LYME — Lyme Public Library hosts local resident and best-selling author James R. Benn on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 2 p.m., when Benn will present “When Hell Struck Twelve: The 14th Billy Boyle Mystery.” This is the latest book in Benn’s series of popular Billy Boyle World War II mystery novels, which the New York Times Book Review has called “spirited wartime storytelling.”
Benn will be on hand to sign and sell copies of his book. This event is free and all are welcome.
In the 14th Billy Boyle mystery, US Army detective Billy Boyle and Lieutenant Kazimierz travel into the heart of Nazi-occupied Paris on a dangerous mission: ensure a traitor to the French Resistance unwittingly carries out a high-stakes deception campaign.
It is August, 1944, and US Army detective Billy Boyle is assigned to track down a French traitor, code-named Atlantik, who is delivering classified Allied plans to German leaders in occupied Paris. The Resistance is also hot on his trail and out for blood, after Atlantik’s previous betrayals led to the death of many of their members.
But the plans Atlantik carries were leaked on purpose, a ruse devised to obscure the Allied army’s real intentions to bypass Paris in a race to the German border.
Now Billy and Kaz are assigned to the Resistance with orders to not let them capture the traitor: the deception campaign is too important. Playing a delicate game, the chase must be close enough to spur the traitor on and visible enough to ensure the Germans trust Atlantik.
The outcome of the war may well depend on it …
Critics have given extremely positive reviews of Benn’s latest book.
The Publisher’s Weekly said,“Stellar … The author makes the most of the tense and dramatic backdrop to this high-stakes whodunit. Benn has surpassed himself with this installment,” while BookPage noted, “I’ve read every book in James R. Benn‘s series, reviewed most of them, loved all of them, and this is the best one yet.”
Booklist wrote, “This consistently strong series has jumped to another level, with this volume clearly the hands-down best so far . . . Benn’s portrayal of the gallimaufry of competing Resistance groups, whose bullets, Billy learns, kill you just as dead as the Germans’ more powerful weaponry, adds a fascinating dimension to this exciting story of the sometimes-deadly chaos that accompanied the liberation of Paris.”
If you cannot attend on Saturday but would like to order a signed copy of the book, email Benn at [email protected]. Visit this link to order a copy online.