You may have heard of the phrase: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." That iconic phrase was uttered by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1939 about Russia after years of revolution and tumult.
The same can be said about these mysteries and thrillers set during World War II. Even the most ordinary of crimes take on heightened significance under the threat of total war.
The following books take readers from England, where many WWII mysteries are set, as well as to Algeria and even Germany. These six mysteries and thrillers will give you all the suspense along with the atmosphere of World War II.
My Father's House
Set in Nazi-occupied Rome, a group of individuals known as the Choir led by Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty work to help refugees, POWs, and other persons in peril escape from the Nazis.
But the Gestapo are closing in on the Escape line and a vital member of the Choir is injured, O’Flaherty has to undertake the dangerous mission himself.
It’s a gripping book that will make you want to read it all in one sitting. The second in the Rome Escape Line Trilogy The Ghosts of Rome just came out in February and it’s a worthy successor.
Direct Hit
It’s September 7th, 1940, in East London. It’s better known as the first night of the Blitz.
But for Detective Inspector John Jago, the bombs are more than dangerous to life and limb—they also destroy the evidence of the murder of a local magistrate and printer owner.
Jago has to try to solve the crime without clues at the crime scene as well as deal with American journalist Dorothy Appleton. Can they find the truth without becoming victims of the Blitz and/or the murder?
It’s the first book in the nine-book series The Blitz Detective (book 9, The Soho Murder, came out in 2024).
Death at Greenway
Bridey Kelly is hoping to keep her head low and do her job. She lost her job after making a mistake at a London hospital so she’s hoping her past won’t follow her to the new job.
She’s found work as a nurse to help a group of evacuated children sent to Agatha Christie’s home in Greenway. But laying low may be hard when the other nurse Gigi seems to draw attention to herself and seems to have her own mysteries.
When a man is found murdered nearby, all signs point to murder. Bridey has to figure out the truth before her own haunted past comes out.
While the murders may be fictional, the setting and story of the evacuated children are true.
Rader-Day went deep into the archives to find out more about this pocket of history (plus she got to spend the night there!)
Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders
Poppy Redfern has been doing her duty, serving as her village’s Air Raid Warden. She’s helping to keep the village of Little Buffenden from German bombing raids.
But soon she’ll find herself in a new spot: detective.
Tensions are rising since the Americans are building an airfield nearby. There are Americans everywhere and some are even dating the local girls.
But things threaten to boil over when two local women are found dead, and the Americans are suspected of being behind the crime. Poppy decides to get to the bottom of the crime, with some help from an American pilot along with her dog Bess.
There are two books in A Woman of World War II Mystery Series.
Some Murders in Berlin
For a change of pace, this one takes place in 1943 Berlin. A serial killer is taking advantage of the war and chaos to kill young women.
Danish psychologist Dr. Elin Lund has been requested to go to Berlin. That means leaving her son. But she has no choice but to go to the den of the lion.
She’s brought in to work with Homicide Detective Kurt Schneider to find this deranged killer. If they fail to catch him, more will die including themselves.
But amidst the chaos of war and fascism, finding answers is hampered by everyone’s distrust of each other. Clues suggest that the killer might be someone powerful and truly sadistic.
And soon the killer becomes focused on Elin herself. Can she find the killer, bring him to justice, or become yet another victim?
Murder in the Ranks
In 1943 Algeria, WAAC squad leader Dottie Lincoln watches over her squadron like a hawk. She’s trying to move past nearly dying at the hand of her German husband who has also kidnapped their daughter and brought her behind enemy lines.
After trying to break up an altercation between one of her charges and an American soldier, the young woman is found dead outside. Everyone wants to write the death off as a suicide, but Lincoln thinks someone is behind the death.
Now she’s got a new mission: avenge her colleague and bring the killer to justice.
