Review: Female Protagonist Solves Crime in WWII
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 15, 2013
Title: A Date With Death (In The President’s Service – Episode 1)Author: Ace CollinsPublisher: Elk Lake PublishingASIN: B00HAKO34W“This is not about you or me; it’s about saving an innocent man’s life. That’s what I do. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t keep trying until the bitter end. And one night with you, no matter how tempting, is just not in the cards,” Helen Meeker explains in Ace Collins’s mystery, "A Date With Death (In The President’s Service- Episode 1)."At one hundred and seventy-six pages, this first in the monthly series e-book is geared toward readers who like action, adventure, and romance during World War Two. With no profanity, overtly sexual scenes, or extreme violence, this reader wishes all pronouns of God were capitalized for reverence.The year is 1941 and Nigel Andrews, a bitter British soldier, witnesses his commander, Reggie Fister, take several bullets to save many in his regiment as they escape France. When all assume the hero is deceased, Nigel goes to America as Churchill’s bodyguard in his stead.Months later, the beautiful, shrewd, and intuitive Helen Meeker is asked by President Roosevelt, a longtime friend who she now works for, to escort Nigel to local events in Washington. However, being the detective she is, she is distracted by a case involving a Lutheran minister who has been arrested for spying for the Nazis and only has twelve days until his execution.Meeker quickly diffuses a bank robbery that includes hostages so she can get her partner’s complete attention to work on the new case. The two try to connect the dots why the pastor so easily confessed after his daughter’s coffin was placed in the ground.During a time when women were not accepted in the FBI, Meeker plays the perfect protagonist, staying one step ahead of everyone else as she dines with Andrews, meets the supposedly deceased and charming Fister, engages with FDR, and searches for clues in a cemetery in segregated Georgia, visit a couple in Pennsylvania, and search a New York haunted house.Meanwhile with campy dialogue from the time period, the arrogant and boastful Fister and the timid partner vie for the woman’s romantic attentions. With the clock ticking, Meeker solves one case before being thrown into the next dangerous adventure.Although predictable, this novella is a nice distraction that can be read in several hours as one anticipates the next scenario in the flawless heroine’s life working with the President of the United States.This book was furnished by The Book Club Network Inc. in lieu of a review based on the reader’s honest opinion.