here was the answer to all of her problems. She has no job and a broken heart, but Sylvia reminds her that Fleury women of the past were strong and independent, and she can be too. Clutching a family heirloom – a beautiful topaz necklace – Rose promises to be brave like her relatives. Until she finds out that the jewels hide a terrible secret…
Someone in town is claiming the necklace is fake. Rose knows Sylvia will be devastated by this news, and it could shatter their family’s reputation. For the sake of her grandmother, Rose is determined to find the real necklace and discover why it was replaced – and quickly convinces handsome local lawyer Noel Quinn to join her. Though Noel’s broad shoulders in his suit and tie remind Rose of her ex-boyfriend, he seems just as fascinated by the mystery, and she finds her heart fluttering every time he catches her eye…
But when Rose traces the real necklace to another family, and another ancestral home in a nearby village, she’s shocked to discover a forbidden love that once tore her family apart – and that Noel is connected to it. Can she really trust the man she’s been growing so close to? And will the truth about the Fleury family cause a rift between Rose and Sylvia that is impossible to repair?
THE GRANDDAUGHTER’S IRISH SECRET (Magnolia Manor Book #2) by Susanne O’Leary is an engaging women’s fiction with both a sweet, slow-burn romance and a historical mystery set on the bucolic Irish coast. While this is the second book in the series, it can easily be read as a standalone story.
Rose Fleury leaves her Dublin job and returns home after a major break-up. Her grandmother, Sylvia offers her a place to stay in Magnolia Manor’s gate house and a management job on the transition project as she heals emotionally. She is invited to the wedding of a former work friend and asks Noel Quinn, their local family lawyer to be her plus one as a friend. At the same time, she discovers when she gets her family heirloom necklace cleaned for the wedding that while beautiful, it is a copy.
Rose is determined to discover what happened to the original necklace before telling her grandmother it is a fake. Noel is as interested in history and the mystery of the necklace as Rose. As they work together to discover where the original may be, Rose begins to look at Noel in a new way. They discover the real necklace is tied to a forbidden love that tore her ancestors apart and that Noel is connected to it.
This story has so many things happening, but not in a bad way. The sweet, slow-burn romance is appropriate after Rose’s break-up and Noel is an intelligent and steady man to count on. The mystery of the heirloom necklace is more prominent than the romance in this story and it is well paced throughout. I thought the historical mystery and search for answers is very well plotted and interesting. While all the pieces of this story blend well and I liked all the characters and beautiful scenic descriptions, I still felt as though I was only reading about the characters and their mystery and not walking in the story with them. It is hard to describe and only my personal experience, but it was still an enjoyable read.
This is an entertaining women’s fiction with an intriguing historical mystery.
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About the Author
Susanne O’Leary is the bestselling author of more than 20 novels, mainly in the romantic fiction genre. She has also written three crime novels and two in the historical fiction genre.
The wife of a former diplomat, she has also been a fitness teacher and a translator. She now writes full-time from either of two locations, a rambling house in County Tipperary, Ireland or a little cottage overlooking the Atlantic in Dingle, County Kerry. When she is not scaling the mountains of said counties, or doing yoga, she keeps writing, producing a book every six months.
His name is Joshua Knight. Once a respected explorer, the press now calls him the Tarnished Knight. He took the fall for a disaster in the Underworld that destroyed his career. The devastating event occurred in the newly discovered sector known as Glass House—a maze of crystal that is rumored to conceal powerful Alien antiquities. The rest of the Hollister Expedition team disappeared and are presumed dead.
Whatever happened down in the tunnels scrambled Josh’s psychic senses and his memories, but he’s determined to uncover the truth. Labeled delusional and paranoid, he retreats to an abandoned mansion in the desert, a house filled with mirrors. Now a recluse, Josh spends his days trying to discover the secrets in the looking glasses that cover the walls. He knows he is running out of time.
Talented, ambitious crystal artist Molly Griffin is shocked to learn that the Tarnished Knight has been located. She drops everything and heads for the mansion to find Josh, confident she can help him regain control of his shattered senses. She has no choice—he is the key to finding her sister, Leona, a member of the vanished expedition team. Josh reluctantly allows her to stay one night but there are two rules: she must not go down into the basement, and she must not uncover the mirrors that have been draped.
But her only hope for finding her sister is to break the rules…
PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES (A Ghost Hunters/Harmony Novel Book #17) by Jayne Castle is an action filled paranormal/urban fantasy romantic suspense return to the world of Harmony and this story returns to Illusion City and the Underworld tunnels. I anxiously wait for each new book in this series to once again immerse myself in the Harmony worldbuilding, each new couple and of course, the dust bunnies.
Joshua Knight is a renowned navigator in the Underworld. On his latest trip into the tunnels, he reappears on the surface without any other members of his expedition to the Glass House and has no memory of what occurred in the tunnels. With his reputation in tatters and everyone believing him to be delusional, he disappears to the mansion in the desert where the tunnels led him to the surface to hide from the world, but the mansion full of mirrors is not benign.
Molly Griffin has finally found her true talent as a crystal artist. Her talent and abilities have led her to be chosen to provide the crystal circle for the wedding of the year in Illusion City. As she prepares for the wedding, she discovers the location of the navigator who led the team, which included her sister, Leona Griffin, underground and has been lost for a month. She knows he is the key to locating her missing sister and she is willing to face anything to help him regain his memory and find her sister.
I always love returning to Harmony! The worldbuilding immerses me into a world I feel at home in as much as this reality. The paranormal abilities are interesting and believable to the environment, as well as dust bunnies that are as individual as the people they choose to befriend. I love the dust bunnies so much! Molly and Joshua may have some communication problems at first, but Molly has had to hide portions of her and her sister’s past for so long, trust is difficult. The suspense plot has a lot of action and many twists that kept me guessing to the end. Even though it is not a cliffhanger ending to this story, you discover an overall Ghost Hunters series arc plot is carrying over to the next book featuring Molly’s sister, Leona.
If you are looking for a paranormal series that has action, romance, paranormal abilities, humor, and dust bunnies, this will be perfect for you. I highly recommend this paranormal romantic suspense, this addition to the entire series, and this author!
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About the Author
Jayne Castle, the author of Guild Boss, Illusion Town, Siren’s Call, The Hot Zone, Deception Cove, The Lost Night, Canyons of Night, Midnight Crystal, Obsidian Prey, Dark Light, Silver Master, Ghost Hunter, After Glow, and After Dark, is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She writes contemporary romantic suspense novels under the Krentz name, as well as historical novels under the pseudonym Amanda Quick.
Ex-con Seth Zimmerman has spent the last three years making amends by helping the vulnerable in his former Amish community. Lately, this mission includes calling on Tabitha Yoder, whose divorce from her abusive husband has isolated her from the community. Even though she never comes out of her house to talk to him, Seth knows she watches him from the window while he chops wood, clears her driveway, and drops off food.
An uneasy friendship is just starting to take hold between them when small gifts begin to appear at Tabitha’s home–gifts that can only be from her ex-husband. Seth might be Tabitha’s only hope at maintaining her hard-won freedom from the man whose violent outbursts had almost cost her life. But coming to her rescue might mean he ends up behind bars once again.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Unforgiven by Shelley Shepard Gray is an Amish romantic suspense novel. This book explores how both the Amish and “English” view issues of divorce, abuse, attempted rape, accidental manslaughter, incarceration, love, faith, forgiveness, healing, and second chances.
Seth Zimmerman was sent to prison for the accidental death of an Amish man who was close to raping an Amish woman, Bethanne. There is also Tabitha Yoder who divorced her husband after enduring years of abuse. Both are wounded deciding not to pursue the Amish community who now considers them outcasts. Tabitha did the unthinkable and divorced her abusive husband, Leon. Seth defended a young Amish woman against an attack of another Amish man who fell, hit his head on a rock and died. Seth went to prison for saving her. The suspense part of the book comes into play as both Seth and Tabitha’s past catches up with them.
But the story has very tender moments as an uneasy friendship develops. Seth has had a crush on Tabitha since she taught school as a seventeen-year-old, three years Seth’s elder. Tabitha won’t leave her home and Seth does small things for her, like cutting firewood and bringing her food, as she watches from her window. He gets her to trust him, and the relationship develops over the course of the story.
Other characters include Seth’s younger sister Melonie, Lott’s sister Bethanne, the young woman Seth saved from rape, and her younger brother Lott, boyfriend to Melonie.
With the main and supporting characters the author shows their internal struggles and how events changed their lives. They realized that despite the community’s judgment their actions were necessary. Readers realize that those abused need the support of the community, family, and friends. The themes of trust, forgiveness, with emphasis of self-forgiveness, and faith all play a role. Readers will not want to put this book down and the story will have them turning the pages with this heartwarming and emotional story.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for this book?
Shelley Shepard Gray: I have been writing for twenty years. I write Amish books, contemporary romances, for a number of different publishers. This is the beginning of a new series set in Crittenden Town Kentucky, across the river from St. Louis. This book is a little book darker because the hero and heroine are former Amish with dark pasts. They are at a crossroads with some suspense elements as their past catches up to them.
EC: How would you describe Seth?
SSG: He is honest, up front, confident, but not trusting. He also must deal with the gossip surrounding his incarceration and is ostracized. He is multi-faceted. He went to prison because he saved a woman, Bethanne, from being raped and that person got killed.
EC: How would you describe Tabitha?
SSG: Lonely, struggling emotionally and physically, fearful, and sweet. She is also skittish, broken, quiet, timid, recluse, and determined because of what she went through with her abusive husband. She is trying to make the best of her situation.
EC: Does abuse plays a role?
SSG: It is complicated. Tabitha learned from her ex-husband, her extended family, and the community that she should not put herself out there because she will get hurt. The Amish community was very self-righteous to both Seth and Tabitha. They created barriers with these two. There is a book quote about this, how the Amish “had long held traditions instead of what their eyes and ears told them was true.” They viewed divorce negatively. Although the Amish by the end of the book realized they needed to change their attitude and forgive them. Seth was not the type of person to ask the Amish community for forgiveness because he did not regret what he did. The characters had to overcome a lot.
EC: What about the relationship between Tabitha and Seth?
SSG: They both left the Amish faith. In the beginning they were both outcasts even with some members of their family. She is rattled easily, but he still teases her. He wanted her to feel in control, urged her to believe in herself, helped her to heal, and made her feel safe/secure. She was the “older woman,” three years older and his former teacher. Tabitha put a wall around herself and was guarded to Seth. They both eventually found common ground.
EC: How would you describe Leon, the ex-husband?
SSG: Cruel, intimidating, abusive, and looks upon women as his possession. He preyed on women susceptible to his charm. This is where I had the suspense piece of the book.
EC: How would you describe the male supporting role, Lott?
SSG: Immature, self-centered, angry, easily frustrated, and protective.
EC: How would you describe the female supporting role, Melonie?
SSG: Spunky, direct, caring, secure, and bossy.
EC: What did you want to convey with Lott and Melonie
SSG: Lott was Bethanne’s brother. Melonie was Seth’s sister. These family members were also affected by what happened to their siblings. Hopefully, the reader will get a better idea of the perception of the community. Through Melonie and Lott, I showed how they were part of the Amish community and were very understanding and protective. They want their siblings to heal and be accepted. I think it was a natural way to respond and would happen within any type of community. This is such a serious book with Tabitha, Bethanne, and Seth having had to go through very hard issues. I wanted a few scenes with Lott and Melonie to lighten the story up.
EC: How would you describe the relationship between Melonie and Lott?
SSG: They are trying to understand their feelings toward each other. They are not old enough, not mature enough, and have not experienced a lot.
EC: Next book?
SSG: The victim who Seth rescued, Bethanne, will be featured. The reader will find out what happens with Melonie and Lott. The book is out in November titled Unforgotten. There is also suspense in this book with an English cousin of Bethanne, an Englisher beauty queen. She was not shunned for not being Amish because she was never baptized.
There is another new series with another publisher, the book is titled A is For Amish in July. It is an Amish romance. It has four grown siblings close to their Amish grandparents. They try to find themselves at their grandparents’ farm. Some become Amish and some do not.
THANK YOU!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BIRTHDAY OF ETERNITY (A Comfort & Company Mystery Book #2) by A.D. Price on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck and enjoy!
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Book Description
L.A. private investigators Kit and Henry become entangled in the city’s robust post-WWII occult trade when they’re hired to track down Lillian, the estranged wife of a prominent physician, and her spellbinding “spirit” lover Tashin. Fresh from her training in judo and “dirty fighting,” Kit poses as an eager recruit at a Hollywood cult run by the ambitious Reverend, while Henry takes on the city’s séance circuit, which has reinvented itself in the wake of war. Assisting them are Kit’s psychiatrist lover Luca and her combat veteran brother Stanley, who offer their own brand of expertise in unraveling the tricks of the conmen.
Plunged into the strange and deadly world of mediums and gurus, Kit and Henry soon discover that surviving the spirit trade will take all of their cunning and a whole lot of luck.
Genre: Historical Private Detective Mystery Published by: Indie Publication Date: December 6, 2023 Number of Pages: 358 ISBN: 9798986893044 Series: Comfort & Company Book 2
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE BIRTHDAY OF ETERNITY (A Comfort and Company Mystery Book #2) by A.D. Price is a suspenseful historical P.I. mystery set post WWII in Los Angeles, California and features two memorable private investigators. This is the second book in the series, and I feel I understood and enjoyed all the characters and their motivations more by reading book one, After the Blue, Blue Rain, and book two in order.
P.I. Kit Comfort and her partner P.I. Henry Richman have barely recovered from their last case and find themselves quickly drawn into their next. Hired to track down the missing wife of a prominent L.A. physician, they find themselves involved in the world of cults and spiritualists. With the help of Kit’s psychiatrist lover and her combat veteran brother, Kit and Henry soon discover the spirits may be more dangerous than they believed.
I am really enjoying this historical mystery series. While it has a bit of a noir feel to the private investigation plot, it is not as dark or gritty as some others in this period. It has both Kit and Henry alternating the narrative of the story with the occasional insertion of the missing person’s narrative. It is a unique way of discovering the facts as the investigation gets closer to the solution. (The first book in the series was narrated in a similar way.) The investigation is interesting with none of the current advantages of technology, just plenty of personal contacts, shoe leather, ingenuity, and undercover work with some action interspersed throughout.
While the plots of both mysteries are well paced and plotted, it is the characters that I love. Kit is an emancipated woman for her times and yet she still has a very loving heart towards her brother, partner and friends and she also loves a good hat. Henry has a complicated history and an even more complicated marriage. While he gives off a hard guy persona, I felt so much sympathy for him. All the related characters in this series are fully drawn and believable for the period.
I highly recommend this compelling historical P.I. mystery series.
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Excerpt
PROLOGUE
DAIVIKA
(Preface, “Survival: My Journey to Enlightenment,” CoEB Press, 1948)
Happy New Year! Today, I begin the story of my death. The story of my death and my rebirth. The story of my journey to enlightenment. It won’t begin at the beginning. It won’t unfold in chronological order, or in subject order. Instead, it will flow in psychic order. An order marked by change—the before and the after—and its place in my eternal existence, in the circle with no beginning and no end.
Some in my position might shy away from sharing their story. They might prefer to keep their past a secret. However, from my experience—the experience that brought me to this point today—secrets destroy. They destroy trust, of course, but they also destroy hope. We can’t profess to love nature’s sunshine while keeping a part of ourselves in the darkness. Our past, our histories, are as much a part of our being as our beliefs and our actions.
Of course, it’s impossible to recall everything, and not all revelations are suitable for all audiences, but as far as common decency and memory will allow me, I will be truthful and open with my history. It’s the least I can do for my new friends and colleagues. Now more than ever, I need your trust. So, I will give you my secrets—some of them anyway.
And circle or not, I must start my story somewhere, and when I think about the past, I find myself returning to one moment, one place, one hot summer afternoon. It was a moment whose significance grew over time, like a soft mew swelling to a roar. It’s there I’ll begin the story of my life, a not-so-long-ago moment, fresh from death’s door.
Chapter 1
DAIVIKA
(Excerpt from “Survival: My Journey to Enlightenment.” CoEB Press, 1948)
Death, as a concept, bubbles up often in my current existence, but in my previous life, I did my best to keep the topic at bay, to push down my fears and ignore any pain. Months after the war’s end, I was still rationing my sadness, still offering fake smiles and unearned laughs.
That began to change with the death of my grandmother. Days before, she had taken a bad fall and her recovery had been fitful. I dropped by the hospital once or twice, but on that last Sunday, I canceled my planned visit and attended one of my husband’s archery competitions instead. She passed during the night.
Gramma had always been the kind constant in my life—more giving than my mother—and her departure from this world was a blow to my defenses. Its full impact, however—my shame especially— didn’t hit me until later. Even then, as I first stood by her open grave under that scorching sun, dry martinis in ice-cold glasses were all I was thinking about.
In her will, Gramma instructed she be buried at Forest Lawn, in the Everlasting Love section, next to her beloved husband, my grandpa. He had succumbed to a stroke a few years earlier, and his demise rendered Gramma spiritually unbalanced. Or as she put it, without him by her side, her life had no joy. At the time, I didn’t associate Gramma’s spiritual imbalance with a literal imbalance, the type of vertigo that caused her to misjudge a step, take a spill and break her hip, but the connection seems obvious to me now.
I also see now the deep imprint that my grandparents’ long and loving marriage left on my psyche. My parents’ marriage was fragile and my own romances were flops. But Gramma and Grandpa’s bond truly was everlasting—in life and beyond. Who doesn’t yearn for that?
No doubt that if my native Californian Gramma had been in charge of the matter, her burial would have taken place on a rainy dawn in winter. As it turned out, however, the fates preferred a cloudless afternoon in July. The night before, a Santa Ana wind had blown in, delivering a day of gusts so hot and dry they all but set fire to the lungs. The service at the Wee Kirk o’ the Heather Church had been reasonably well-attended, but most of the mourners, including my husband, skipped the burial. While immaculate and stubbornly green, the lawn the cemetery was famous for had absorbed the wind’s heat, making standing graveside more hellish than heavenly.
The minister-for-hire went through his rituals as quickly as was socially acceptable. But as he was delivering his final words over Gramma’s coffin, the birds and insects of Forest Lawn went abruptly silent. I felt the silence more than I heard it, but I sensed instantly that something was off and something else was eminent. And just as that anticipation hit, the sky’s light dimmed and the air dulled. We had been plunged, midday, into dusk.
During the next few seconds, my ears started to ring, or rather, hum. My heart raced, and I gasped. Then I fainted. My knees gave out and I tumbled to the ground. I toppled just inches from the open grave, my left arm dangling over the side. I quickly recovered but when I opened my eyes, the world was tinged with red and the air that swirled around me was frigid. I could hear murmurs of concern and felt someone touching my back. Embarrassed, I struggled to my feet and assured everyone I was fine.
And for a time, I fooled myself into believing that I was fine. On the drive home from the cemetery, I heard radio bulletins describing the total solar eclipse that had just occurred in the Northern Hemisphere. Everything I had experienced during the funeral was unusual but explainable. A natural phenomenon.
Or was it? Was Gramma’s funeral occurring at the same time as a rare astronomical event a coincidence? Or had Fortuna influenced the scheduling somehow? What had I seen? What had I felt? Had I felt through that cold wind Gramma’s spirit heading for the Afterlife? Or was it the stirring of my own sorrow, blowing around me in warning? Or both?
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Author Bio
A native of Washington, D. C., A. D. Price is an Emmy-winning screenwriter and author. Her publications (as Amy Dunkleberger) include educational books and feature articles on historical and arts-related subjects. In 2022, she published After the Blue, Blue Rain, her first novel and the first book in her Comfort & Company mystery series. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two dogs.
Postwar Paris is surging back to life, and its citizens are seizing every opportunity to raise a glass or share a delicious meal. But as American ex-pat Tabitha Knight and chef-in-training Julia Child discover, celebrations can quickly go awry when someone has murder in mind . . .
The graceful domes of Sacré Coeur, the imposing cathedral of Notre Dame, the breathtaking Tour Eiffel . . . Paris is overflowing with stunning architecture. Yet for Tabitha Knight, the humble building that houses the Cordon Bleu cooking school, where her friend Julia studies, is just as notable. Tabitha is always happy to sample Julia’s latest creation and try to recreate dishes for her Grand-père and Oncle Rafe.
The legendary school also holds open demonstrations, where the public can see its master chefs at work. It’s a treat for any aspiring cook—until one of the chefs pours himself a glass of wine from a rare vintage bottle—and promptly drops dead in front of Julia, Tabitha, and other assembled guests. It’s the first in a frightening string of poisonings that turns grimly personal when cyanide-laced wine is sent to someone very close to Tabitha.
What kind of killer chooses such a means of murder, and why? Tabitha and Julia hope to find answers in order to save innocent lives—not to mention a few exquisite vintages—even as their investigation takes them through some of the darkest corners of France’s wartime past . . .
A MURDER MOST FRENCH (American in Paris Mystery Book #2) by Colleen Cambridge is an entertaining amateur sleuth historical mystery featuring an American woman in Paris living and befriended by the not yet famous Julia Child in 1950 postwar Paris. This second book in the series is easily read as a standalone.
Tabitha Knight is trying to decide what she wants to do with her life. She has travelled from her home in Detroit to live in Paris with her Parisian grand-pere and his longtime friend who she refers to as oncle. She also becomes friends with Julia Child and her husband who lives nearby. Julia is attending The Cordon Bleu cooking school and helps Tabitha with her cooking as well as being a sounding board for the murder investigations Tabitha seems to continually fall into.
When Julia and Tabitha attend a cooking demonstration at the Cordon Bleu, the instructing chef falls dead of poison after tasting a rare vintage wine he has been gifted. The very next day at a wine gathering the same thing happens to another famed French chef. Tabitha is once again in the middle of one of Inspector Mervielle’s murder investigations and while she promises to not interfere, when her grand-pere and oncle are almost poisoned in the same way, she cannot help but get involved, but it may be the last investigation she ever attempts to solve.
I love the characters in this series and the murder mystery is well paced and plotted. Tabitha is a wonderful protagonist who has led an interesting life to date but is still deciding on her future. With her curiosity, varied interests, and tidbits she learned from her detective father in America, how could she not become involved? Adding Julia Child and her cooking to the story, not only makes my mouth water, but acts at times as a very effective red herring. I also enjoy the growing personal interest between Tabitha and the Inspector. With discussions of fine wines, French cooking, the Parisian catacombs, the German Occupation, which is only a few years past, and more clues about Tabitha’s grand-pere and oncle’s pasts in the Resistance, this story is captivating as a cozy amateur sleuth historical mystery. I am anxiously waiting for the next.
I highly recommend this historical murder mystery, both books in the series to date, and this author’s other mystery series as well.
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About the Author
Colleen Cambridge is the pen name for an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From a young age, Colleen has loved reading mysteries and now she couldn’t be happier that she is able to write them.
Under several pseudonyms, she has written more than 36 books in a variety of genres and is always plotting her next murder—er, book.
In March and April of 1944, Gestapo gunmen killed fifty POWs—a brutal act in defiance of international law and the Geneva Convention.
This is the true story of the men who hunted them down.
The mass breakout of seventy-six Allied airmen from the infamous Stalag Luft III became one of the greatest tales of World War II, immortalized in the film The Great Escape. But where Hollywood’s depiction fades to black, another incredible story begins . . .
Not long after the escape, fifty of the recaptured airmen were taken to desolate killing fields throughout Germany and shot on the direct orders of Hitler. When the nature of these killings came to light, Churchill’s government swore to pursue justice at any cost. A revolving team of military police, led by squadron leader Francis P. McKenna, was dispatched to Germany seventeen months after the killings to pick up a trail long gone cold.
Amid the chaos of postwar Germany, divided between American, British, French, and Russian occupiers, McKenna and his men brought twenty-one Gestapo killers to justice in a hunt that spanned three years and took them into the darkest realms of Nazi fanaticism.
In Human Game, Simon Read tells this harrowing story as never before. Beginning inside Stalag Luft III and the Nazi High Command, through the grueling three-year manhunt, and into the final close of the case more than two decades later, Read delivers a clear-eyed and meticulously researched account of this often-overlooked saga of hard-won justice.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Memorial Day honors and mourns those military personnel who died while serving their country. After watching the movie “The Great Escape” people might want to honor those in the allied armed forces who were captured by the Germans and brutally killed. Immortalized in the film is the mass breakout of seventy-six Allied airmen from the infamous Stalag Luft III. Not long after the escape, fifty of the recaptured airmen were taken to killing fields throughout Germany and shot on the direct orders of Hitler.
People might wonder what happened to these Nazi killers. In the book Human Game, Simon Read delivers a clear-eyed and meticulously researched account of this often-overlooked saga of hard-won justice. This “after story,” starting where the movie left off, explains in detail how the German Gestapo killers were brought to justice.
When the nature of these killings came to light, Churchill’s government swore to pursue justice at any cost. Francis P. McKenna led a three-year manhunt that brought twenty-one Gestapo killers to justice.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Which came first the movie, “The Great Escape,” or your idea to write the book?
Simon Read: The movie came first. I am from the UK originally. There, it is a tradition that they show “The Great Escape” movie every Christmas Day. My grandfather flew with the Royal Air Force during the Second War. From a very early age I used to sit with him and watch. It is still one of my favorite movies of all time. I was always traumatized by the ending where the escapees were gathered in a field and machine gunned down. I wondered what happened to the Nazi who gunned all the escapees down. This was the genesis for the idea of the book. It is also a great adventure story.
EC: How does this fit into Memorial Day?
SR: Memorial Day is a time to reflect and ponder the sacrifices made by those in uniform. The Great Escape was an exercise in allied ingenuity, bravery, and rebellion. It was a massive propaganda victory. I think they are very much heroes for what they did. Not every victory is on the battlefield. This is an example of cunning and bravery.
EC: Can you explain the quote by Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels in May 1944?
SR: You are referring to when he said, “We owe it to our people, which is defending itself with so much honesty and courage, that it is not allowed to become human game to be hunted down by the enemy.” This is where the title for the book came from. This in response to the allied bombing campaign. He thought it was perfectly legitimate to attack downed allied airmen and to take revenge. There is something cold and barbaric about this quote.
EC: This reminds me of the unfair criticism of Israel where Hamas can replace the Nazis and Israel replaces the allies.
SR: People can look at the British bombing campaign during WWII where they used targeted bombing of cities. People need to look at the context of the times. It might not be very appealing, but Britian was fighting for its very survival against its merciless enemy. They did what they needed to do to survive. In warfare both sides are dealing in morally grey areas, which is just how war is. My grandfather flew in RAF bomber command, 48 operations over Germany. It used to fire him up when he would hear people criticizing the British bombing campaigns against German cities. His attitude, ‘these people do not know what they are talking about,’ considering London was being bombed and devastated. The context cannot be ignored.
EC: There are pictures in the beginning of the book and an appendix in the back of the book. Why?
SR: These men could not just be numbers, because otherwise it does not hit home. This is why I put in the pictures. It is one thing reading a name on a page, but putting a face to the name really drives it home. Auschwitz has a twitter feed of those who perished in the gas chambers. It is more than a name and a number. People can see the emotions of the faces, the terror and fear. It really underscores the tragedy. The appendix tells when and how the fifty died.
EC: How realistic was the movie?
SR: Regarding Stalag Luft III it is true as depicted in the movie that the Germans tried to make it escape proof by trying to make tunneling impossible, had trap doors, set the barracks on concrete stilts, and had subterranean microphones buried deep underground. The top layer of soil was a different color than the soil underneath making it hard to hide the dug-up soil. Yet, the escapees found a way. The fake documents are also true. Where the movie deviates there were American characters, but the American and British POWS were actually separated. Also, true, the Germans took all the “problem airmen,” the ones who escaped from multiple camps and stuck them in one camp together. This all backfired on the Germans in spectacular fashion.
EC: Hitler ordered all the escapees to be found and executed?
SR: It was a huge embarrassment for the Germans. Hitler flew into an absolute rage when he found out. It was a very brutal response and violated every rule of warfare. The German Luftwaffe who ran the camp treated the inmates well because they were not Gestapo. There is a scene in the movie “The Great Escape” where the camp commandant told the British high-ranking official in the camp that fifty escapees were shot. This really reflects what happened in real-life, that they were upset.
EC: What about the execution?
SR: They were shot in the back, they were cremated, and their names were not supposed to be recorded. There was a list. The movie did not reflect what really happened because it had the escapees machine gunned down. In actuality, the escapees were murdered in groups of two and three by Gestapo assassination teams. They were put in a car, driven out to isolated spots, and told to stretch their legs. This is when the Gestapo would come up behind them and shoot them in the back of the head. Their bodies were taken to a local crematorium and destroyed. Stalag Luft III did get a list of those who were executed, and it was passed on to the British POWs.
EC: How would you describe Frank McKenna, the RAF officer in charge of investigating the fifty murders?
SR: He had detective skills and sought justice with a strong moral code. He was very determined and driven. He was outraged and disgusted by what had happened. Over the course of a few years, he did get results.
EC: Who would you say are the worst Gestapo murderers for this incident?
SR: Erich Zacharias wore a watch of a British airmen. He also raped and then shot a woman witness. He is a horrible human being who was a true believer in the Nazi cause and Hitler. Then there was Johannes Post, the chief executioner who took real pleasure in killing some of the escapees. He was a sadist. They were just vicious with no redeeming qualities. It is unfathomable how someone resorts to such barbaric acts.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of the book?
SR: There were those low-level guys, like Emil Schultz who justified killing in cold blood because they claimed their families was threatened. I pondered and wanted the readers to question, what would they have done in that situation. Schultz confessed to shooting Roger Bushell, the main architect. He had true regret. The RAF investigators did have sympathy but because he did a terrible thing was sent to the gallows. I did not approve or excuse of what Schultz did.
EC: Next book?
SR: It is titled Scotland Yard coming out in September. It is a history of the Yard told through many of its most famous cases and cases that helped advance criminal investigation like how finger printing developed, criminal profiling, and why police officers wear rubber gloves at crime scenes. It covers the Yard from its creation in 1829 to the Eve of WWII in 1939. I tried to write it as a thriller. There is a great mix of true crime and history.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
