• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 October #2
  Arlen, author of the Lady Montfort series, set in early-twentieth-century England, now moves to WWII, introducing a new heroine, spunky air-raid warden Poppy Redfern. Trained in London, Poppy has returned to her small village of Little Buffenden to patrol the countryside. Her family home has been requisitioned by the Americans for an airfield. Ambivalent feelings about the Yanks harden into suspicion, when two local girls are murdered. Poppy, who's developing a relationship with a flier, Griff, and writing a mystery of her own, finds clues and a plethora of suspects spilling in her direction. Arlen deserves several thumbs up for this one. Her depiction of British country life in wartime will take readers back to movies like Mrs. Miniver (which has a cameo here). But along with capturing the ambience of the era, Arlen also has the gift of keeping the reader guessing. Just as one likely suspect steps to the fore, another pushes him or her out of the way. A fine start to a new series. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

Tessa Arlen was born in Singapore, the daughter of a British diplomat; she has lived in Egypt, Germany, the Persian Gulf, China, and India. An Englishwoman married to an American, Tessa lives on the West Coast with her family and two corgis.