A VALIANT DECEIT

In 1941, an English pigeon breeder resolves to continue her contributions to the war effort.

Olive Bright of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry got involved in intelligence work when she agreed to use her pigeons to carry messages back from occupied Europe. She and her superior officer, Capt. Jameson Aldridge, are pretending to be in love to account for all the time they spend together, but although Olive finds the enigmatic Jamie more and more attractive, he seems to find her more and more annoying because of her tendency toward sleuthing—which has recently produced some excellent results. Olive is working to find the birds best suited to work with a group of Belgian agents due to be dropped into France to help the Resistance, even looking for some in her dovecote that have Belgian heritage, since her father had brought back a pigeon from Antwerp years ago. But when some Girl Guides find the body of Lt. Jeremy Beckett in the woods near a radio wire, she sets out, much to Jamie’s despair, to prove that he met with foul play. Although Beckett’s death is written off as an accident, Olive is convinced that German spies are at work, especially when she finds a pilot’s silk map, marked with a few tiny crosses near Berlin, clutched in Beckett’s hand. Olive reluctantly decides that her three fellow FANY office workers are the most likely suspects, but proving it while keeping up with her work with the pigeons and the village effort to support the war will prove difficult and dangerous.

Perfect for lovers of wartime novels that combine history, mystery, and romance.