1940ish, and Britain is under constant threat from the sky, as the Luftwaffe bombers repeatedly threaten death from on high. In the small town of Boultbridge, there seems to be a focussed threat. A mysterious army operation is being conducted in nearby Furnace Wood – the operation is ultra-secret, invisible from the sky, but how has it been bombed twice?

Jimmy Waghorn, now lieutenant of the Special Services is dispatched to investigate, but is surprised to discover that one of the locals is none other that an undercover ex-Superintendent Hanslet, who has also been sent there to sniff out suspected wrongdoing. But when the head of the Special Constables is burned alive in his summerhouse, it seems there is no doubt that a fifth columnist is at large in the town? But can Jimmy and Hanslet track him (or her) down without the help of Dr Priestley?

No, so it’s a good thing he pops into town on page 190…

This is, I think, the first John Rhode title to be set during the War – I haven’t read Death At The Helm, but the blurb seems to imply that the conflict doesn’t play a part. I’ve developed an interest in mysteries that were written during the war when the outcome was uncertain, and this certainly qualifies.

What is interesting to me here is that this isn’t a propaganda piece, or a “let’s all stick together and get through this” story. It’s a relatively straightforward murder mystery where the villain is signalling German bombers.

There’s a few questions here – would the method of signalling (a core part of the mystery) really work with a moving receiver? Why does the signal need to be sent every night when the target isn’t moving? What exactly are does the villain know about what’s going on in the woods and why is it that important? Actually, we don’t ever find out the last part – careless talk and all that…

This is nitpicking, because this is a pretty good effort from Rhode. The snapshot of village wartime life is interesting. It’s mostly business as usual, apart from taking care about night-time lights, although the lack of young men is noticeable, with the Special Constables taking the place of the police, and the Home Guard patrolling for insurgents. One interesting part – and I presume this is from Rhode’s experience – is the life in the village pub, especially the behaviour of the women, who seem to be taking advantage of their husbands serving to basically get drunk a lot. No hint of sexual shenanigans, just drinking, but as one character comments, their husbands won’t let them do this when they get back. It comes a bit out of nowhere, so I’m guessing similar characters were annoying Rhode in his own local…

As for the mystery, it suffers a tad from the crucial aspect of the story being exposition-dumped pretty late in the day, but the investigation is pretty good, with Jimmy having put his intelligent head on before coming to Boultbridge. In some ways, it’s a bit of a shame that Preistley has to show up, as he was doing pretty well without him.

Points also for the final chapter, which has a really effective resolution – far more poignant that one might expect from the “humdrum” Rhode.

And good luck finding a copy… I had to go to the Bodleian to read this. The cheapest one that I can see is a bargain £400.