Orders from Berlin
Tolkien’s previous two novels featuring Oxford copper Bill Trave have been set in the 1950s, but the crimes under investigation had roots in WWII. This time Tolkien moves back to 1940 and the height of the Blitz. Trave is a young police investigator in London tracking the murder of Albert Morrison, the former head of MI6. The victim’s son-in-law is the likely suspect, and Trave’s boss, who prefers quick convictions, facts be damned, is ready to close the case. Thanks to a curious note found on Morrison’s body, though, Trave smells a rat—and not just any rat, but one that could suggest a plot to assassinate Winston Churchill. Tolkien effectively layers into the tale a wealth of fascinating historical detail, including meaty appearances by Churchill, Hitler, and Gestapo head Reinhard Heydrich. The action plays out dramaticallly against falling bombs, nights in the shelters, Churchill’s Whitehall bunker, and all the archetypal trimmings of life during the Blitz. The climax seems a bit over the top, but the richness of the characters and the vivid sense of daily life in the midst of history carry the day in high style. --Bill Ott