Death in a Blackout
Billie Harkness, Book 1
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Death in a Blackout
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Narrated by:
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Elizabeth Sastre
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Written by:
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Jessica Ellicott
About this listen
The first in a planned historical series for fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Susan Elia MacNeal, and our very own Rhys Bowen. Through research and tireless attention to detail, the author dramatizes the hard truths of war for an industrial town on the cutting edge between victory and death, all told through the lens of a woman ahead of her time—one of the first female officers in the Women’s Police Constabulary (WPC), who during WW2, challenged stereotypes and risked their lives to protect the home front.
The year 1940: Her mother just killed in a blackout accident, and her rector father and brother MIA in France, Wilhelmina Harkness finds herself homeless, penniless, and the recipient of an unwanted marriage proposal for “propriety’s sake”. Instead of being married off, she leaves small village life behind, reinvents herself as “Billie”, and accepts her aunt’s invitation to live with her in Kingston-Upon-Hull...a coastal industrial town about to be bombed relentlessly by the Germans. Billie crawls from beneath the rubble of her first air raid to find the body of the enigmatic stranger she had encountered earlier that day. A passing policeman whisks Billie from the collapsing building, hastily reporting the woman’s death a result of bombings. An astute observer with a resolute conscience, Billie challenges the ruling. The victim’s body was unharmed, despite the fallen debris, information that inflames the wrong people but earns Billie an invitation to the newly formed Women’s Police Constabulary (WPC) and a partner—the officer whose findings she challenged.
Death in a Blackout opens with the outbreak of war on British soil and features a police officer whose work protects Britain from German bombs—as well as from criminals intent on taking advantage of wartime chaos.
©2022 Jessica Ellicott (P)2022 Recorded BooksWhat listeners say about Death in a Blackout
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jody Raabe
- 2025-01-19
Solid Start to a new Series
I LOVE the Beryl and Edwina Mysteries, and I am looking forward to learning more about Billie Harkness, Peter Upton, and Hull during WWII. The book has a more serious tone than the Beryl and Edwina series, but it fits the setting well. This first book is obviously a set-up for all the books that will follow, and I enjoyed the back story and the description of Hull during the war. It is based on the country mouse in the city trope, but has enough twists and a grounding in history that makes it worth the while in the cozy mystery genre.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Linda T
- 2022-05-10
Loved it!
A very well written period mystery! Billie, the main character is likeable and I was drawn into the story from the very start. There are lots of twists and turns to the mystery that made me want to keep reading long past when I should have put it down!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Book Lover 100%
- 2023-05-23
looking forward to continuing this series
I am an addict of the Edwina/Beryl series, so I had no hesitation in picking up this book by Jessica Ellicott. I found it interesting hearing about the historical details of daily life in WW2, the character growth and I thought the narrator did a good job overall. I have already recommended 'Death in a Blackout' to my friends and am looking forward to reading book 2 in this series!
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