Review – Direct HIt

Mike Hollow in his new book, "Direct Hit" Book One in The Blitz Detective series published by Monarch Books introduces us to Detective Inspector John Jago. From the back cover:  The jagged blast of high explosives rips through the evening air. In the sky over East London the searchlights criss-cross in search of the enemy. On the first night of the Blitz, a corpse is discovered in a van in the back streets of West Ham. Detective Inspector John Jago recognizes the dead man as local Justice of the Peace Charles Villiers. But then a German bomb obliterates all evidence. Villiers, not a popular man, was both powerful and feared. As the sirens wail, the detective must start matching motive to opportunity – and it doesn't help when his boss foists an intrusive American journalist on him. Jago soon discovers the dead man held many secrets, some reaching back to World War I. A lot of people wished Villiers dead – and an air raid is a good time to conceal a murder. History and mystery are a perfect combination to really get the blood going. World War II and the bombing raids on London called The Blitz, (which is why Jago is The Blitz Detective). During one of the raids Jago and his partner find a body which they recognize. However the entire crime scene is destroyed by falling bombs. The victim was not a well-liked individual and the list of suspects grows. Now Jago has to go through the possible suspects with all their motives to figure out which one of them did it.  Direct Hit is a very exciting book that will keep you engrossed in the characters as well as life in England in 1940.  I think Mike Hollow is an extremely talented writer who really knows how to tell a story that will grab you and keep you flipping pages until you find out who did it. I am already looking forward to the next book.