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Billy Boyle World War II #15
The Red Horse
Just days after the Liberation of Paris, US Army Detective Billy Boyle and Lieutenant Kazimierz are brought to Saint Albans Convalescent Hospital in the English countryside. Kaz has been diagnosed with a heart condition, and Billy is dealing with emotional exhaustion and his recent methamphetamine abuse. Meanwhile, Billy’s love, Diana Seaton, has been taken to Ravensbrück, the Nazi concentration camp for women, and Kaz’s sister, Angelika, who he recently learned was alive and working with the Polish Underground, has also been captured and transported to the same camp.
This news is brought by British Major Cosgrove, who asks Billy for help, unofficially, in solving what he thinks was the murder of a British agent recuperating at Saint Albans. The convalescent hospital is really a secret installation for those in the world of clandestine warfare to recover from wounds, physical and emotional. Some are allowed to leave; others are deemed security risks and are detained there. When a second body is found, it is evident that a killer is at work in this high-security enclave. Now Billy must carry out his covert investigation while maintaining his tenuous recovery, shielding his actions from suspicious hospital authorities, and dodging the unknown murderer.
This news is brought by British Major Cosgrove, who asks Billy for help, unofficially, in solving what he thinks was the murder of a British agent recuperating at Saint Albans. The convalescent hospital is really a secret installation for those in the world of clandestine warfare to recover from wounds, physical and emotional. Some are allowed to leave; others are deemed security risks and are detained there. When a second body is found, it is evident that a killer is at work in this high-security enclave. Now Billy must carry out his covert investigation while maintaining his tenuous recovery, shielding his actions from suspicious hospital authorities, and dodging the unknown murderer.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2020
192 people are currently reading
1806 people want to read
About the author
James R. Benn
34 books403 followersJames R. Benn is the author of Billy Boyle: A World War II Mystery, selected by Book Sense as one of the top five mysteries of 2006 and nominated for a Dilys Award. The First Wave was a Book Sense Notable title.
Benn is a librarian and lives in Hadlyme, Connecticut.
Benn is a librarian and lives in Hadlyme, Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
July 21, 2020
James R. Benn continues to explore all the nooks and crannies of the mystery genre, keeping things fresh even in book 15 of this long lived and now beloved series. Main series character Billy Boyle started as a beat cop in Boston, learning the “job” from his father and uncles, who get him a (supposedly) soft wartime post with “Uncle Ike”. As any reader of this series knows, Billy becomes an investigator, finding the smaller crimes within the larger confines of WWII. Sometimes the war is front and center but Benn is always a meticulously detailed pure mystery writer, making his books a real pleasure to read.
Billy and his buddy Kaz have been through a lot in the previous 14 books, and after an especially brutal outing in the last book (When Hell Struck Twelve), they find themselves at St. Albans, a home for recuperating soldiers and officers who have suffered the more horrifying aspects of war. Billy, who is seriously traumatized – and who can’t keep his hand from shaking when he least wants or needs it to – is suffering the psychological probing by his Dr. Robinson somewhat unwillingly.
Kaz, who has suffered from a heart problem throughout the series, is now more or less bedridden with no solution to his ailment in sight. In addition, the two men have women inside of Nazi Germany they are desperate to free – Billy’s girlfriend and Kaz’s sister. But mostly, the closed setting of the hospital gives Benn a chance at a locked room mystery.
As the book opens one of the patients plunges to his death off the clocktower on the property, an apparent suicide, but Billy is sure he saw someone with the man just before he fell. Because he’s a patient any investigating he has to do must be done on the sly, but as a couple more bodies pile up, Billy’s expertise as a detective is more or less requested by the powers that be at the hospital.
Not much of his investigation can happen, though, before he begins to recover, something his doctor effects by giving him an injection and letting him sleep for a couple of days. Billy does emerge from his “sleep cure” much more like his old self and he can get to work, utilizing the skills of some of his fellow patients, to sort things out.
Meanwhile, he also discovers that there’s a doctor who will actually operate on Kaz’s heart. In the 40’s it was thought that the heart was too delicate to be operated on, but what Kaz needs is what is the now a fairly standard valve replacement. There’s a struggle to get Kaz the surgery and Billy worries about Kaz’s declining health along with everything else.
As always, Benn brings an historian’s perspective to his novel, grounding the story and making the mystery part of it all the more vivid and memorable. What makes these books so wonderful though, are the characters and the relationships they have with one another. That’s why I was in tears at the end. If someone hands me a book combining history, character, a great story and a little bit of true emotion to wrap things up – well, that’s a book I can’t pass up. This is another superb entry in a spectacular series.
Billy and his buddy Kaz have been through a lot in the previous 14 books, and after an especially brutal outing in the last book (When Hell Struck Twelve), they find themselves at St. Albans, a home for recuperating soldiers and officers who have suffered the more horrifying aspects of war. Billy, who is seriously traumatized – and who can’t keep his hand from shaking when he least wants or needs it to – is suffering the psychological probing by his Dr. Robinson somewhat unwillingly.
Kaz, who has suffered from a heart problem throughout the series, is now more or less bedridden with no solution to his ailment in sight. In addition, the two men have women inside of Nazi Germany they are desperate to free – Billy’s girlfriend and Kaz’s sister. But mostly, the closed setting of the hospital gives Benn a chance at a locked room mystery.
As the book opens one of the patients plunges to his death off the clocktower on the property, an apparent suicide, but Billy is sure he saw someone with the man just before he fell. Because he’s a patient any investigating he has to do must be done on the sly, but as a couple more bodies pile up, Billy’s expertise as a detective is more or less requested by the powers that be at the hospital.
Not much of his investigation can happen, though, before he begins to recover, something his doctor effects by giving him an injection and letting him sleep for a couple of days. Billy does emerge from his “sleep cure” much more like his old self and he can get to work, utilizing the skills of some of his fellow patients, to sort things out.
Meanwhile, he also discovers that there’s a doctor who will actually operate on Kaz’s heart. In the 40’s it was thought that the heart was too delicate to be operated on, but what Kaz needs is what is the now a fairly standard valve replacement. There’s a struggle to get Kaz the surgery and Billy worries about Kaz’s declining health along with everything else.
As always, Benn brings an historian’s perspective to his novel, grounding the story and making the mystery part of it all the more vivid and memorable. What makes these books so wonderful though, are the characters and the relationships they have with one another. That’s why I was in tears at the end. If someone hands me a book combining history, character, a great story and a little bit of true emotion to wrap things up – well, that’s a book I can’t pass up. This is another superb entry in a spectacular series.
July 23, 2020
I’ve never read this author before but decided to start with his latest. What a delight! Engaging characters and an unpredictable plot. Benn also does an outstanding job of embedding nuggets of history without sacrificing the entertainment value of the story. It would make a good gift because it should appeal to a large readership.
For those who (like me) have never read Benn before, this is a fine place to start. I’m sure the action in it will be even more significant once I’ve read the other books, but this was highly entertaining as a stand alone.
I received my advanced copy courtesy of a promotion hosted by the Book Cougars podcast.
For those who (like me) have never read Benn before, this is a fine place to start. I’m sure the action in it will be even more significant once I’ve read the other books, but this was highly entertaining as a stand alone.
I received my advanced copy courtesy of a promotion hosted by the Book Cougars podcast.
August 5, 2023
These books are fantastic. I love the history stuff Benn drops effortlessly into the story.
Benn writes characters very well. I expect I will be hunting down all his books and will enjoy every single one.
Benn writes characters very well. I expect I will be hunting down all his books and will enjoy every single one.
September 29, 2020
I fell in love with Billy Boyle. This is the first book I read in the series and while I suggest reading them in order, I was able to figure out some things that had happened previously. This book was fast paced and kept my attention all the way through. I love that this is based upon facts from history and I can't wait to start at the beginning and read everything I have missed! Very easy to read and while we learn history we aren't bombarded with it! Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for review copy!
June 27, 2021
Billy Boyle is recovering from a combination of too much meth and combat fatigue in a special mental hospital for those with top security clearances when he witnesses a man falling from the roof of the hospital. It’s presumed to be a suicide but Billy saw another person on the roof and is convinced it’s a homicide. He keeps that information to himself as he’s concerned his mental state will be further questioned and he’ll never be released.
45% in a reference to the title. Another murder. But wait there’s more. Billy tries to solve these murders while as a patient and even after being cured but he runs into the spook culture of secrecy, a formidable obstacle but one Billy relishes going up against.
After reading this you wonder if the good guys are no better than the bad guys. Deeply personal emotions and a great ending for the next adventure.
45% in a reference to the title. Another murder. But wait there’s more. Billy tries to solve these murders while as a patient and even after being cured but he runs into the spook culture of secrecy, a formidable obstacle but one Billy relishes going up against.
After reading this you wonder if the good guys are no better than the bad guys. Deeply personal emotions and a great ending for the next adventure.
December 17, 2020
Boyle in Hollywood?
Yet another page turner. I am one of those countless devotees to the story of Billy Boyle and his sidekicks. Mr. Benn, this series is a gem...I eagerly await the next assignment you concoct for Billy....once he and Dianna have had some leave of course! :-)
Yet another page turner. I am one of those countless devotees to the story of Billy Boyle and his sidekicks. Mr. Benn, this series is a gem...I eagerly await the next assignment you concoct for Billy....once he and Dianna have had some leave of course! :-)
September 17, 2020
A page turner, and the fact that so much of it is based on historical fact made it all the more interesting. Great ending.
October 1, 2020
The Billy Boyle World War II books keep getting better. This books picks up just weeks after the action that closed When Hell Struck Twelve. Kaz is incapacitated with mitral stenosis and Billy is recovering from brief but intense methamphetamine ingestion that has scrambled his body and his mind. Both are at a former asylum for indigent lunatics converted into a psychiatric hospital for patients who know too much about clandestine war operations to be cared for with the general populace. Meanwhile, Diana has been captured by the Nazis. Then three people are murdered at the asylum. Luckily, the “sleep cure” has worked for Billy and he can do what he does best: find a killer.
The book weaves information about British SOE operations, wartime London after D-Day, psychiatric and surgical approaches to mitigating wartime trauma with step-by-step investigations in a way that keeps the reader interested, informed and on edge. A top notch addition to the series.
The book weaves information about British SOE operations, wartime London after D-Day, psychiatric and surgical approaches to mitigating wartime trauma with step-by-step investigations in a way that keeps the reader interested, informed and on edge. A top notch addition to the series.
August 9, 2020
Secrets, spies, revenge and murder.
In this latest Billy Boyle WWII mystery, The Red Horse, Billy and Kaz have been rescued from Paris and are recuperating at Saint Albans, a special sanitarium for agents and spies. Through a veil of exhaustion, drug withdrawal and lingering guilt, Billy is pretty sure he’s just witnessed a murder. But who can he trust?
Recovering from a heart attack, Kaz has been warned not to become excited and to completely avoid physical exertion. He desperately wants to return to active service, especially so he can help recover his little sister, Angelika who has been captured by the Nazis. Both she and Billy’s love, Diana are prisoners in Ravensbruck, Hitler’s concentration camp for women.
Meanwhile, a new supersonic rocket, the terrifying German V-2, is being produced in a factory near Ravensbruck using slave labor from the camp. The Allies are scrambling to eliminate this new threat. And then another murder at Saint Albans strikes much closer to home. Billy has to find the pieces before he can put them together and solve this mystery.
I love this series and the whole cast of recurring characters. Billy Boyle is one of my all-time favorite detectives. Once again, James Benn has taken historical WWII events and actors and woven them into an exciting and suspenseful tale.
In this latest Billy Boyle WWII mystery, The Red Horse, Billy and Kaz have been rescued from Paris and are recuperating at Saint Albans, a special sanitarium for agents and spies. Through a veil of exhaustion, drug withdrawal and lingering guilt, Billy is pretty sure he’s just witnessed a murder. But who can he trust?
Recovering from a heart attack, Kaz has been warned not to become excited and to completely avoid physical exertion. He desperately wants to return to active service, especially so he can help recover his little sister, Angelika who has been captured by the Nazis. Both she and Billy’s love, Diana are prisoners in Ravensbruck, Hitler’s concentration camp for women.
Meanwhile, a new supersonic rocket, the terrifying German V-2, is being produced in a factory near Ravensbruck using slave labor from the camp. The Allies are scrambling to eliminate this new threat. And then another murder at Saint Albans strikes much closer to home. Billy has to find the pieces before he can put them together and solve this mystery.
I love this series and the whole cast of recurring characters. Billy Boyle is one of my all-time favorite detectives. Once again, James Benn has taken historical WWII events and actors and woven them into an exciting and suspenseful tale.
October 8, 2020
James R. Benn took Billy Boyle to the brink of collapse in his last novel. Dealing with exhaustion, a drug addiction and guilt over his inability to save a loved one from capture by the Germans, he has been brought back to England for treatment at a former asylum. The patients being treated have all worked in intelligence or in sensitive positions during the war. As Billy wanders the grounds, he witnesses someone fall from a tower to his death. While he would swear that there was another person at the top with the victim, it is ruled as a suicide. As he recuperates and sees things more clearly, he consults with the head of security. With his background as a police detective and investigator for Eisenhower, he is asked to investigate the deaths but he must keep a low profile and as a patient he does not have access to any of the hospital’s records.
Billy’s friend and associate Kaz is also at the hospital. He has had heart problems because of childhood illnesses and after an attack on their last assignment he fears that it will end his position with the military. With his family killed in Poland, he discovered that his sister survived. He still hopes to find her, but his best chance to do that is through his military connections. If he loses his position he is afraid that he may never find her. Experimental surgery could give him a chance to continue.
When more murders occur, a postcard with a red horse is found with the first body while a drawing of a red horse is found with the second. Billy looks for a connection with the first death but he comes up against Military Intelligence and they are unwilling to provide information on operations or personnel. As he draws close to a solution he is under threat from the perpetrator as well as his own military.
Benn has taken Billy to all of the major battle sites since the war started. He has been in training areas of England, North Africa, Italy and France. Like every soldier, he has risked his life daily and it has taken a toll. Benn writes historical fiction that grips you from the very beginning and this has become one of my favorite series.
Billy’s friend and associate Kaz is also at the hospital. He has had heart problems because of childhood illnesses and after an attack on their last assignment he fears that it will end his position with the military. With his family killed in Poland, he discovered that his sister survived. He still hopes to find her, but his best chance to do that is through his military connections. If he loses his position he is afraid that he may never find her. Experimental surgery could give him a chance to continue.
When more murders occur, a postcard with a red horse is found with the first body while a drawing of a red horse is found with the second. Billy looks for a connection with the first death but he comes up against Military Intelligence and they are unwilling to provide information on operations or personnel. As he draws close to a solution he is under threat from the perpetrator as well as his own military.
Benn has taken Billy to all of the major battle sites since the war started. He has been in training areas of England, North Africa, Italy and France. Like every soldier, he has risked his life daily and it has taken a toll. Benn writes historical fiction that grips you from the very beginning and this has become one of my favorite series.
July 18, 2020
After the previous series entry which was stronger as a war story than a mystery, Benn is back to the top of his form in this 15th Billy Boyle tale, weaving fascinating historical facts into a tightly plotted mystery. Possible suspects are myriad, and it takes the combined forces of Billy, Kaz, and Big Mike to find out who is behind the killings at Saint Albans. We also learn more about the fates of Diana and Kaz's sister, Angelika. As always, I finished the book and wanted to know more about the historical details and so am thankful for Benn's notes giving context about what's true and what's fictionalized (very little). And also as always, I want to know what's next for Billy and his friends. Someday the war and the series will end, but hopefully not for a while. Highly recommended!
Review based on an ARC received through NetGalley
Review based on an ARC received through NetGalley
October 4, 2021
The 1st Billy Boyle novel I've read. Eventho I came in the at the middle of the series, it was easy to pick up Boyle's history. Reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel in the multitude of characters who were part of the plot.
February 15, 2021
This is a wonderful mashup of World War II historical fiction, gumshoe noir, spy thriller, and classic mystery. The mystery is complex and the characters are fully formed. I can't wait to read more about Billy Boyle.
August 2, 2020
Another spell-binding mystery of WWII based in part on actual events and characters. Highly recommend reading the entire Billy Boyle series from the start.
October 19, 2020
I have enjoyed each of the Billy Boyle books by James Benn. He whips together a lovely blend of history, lively realistic characters, and plot. I hope this is not his last.
October 2, 2020
Another great Billy Boyle mystery!
September 29, 2020
Another winner
Being a devoted follower of Billy Boyle from the beginning has been one of the great joys of my reading life. Thank you James Benn, you continue to shed light on aspects of WW2 that rarely see the light.
Being a devoted follower of Billy Boyle from the beginning has been one of the great joys of my reading life. Thank you James Benn, you continue to shed light on aspects of WW2 that rarely see the light.
January 22, 2021
Each novel adds more depth and vibrancy to the continuing characters Great novel with some living history approach to a significant part of WWII. As a subtitle: Midsomer Mysteries meets the OSS
June 16, 2023
The war has finally caught up with Captain Billy Boyle. Nephew to Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight Eisenhower as well as the general’s personal special investigator, Boyle has been sent to a British hospital to recover from his latest mission. The former Boston PD detective’s injuries aren’t physical but emotional, and the hospital he’s been confined to is no ordinary military hospital. Saint Albans Convalescent Hospital, located in the English countryside, is reserved for those clandestine warriors who know too many secrets to be allowed to recover in normal hospitals.
Boyle deals with his demons by taking long walks around the hospital grounds. During one such walk, he witnesses a fellow patient fall to his death from a clock tower, an apparent suicide. Or was it? When a second Saint Albans patient is found dead, it becomes apparent that one of the patients or staff is a killer. Boyle, a former homicide detective, is brought in to assist in finding the murderer.
Complicating Boyle’s probe is the fact his best friend, Polish Lieutenant Kazimierz, aka Kaz, is also hospitalized in Saint Albans with a heart condition that could end his military career and, perhaps, his life. At the same time, Boyle finds out his lover, British agent Diana Seaton, has been captured and taken to a Nazi concentration camp while Kaz’s long thought dead sister, Angelika, is alive and imprisoned in the same camp. Secret diplomatic negotiations between Allied and Nazi officials to release the women could be disrupted by the murders at Saint Albans.
I’ve always been impressed with Benn’s historical research for his novels and his research into wartime military medicine for The Red Horse only strengthens that. I spent sixteen years as a U.S. Navy analyst in combat casualty care during the height of the Iraq/Afghan wars and have studied and written quite a bit about the history of military medicine. The knowledge of such care displayed in this novel shows Benn is a good a researcher as he is a writer. An excellent read.
Boyle deals with his demons by taking long walks around the hospital grounds. During one such walk, he witnesses a fellow patient fall to his death from a clock tower, an apparent suicide. Or was it? When a second Saint Albans patient is found dead, it becomes apparent that one of the patients or staff is a killer. Boyle, a former homicide detective, is brought in to assist in finding the murderer.
Complicating Boyle’s probe is the fact his best friend, Polish Lieutenant Kazimierz, aka Kaz, is also hospitalized in Saint Albans with a heart condition that could end his military career and, perhaps, his life. At the same time, Boyle finds out his lover, British agent Diana Seaton, has been captured and taken to a Nazi concentration camp while Kaz’s long thought dead sister, Angelika, is alive and imprisoned in the same camp. Secret diplomatic negotiations between Allied and Nazi officials to release the women could be disrupted by the murders at Saint Albans.
I’ve always been impressed with Benn’s historical research for his novels and his research into wartime military medicine for The Red Horse only strengthens that. I spent sixteen years as a U.S. Navy analyst in combat casualty care during the height of the Iraq/Afghan wars and have studied and written quite a bit about the history of military medicine. The knowledge of such care displayed in this novel shows Benn is a good a researcher as he is a writer. An excellent read.
October 1, 2020
Disoriented and weak, Billy Boyle finds himself and Kaz recuperating in a special sanctuary outside of London after the horrific events in Paris. In his daze, he believes he witnesses a murder which authorities label a suicide. After a successful “rest cure” he is able to turn his detective skills to solving not one, but three murders.
Kaz has suffered a heart attack and may be sidelined from military service for the foreseeable future. Diana and Kaz’s sister are being held in a German camp. Things are looking grim.
This is the one of the most fascinating WWII series ever. Did you know that during this era, physicians did not operate on the heart and scoffed at any who thought it possible? I did know that secret agents and those who knew classified information were treated in secret secured facilities like this. Were they patients or prisoners?
Benn never disappoints and always surprises, finding new ways to involve Billy and his team in mysteries that are layered and true to solid story telling. When I finally discover what is actually happening, I never feel cheated. Meaning, the clues were there but I’m not as sharp as Billy! I wonder where Billy will head to now?
Kaz has suffered a heart attack and may be sidelined from military service for the foreseeable future. Diana and Kaz’s sister are being held in a German camp. Things are looking grim.
This is the one of the most fascinating WWII series ever. Did you know that during this era, physicians did not operate on the heart and scoffed at any who thought it possible? I did know that secret agents and those who knew classified information were treated in secret secured facilities like this. Were they patients or prisoners?
Benn never disappoints and always surprises, finding new ways to involve Billy and his team in mysteries that are layered and true to solid story telling. When I finally discover what is actually happening, I never feel cheated. Meaning, the clues were there but I’m not as sharp as Billy! I wonder where Billy will head to now?
November 1, 2020
#15 in James Benn's wonderful Billy Boyle mystery books set during World War II. Published in September 2020 from Soho Crime. This is such a great series. The Red Horse is a sequel to book #14 in the series, When Hell Struck Twelve. The current book answers many questions one was left with at the end of the previous book. It might not be necessary to read #14 and then #15, but I think is might help tie the threads between the two books together more easily. Both of them are really intense, with Billy, Kaz, and others close to them endangered in both the books. Benn writes so well about World War II and about the various groups involved in working in and with the various secret services in England, and the US, with ties to the Swedish particularly in this part of Billy Boyle's story. Wheels within wheels. Betrayals, revenge, rage, and more. It's a wonderful addition to the series, and can't be happier with finding out what finally happened with many of the characters who were possibly in dire straits as the previous book ended.
June 26, 2024
Author James R. Benn's 15th Billy Boyle World War II mystery, THE RED HORSE, finds Billy and Kaz far from the battlefields of Europe.
Instead, with Kaz suffering a heart attack and Billy dealing with exhaustion, guilt over his English lover being captured and overuse of a highly addictive drug, the duo are tucked away at St. Albans in the English countryside. Once a lunatic asylum, it has now been repurposed as a place to house, rehabilitate and keep locked away those soldiers who have had some kind of break that makes them a danger to many around them. Or they know too much to be left to their own devices.
Into that mix, Kaz is left to recuperate from his heart attack while left to wonder about the potential end of his partnership with Billy because he knows he'll never be cleared for field duty anymore. Billy is suffering the aftereffects of the drug he was using in the previous book and it affects his grip on reality and more.
But the war still manages to come home, even in a former lunatic asylum. Billy witnesses what he believes is a murder. A patient is thrown off a clock tower. But with the people in charge of the hospital believing he's just "crazy", Billy's declaration that the man was murdered is met with more than a little skepticism.
But as Billy begins to regain his full faculties with the treatments offered, he is soon looking into the murder with the tacit agreement of the head of hospital security. Unfortunately, as he looks into why the man was murdered, more bodies start dropping.
With the assistance of Big Mike, the third man in the trio with he and Kaz, Billy will have to get out of the hospital and dig for answers back in London. But in Wartime London, everyone has secrets and no one wants them found out, regardless of the cost. With a number of potential operations at risk because of a crazed killer, Billy has to ferret out the truth to not only bring said killer to justice but make sure that the war effort isn't affected or it could mean his very life.
There was so much going on in this book that I was worried it might not all tie together. But James R. Benn did a great job of tying all the plotlines in by the end. The continued partnership and brotherhood between Billy, Kaz and Big Mike is fascinating to watch. You almost forget that these are fictional characters.
The choices Benn makes regarding some familiar faces in the supporting cast were interesting. Most especially regarding developments for Kaz regarding both his health and one plot point that I'm definitely letting you discover for yourself. I know that you could say it was a bit of wish fulfillment given the scope of death involved in WWII, but I was just a tiny bit choked up at the end of the book.
Regarding Billy, he had quite the journey in this book. Locked away for his own good at the start and by the end he's squaring off not just with a killer but a host of British intelligence operatives with the very real possibility of him being arrested if his plans don't work.
The stakes were high with THE RED HORSE but both Billy Boyle and James R. Benn provide plenty of thrills along the way. Readers will be furiously turning pages to see what happens next.
(As an aside, there was a brief mention in the book of a report about what was really happening in Auschwitz when the world didn't know what was going on. I was so shocked because I had learned about that report and the man responsible for getting that information out to the world from a song by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton. The author of that report wasn't named in the book's mention but I contacted the author to see if that's who he meant. The man was Witold Pilecki who went undercover in Auschwitz to get the information. The song is called "Prisoner 8459".)
Instead, with Kaz suffering a heart attack and Billy dealing with exhaustion, guilt over his English lover being captured and overuse of a highly addictive drug, the duo are tucked away at St. Albans in the English countryside. Once a lunatic asylum, it has now been repurposed as a place to house, rehabilitate and keep locked away those soldiers who have had some kind of break that makes them a danger to many around them. Or they know too much to be left to their own devices.
Into that mix, Kaz is left to recuperate from his heart attack while left to wonder about the potential end of his partnership with Billy because he knows he'll never be cleared for field duty anymore. Billy is suffering the aftereffects of the drug he was using in the previous book and it affects his grip on reality and more.
But the war still manages to come home, even in a former lunatic asylum. Billy witnesses what he believes is a murder. A patient is thrown off a clock tower. But with the people in charge of the hospital believing he's just "crazy", Billy's declaration that the man was murdered is met with more than a little skepticism.
But as Billy begins to regain his full faculties with the treatments offered, he is soon looking into the murder with the tacit agreement of the head of hospital security. Unfortunately, as he looks into why the man was murdered, more bodies start dropping.
With the assistance of Big Mike, the third man in the trio with he and Kaz, Billy will have to get out of the hospital and dig for answers back in London. But in Wartime London, everyone has secrets and no one wants them found out, regardless of the cost. With a number of potential operations at risk because of a crazed killer, Billy has to ferret out the truth to not only bring said killer to justice but make sure that the war effort isn't affected or it could mean his very life.
There was so much going on in this book that I was worried it might not all tie together. But James R. Benn did a great job of tying all the plotlines in by the end. The continued partnership and brotherhood between Billy, Kaz and Big Mike is fascinating to watch. You almost forget that these are fictional characters.
The choices Benn makes regarding some familiar faces in the supporting cast were interesting. Most especially regarding developments for Kaz regarding both his health and one plot point that I'm definitely letting you discover for yourself. I know that you could say it was a bit of wish fulfillment given the scope of death involved in WWII, but I was just a tiny bit choked up at the end of the book.
Regarding Billy, he had quite the journey in this book. Locked away for his own good at the start and by the end he's squaring off not just with a killer but a host of British intelligence operatives with the very real possibility of him being arrested if his plans don't work.
The stakes were high with THE RED HORSE but both Billy Boyle and James R. Benn provide plenty of thrills along the way. Readers will be furiously turning pages to see what happens next.
(As an aside, there was a brief mention in the book of a report about what was really happening in Auschwitz when the world didn't know what was going on. I was so shocked because I had learned about that report and the man responsible for getting that information out to the world from a song by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton. The author of that report wasn't named in the book's mention but I contacted the author to see if that's who he meant. The man was Witold Pilecki who went undercover in Auschwitz to get the information. The song is called "Prisoner 8459".)
May 6, 2021
A newcomer to the Billy Boyle series can enjoy James R. Benn's The Red Horse" as a stand-alone, since Benn provides us with enough background information to follow the proceedings. Captain Boyle, a Yank who was once a detective in Boston, is a distant cousin of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, whom he calls "Uncle Ike." The book is set in England in 1944, after the liberation of Paris, and Billy is in a bad way, both physically and emotionally. After a mission in France ended in disaster, he was admitted to Saint Albans Convalescent Hospital for Allied military personnel. With his brain in a fog, he sees a patient named Thomas Holland plunging from atop a clock tower to his death.
St. Albans, which was once an asylum for lunatics and paupers, is a bleak and unwholesome place. There is no privacy, the food is wretched, and the patients are expected follow the rules or pay the price for their failure to obey. Although he respects his psychiatrist, Billy is reluctant to discuss what is tormenting him. Among Billy's symptoms are tremors (he is withdrawing from pep pills), insomnia, paranoia, and hallucinations. When more dead bodies turn up, Billy—whose condition is improving—begins his own murder investigation. He interviews witnesses, engages in breaking and entering, enlists the help of his pals (one of whom is a codebreaker), and begins to suspect that certain high-ranking members of British intelligence hold the key to solving the murders.
The author, whose writing style is fast-paced, lively, and expressive, provides a window into Billy's unsettled mind. We feel for this haunted man who is guilt-ridden, anxious, and worried about the love of his life, Diana, who was arrested by the Gestapo. In addition, Benn hauntingly portrays the other broken men and women in Saint Albans, who are trying to deal with the terrible carnage they have witnessed and the blood that will be on their hands until the day they die. This engrossing tale involves deceit, betrayal, espionage, vengeance, and madness. it combines psychological suspense with social commentary about the ways in which violent conflicts leave indelible scars on countries as well as individuals. Billy is smart, resourceful, daring, and empathetic. In "The Red Horse," he shows that he has the cunning and courage to take on powerful adversaries who are determined to conceal their reprehensible deeds.
St. Albans, which was once an asylum for lunatics and paupers, is a bleak and unwholesome place. There is no privacy, the food is wretched, and the patients are expected follow the rules or pay the price for their failure to obey. Although he respects his psychiatrist, Billy is reluctant to discuss what is tormenting him. Among Billy's symptoms are tremors (he is withdrawing from pep pills), insomnia, paranoia, and hallucinations. When more dead bodies turn up, Billy—whose condition is improving—begins his own murder investigation. He interviews witnesses, engages in breaking and entering, enlists the help of his pals (one of whom is a codebreaker), and begins to suspect that certain high-ranking members of British intelligence hold the key to solving the murders.
The author, whose writing style is fast-paced, lively, and expressive, provides a window into Billy's unsettled mind. We feel for this haunted man who is guilt-ridden, anxious, and worried about the love of his life, Diana, who was arrested by the Gestapo. In addition, Benn hauntingly portrays the other broken men and women in Saint Albans, who are trying to deal with the terrible carnage they have witnessed and the blood that will be on their hands until the day they die. This engrossing tale involves deceit, betrayal, espionage, vengeance, and madness. it combines psychological suspense with social commentary about the ways in which violent conflicts leave indelible scars on countries as well as individuals. Billy is smart, resourceful, daring, and empathetic. In "The Red Horse," he shows that he has the cunning and courage to take on powerful adversaries who are determined to conceal their reprehensible deeds.
November 3, 2020
If you’re a fan of WWII historical fiction, as the MBR is, and lament the passing of the late Philip Kerr, as the MBR does, we’d like to bring your attention to the long-running, meticulously well-researched and award-winning Billy Boyle series by author James R. Benn.
In his newest and just released 17th adventure, it’s shortly after D-Day and Paris had just been liberated. But Captain Billy Boyle—the former Boston homicide detective attached to General Eisenhower’s staff—and his friend, Lt. Piotr “Kaz” Kazimierz, are both casualties of the fight to retake the city. Both men have been flown back to England, where they’re hospitalized at St. Albans, a secret convalescent hospital in the English countryside, where those who were engaged in clandestine warfare and espionage go to recuperate from their mental and physical wounds in a secure environment, where the secrets they carry will be safe from prying by the enemy. Kaz has a life-threatening heart problem and Billy Boyle is hallucinating due to stress, plus mental and physical exhaustion from the overuse of methamphetamines to stay alert in the days leading up to the battle for the City of Lights, as Paris is called. In addition Billy’s lover, Diana Seaton, a British espionage agent helping the French underground, has been taken by the SS and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, along with Angelika, Kaz’s sister and a member of the Polish Underground.
Only a few days after arriving at St. Albans, Billy sees a senior intelligence officer and patient named Holland, who’s about to be released back to active duty, fall to his death from the St. Albans clock tower. The authorities are listing his death as a suicide . . . but Billy thinks he saw two people up there on the tower in the moments before Holland fell. He can’t be certain though, because he was still hallucinating at the time.
Then, shortly after a medically induced sleep cure has Billy on the road to recovery, two more murders take place in quick succession and he’s in an almost impossible situation; trying to avoid suspicious hospital administrators and figure out who’s the killer, while not falling victim to him and, oh yeah, regaining his own health, in this twisted, suspenseful and surprising WWII mystery that’ll leave readers hunting for all the other novels in this outstanding series. You won’t be disappointed!
In his newest and just released 17th adventure, it’s shortly after D-Day and Paris had just been liberated. But Captain Billy Boyle—the former Boston homicide detective attached to General Eisenhower’s staff—and his friend, Lt. Piotr “Kaz” Kazimierz, are both casualties of the fight to retake the city. Both men have been flown back to England, where they’re hospitalized at St. Albans, a secret convalescent hospital in the English countryside, where those who were engaged in clandestine warfare and espionage go to recuperate from their mental and physical wounds in a secure environment, where the secrets they carry will be safe from prying by the enemy. Kaz has a life-threatening heart problem and Billy Boyle is hallucinating due to stress, plus mental and physical exhaustion from the overuse of methamphetamines to stay alert in the days leading up to the battle for the City of Lights, as Paris is called. In addition Billy’s lover, Diana Seaton, a British espionage agent helping the French underground, has been taken by the SS and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp for women, along with Angelika, Kaz’s sister and a member of the Polish Underground.
Only a few days after arriving at St. Albans, Billy sees a senior intelligence officer and patient named Holland, who’s about to be released back to active duty, fall to his death from the St. Albans clock tower. The authorities are listing his death as a suicide . . . but Billy thinks he saw two people up there on the tower in the moments before Holland fell. He can’t be certain though, because he was still hallucinating at the time.
Then, shortly after a medically induced sleep cure has Billy on the road to recovery, two more murders take place in quick succession and he’s in an almost impossible situation; trying to avoid suspicious hospital administrators and figure out who’s the killer, while not falling victim to him and, oh yeah, regaining his own health, in this twisted, suspenseful and surprising WWII mystery that’ll leave readers hunting for all the other novels in this outstanding series. You won’t be disappointed!
December 11, 2021
#14 in the Billy Boyle series. You should really read the series in order as they follow on eachother. Billy Boyle is a Boston detective in real life. In the WW2 US army he is a captain at SHAEF due to being a distant relation of Ike. He kind of fills a special detective/operative role together with Sgt. Mike (a Chicago cop) and Baron Lt. Kaz (a Polish soldier in the British army). They investigate unusual crimes or espionage cases. In the last book they were sent to France after D-Day to try and mislead the Germans into defending Paris and solve a murder at the same time.
Spoilers ahead:
In this book Boyle has been sent to St. Albans, a rest home/hospital for mentally stressed (basically PTSD) cases for high security clearance members of the armed forces. During his last assignment Boyle had been highly stressed because his loved one (Diane, SOE operative) was taken by the Germans and he had been taking meth (German Pervitin) pills to try and stay awake for days while trying to find and kill a French double agent during the last days of the liberation of Paris.
At St. Albans, first one, then other patients are being killed, apparently not by Germans but by someone else at St. Albans and Billy tries to find the killer. He discovers a highly secretive and very controversial operation of the SOE. This operation is based on actual history as are some of the characters in this book.
The writing is easy to read and follow but this is not an edge of the seat thriller. I read it slowly over several days as I followed Billy Boyle doing his due diligence following the clues and questioning witnesses. There is a lot of history in this book. It seems there was an operation to sow discord in the Nazi ranks by sending out false flags. There was also a bit on V2 rockets, which I read up on later. I would have loved it if the book had more on the V2 as that was an important part at the end of the war.
I would recommend this book and series to anyone interesting in WW2 and crime books with a WW2 setting. Now waiting to read book #15 which is already out.
Spoilers ahead:
In this book Boyle has been sent to St. Albans, a rest home/hospital for mentally stressed (basically PTSD) cases for high security clearance members of the armed forces. During his last assignment Boyle had been highly stressed because his loved one (Diane, SOE operative) was taken by the Germans and he had been taking meth (German Pervitin) pills to try and stay awake for days while trying to find and kill a French double agent during the last days of the liberation of Paris.
At St. Albans, first one, then other patients are being killed, apparently not by Germans but by someone else at St. Albans and Billy tries to find the killer. He discovers a highly secretive and very controversial operation of the SOE. This operation is based on actual history as are some of the characters in this book.
The writing is easy to read and follow but this is not an edge of the seat thriller. I read it slowly over several days as I followed Billy Boyle doing his due diligence following the clues and questioning witnesses. There is a lot of history in this book. It seems there was an operation to sow discord in the Nazi ranks by sending out false flags. There was also a bit on V2 rockets, which I read up on later. I would have loved it if the book had more on the V2 as that was an important part at the end of the war.
I would recommend this book and series to anyone interesting in WW2 and crime books with a WW2 setting. Now waiting to read book #15 which is already out.
August 17, 2020
3.75 stars
This World War II mystery series featuring former Boston cop (and relative of Gen. Eisenhower) Billy Boyle has been very rewarding over the years. We have watched Billy change during the course of the war and his special investigations. We have watched him toughen up, and seen the books grow darker as the war progresses. In this story, both Billy and his best friend, displaced Polish aristocrat Kaz, are at a low ebb, mentally and emotionally and physically. For that reason, I am not sure this would be a great standalone for anyone not previously acquainted with the series.
As the story opens, Kaz has heart-related medical issues and is worried about his sister Angelika who has been sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany as a Resistance member. Billy is suffering from exhaustion and a brief dependence on amphetamines and his lady love Diane, an intelligence operative, has also been sent to Ravensbruck. The two men are sent to a former asylum in the British countryside to recuperate.
But their refuge has problems of its own: Billy witnesses a death which is thought to be suicide, but which he thinks is murder. And two more deaths soon follow. What is the common link? Billy can't help but sniff around to find out how these murders are connected, even while he is trying to get discharged, working on a way to spring Diana and Angelika, and worrying about Kaz's heart.
The story doesn't always completely hang together, but the action never stops and the narrative is fast-paced. As always, some interesting historical facts are threaded throughout the plot. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This World War II mystery series featuring former Boston cop (and relative of Gen. Eisenhower) Billy Boyle has been very rewarding over the years. We have watched Billy change during the course of the war and his special investigations. We have watched him toughen up, and seen the books grow darker as the war progresses. In this story, both Billy and his best friend, displaced Polish aristocrat Kaz, are at a low ebb, mentally and emotionally and physically. For that reason, I am not sure this would be a great standalone for anyone not previously acquainted with the series.
As the story opens, Kaz has heart-related medical issues and is worried about his sister Angelika who has been sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany as a Resistance member. Billy is suffering from exhaustion and a brief dependence on amphetamines and his lady love Diane, an intelligence operative, has also been sent to Ravensbruck. The two men are sent to a former asylum in the British countryside to recuperate.
But their refuge has problems of its own: Billy witnesses a death which is thought to be suicide, but which he thinks is murder. And two more deaths soon follow. What is the common link? Billy can't help but sniff around to find out how these murders are connected, even while he is trying to get discharged, working on a way to spring Diana and Angelika, and worrying about Kaz's heart.
The story doesn't always completely hang together, but the action never stops and the narrative is fast-paced. As always, some interesting historical facts are threaded throughout the plot. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
November 24, 2020
The beginning of this entry seemed reminiscent of an earlier with Billy's memory loss but a different enough variation to stand on its own. During the liberation of Paris, Bill and Kaz are surrounded by Germans and after suffering barely escaping, he witnessed Diana Seaton being captured by the Germans as they escaped. Still recovering from the side effects of fighting all day and night with methamphetamines, Billy and Kaz are sent to St. Albans in the English countryside. Billy to recover from the psychiatric effects and Kaz from his heart finally catching up to him.
When we start the story, Billy is still suffering some slight delusions from the meth but there's not doubt the death he sees from another patient, Holland, plummeting to his death from the clocktower is dreamed up. However, Billy is sure he saw someone push Holland. As Billy slowly convalesces, he nevertheless investigates what may be a killer on the loose at this hospital.
Although it wasn't my favorite entry in the series, it featured all of the main cast of characters we've come to love in the Billy Boyle series along with Billy's general antics and gift of the gab while interviewing witnesses. Sadly, we see a departure of one of the longstanding characters throughout the series as Billy slowly pieces together the mysterious connections of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) that he meets throughout this story to the killer. A classic Billy Boyle entry with great pacing and twists and turns throughout. I very much enjoy the research Mr. Benn puts in his series and his the interesting tidbits he shares about them following the end of each story as well.
When we start the story, Billy is still suffering some slight delusions from the meth but there's not doubt the death he sees from another patient, Holland, plummeting to his death from the clocktower is dreamed up. However, Billy is sure he saw someone push Holland. As Billy slowly convalesces, he nevertheless investigates what may be a killer on the loose at this hospital.
Although it wasn't my favorite entry in the series, it featured all of the main cast of characters we've come to love in the Billy Boyle series along with Billy's general antics and gift of the gab while interviewing witnesses. Sadly, we see a departure of one of the longstanding characters throughout the series as Billy slowly pieces together the mysterious connections of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) that he meets throughout this story to the killer. A classic Billy Boyle entry with great pacing and twists and turns throughout. I very much enjoy the research Mr. Benn puts in his series and his the interesting tidbits he shares about them following the end of each story as well.
November 15, 2021
First sentence: Something was wrong. The wind bit at the back of my neck, and I hunched my shoulders as gray clouds scudded across the sky, outpacing me as I trudged along the gravel path. I stuffed my hands into my pockets, thankful for the warmth. Thankful I could hide the tremor in my right hand. Because they were watching. I couldn't let them see how bad it had gotten.
Premise/plot: So because the book is part of a LONG series and I am just not clever enough to summarize it keeping it spoiler free for all previous books, I'll just say Billy Boyle is an American soldier who specializes in solving murder cases for the Allies. Before becoming a soldier, he was a police detective--just getting started, but part of the police force. This fifteenth book takes place in 1944.
My thoughts: I consider the discover of the Billy Boyle historical mysteries series to be one of my all time happiest discoveries. But. The books HAVE to be read in order. They just have to. Yes, the mysteries--the cases, usually murder cases--are contained. But there is an unfolding story that carries over all the books. I think it would be confusing to read them out of order.
I can't believe the series is up to fifteen books!!! I never want the series to end. Not really.
The Red Horse was INTENSE and interesting. Plenty of murders to solve and plenty of history to explore. I found the author's note fascinating. Don't skip it. I know it might be tempting to think the book is over. But don't miss out on finding out what was true and what was fiction with the story.
Premise/plot: So because the book is part of a LONG series and I am just not clever enough to summarize it keeping it spoiler free for all previous books, I'll just say Billy Boyle is an American soldier who specializes in solving murder cases for the Allies. Before becoming a soldier, he was a police detective--just getting started, but part of the police force. This fifteenth book takes place in 1944.
My thoughts: I consider the discover of the Billy Boyle historical mysteries series to be one of my all time happiest discoveries. But. The books HAVE to be read in order. They just have to. Yes, the mysteries--the cases, usually murder cases--are contained. But there is an unfolding story that carries over all the books. I think it would be confusing to read them out of order.
I can't believe the series is up to fifteen books!!! I never want the series to end. Not really.
The Red Horse was INTENSE and interesting. Plenty of murders to solve and plenty of history to explore. I found the author's note fascinating. Don't skip it. I know it might be tempting to think the book is over. But don't miss out on finding out what was true and what was fiction with the story.
June 5, 2022
Set in 1944, this WWII mystery featuring U.S. Army investigator Billy Boyle who is confined to Saint Albans Pauper Lunatic Asylum outside of London where he’s recovering from a traumatic experience. A recent mission in Paris was betrayed to the Germans, leaving Billy's love interest, Lady Diana Seaton, an undercover British operative, in the hands of the Gestapo and sent to a Nazi camp for women. While on the hospital grounds, Billy witnesses a fellow patient, Thomas Holland, fall to his death from a clock tower. Having seen a second figure near Holland right before his death, the former Boston homicide cop isn’t inclined to credit the official view that the fatality was either suicide or an accident. His status as a patient being treated for depression and disorientation after taking too much methamphetamine makes investigating a challenge. When Major Charles Cosgrove of the British Army is found dead holding a postcard with Hitlers picture on one side and a drawing of a Red Horse enclosed in a red circle on the other side, Lieutenant Paul Densmore body is found and the image of a Red Horse traced in his blood on the windowpane. Billy must now investigate while dodging the unknown killer and not knowing who to trust.
November 26, 2024
#15 in the former Boston cop Billy Boyle WW II mystery series. Just days after the Liberation of Paris (September, 1944?), Billy is brought to Saint Albans Convalescent. Billy is dealing with emotional exhaustion and his recent methamphetamine abuse. Recovering, he witnesses what looks like a murder which he seeks to solve. Then there is a second and third murder so it looks like there is a killer loose in this secured facility as he investigates.
Billy is in very early 20's, Boston Irish with a cocky attitude and had just made detective when the war started. His parents used their connections to keep him out of combat by getting him a staff job on cousin's Dwight Eisenhower's staff who at the war's start was based in Washington, D.C. Ike is quickly transferred to London when Billy joins his staff. Billy's goal: stay out of any combat situation and get back to Boston. His investigative style is to poke a stick into things to see what happens. He is impertinent, has a Boston America Irish anti British huge chip on his shoulder, doesn't like superior officers, tends to disobeys orders, takes himself off on his own personal tasks without considering ramifications putting himself in serious situations, and, since he is hero, these personal tasks work out for the best.
Billy is in very early 20's, Boston Irish with a cocky attitude and had just made detective when the war started. His parents used their connections to keep him out of combat by getting him a staff job on cousin's Dwight Eisenhower's staff who at the war's start was based in Washington, D.C. Ike is quickly transferred to London when Billy joins his staff. Billy's goal: stay out of any combat situation and get back to Boston. His investigative style is to poke a stick into things to see what happens. He is impertinent, has a Boston America Irish anti British huge chip on his shoulder, doesn't like superior officers, tends to disobeys orders, takes himself off on his own personal tasks without considering ramifications putting himself in serious situations, and, since he is hero, these personal tasks work out for the best.
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