Secrets!

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Stephanie Graves, Olive Bright, Pigeoneer, is a fun book which reads like a script for Masterpiece Theater or a series on Acorn TV. The book takes place in Pipley, an English village in 1941. Olive lost her mother to tuberculosis after WWI and Harriet, her step-mother, has multiple sclerosis. Her father is a veterinarian, and he is a pigeoneer. Jonathan, an evacuee from the blitz, lives with the family. Olive was working on her veterinary degree in London until the school closed due to the bombing. She spends her time with the pigeons and reading Agatha Christie mysteries.

Wanting to help out the war effort, they are hoping to have their pigeons be part of the war effort. British Intelligence Officer Jamie Aldridge connects with Olive and wants to use the pigeons but she is not allowed to tell anyone except for Jonathan. The town’s gossip writer, Verity Husselbee, has returned to Pipley. She has the goods about everyone, and it often appears in Mass Observation. At a town get together, Verity is poisoned. Over the course of the novel, Olive uses her skills of Agatha Christie books to solve the case. There is a large cast of characters and I suggest that readers take notes to try to solve the crime.

The war really takes the passenger seat to Small town life. We do learn a lot about how pigeons were used to help in the war effort, and there is the starting of a love story between Olive and Jamie. The ending makes this reader believe this book is the start of a series. I enjoyed this book, and it makes for good reading during this cold week of winter. Thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for an ARC. The opinions in this review are my own.