Tom Tyler Mystery Series

From Canada’s premier author of historical mysteries, Maureen Jennings, comes the haunting fourth novel in the DI Tom Tyler series. Set in Britain during the darkest days of World War II, this is a must-read for fans of Foyle’s War, Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series, and wartime dramas.


     It’s late 1942; the war is still raging and the upcoming Christmas season looks bleak. Detective Inspector Tom Tyler is settling into his placement in Ludlow, Shropshire, a small town jammed with people sent there by the conflict. On the outskirts is an Italian PoW camp and many PoWs work on local farms where manpower is sorely needed. Fraternizing is forbidden but, as Tyler knows only too well, the human heart has a way of crossing boundaries. 
     Tyler’s job is both to keep the peace and to enforce wartime regulations. Magistrate’s court is busy. Then a troubled old man goes missing in a winter storm. The next day his body is discovered in a secret hideout supposedly known to very few. It soon becomes clear that a crime has been committed, and there is no shortage of suspects. Tyler senses that the two evacuee children who found the body are not telling the entire truth, but when he goes to question them further, he learns they have taken off from their foster home. It becomes imperative that he find them.
     Showcasing her characteristic masterful storytelling and deep empathy for her characters–from the bravest and most blameless to the profoundly troubled–Jennings has created another outstanding novel that is both a page-turning mystery and a rich, satisfying reading experience.

From the well-known author whose books inspired the wildly popular Murdoch Mysteries TV series, comes the third WWII-era DI Tom Tyler mystery; for fans of Foyle’s War, wartime dramas, and, of course, Maureen Jennings!

It’s summer, 1942, and after a tough couple of years, DI Tom Tyler is making a fresh start in Ludlow, Shropshire. On the outskirts of town, St. Anne’s Convalescent Hospital, staffed by nursing sisters who are Anglican nuns, has been established in an old manor house to help victims of the war to recover. After a horrifying double murder is discovered on the grounds, Tyler must figure out how the crime could have occurred in such a secluded and presumably impenetrable place, where most of the patients are unable to walk or are blind, or both, not to mention deeply traumatized.

To add to the puzzle, Tyler begins almost immediately to receive mysterious letters recounting terrible crimes far away. He realizes that he is not only seeking the murderer, but that the horrors of the war are closing in on this place that was meant to be a refuge.

Maureen Jennings, beloved author of the Murdoch novels that inspired the popular TV series (known as The Artful Detective in the US), surpasses herself in this vivid portrayal of wartime Britain, brilliantly blending a classic murder mystery with a deeply human story of how the effects of war live on far from the fields of battle.

This second book in Maureen Jennings’ terrific new mystery series brings England during World War II vividly alive: a must for fans of the author’s own beloved Murdoch Mysteries and of Foyle’s War.

The summer of 1940 had been a dark one for England, and even darker for DI Tom Tyler’s personal life. When several young women doing dangerous war work are killed in an explosion in a Birmingham munitions factory, Tyler is quick to help out. But as he talks to the remaining employees, the owner, and others connected with the factory, divisions begin to appear, and Tyler fears that what first seemed a tragic accident may be the result of something much more sinister, organized, and far-reaching.

The rich sense of England during the era of the Blitz, pitch-perfect dialogue, and vivid characters—not least the rough-around-the-edges charmer Tom Tyler—make Beware This Boy another classic page-turner from master storyteller Maureen Jennings.

In 1940, England is desperate and fearful. The threat of a German invasion is real, and many German Nationals are interned in camps across the country. One such is on Prees Heath, near the small town of Whitchurch in Shropshire, where Tom Tyler is the sole detective inspector.
 
When a young women is found murdered on a desolate country road, Tyler—who has no shortage of troubles of his own—finds himself drawn into an uneasy alliance with one of the Prees Heath internees, a psychiatrist, who claims to be an expert on the criminal mind.