Beware This Boy

This second book in Maureen Jennings' terrific new mystery series brings England during World War II vividly alive: a must for fans of the author's own beloved Murdoch Mysteries and of Foyle's War.

The summer of 1940 had been a dark one for England, and even darker for DI Tom Tyler's personal life. When several young women doing dangerous war work are killed in an explosion in a Birmingham munitions factory, Tyler is quick to help out. But as he talks to the remaining employees, the owner, and others connected with the factory, divisions begin to appear, and Tyler fears that what first seemed a tragic accident may be the result of something much more sinister, organized, and far-reaching.

The rich sense of England during the era of the Blitz, pitch-perfect dialogue, and vivid characters—not least the rough-around-the-edges charmer Tom Tyler—make Beware This Boy another classic page-turner from master storyteller Maureen Jennings.“Ignorance is not bliss. That’s the short and firm message in this terrific second Tom Tyler mystery from Maureen Jennings. Fans who mourn for the Murdoch tales of Victorian Toronto should not despair; he will return. But the Tyler series, set in Second World War England, shows all of Jennings’s talent for historical mystery. . . . With great historical detail, solid characters and a really good plot, this series is another winner for Jennings. Fans of the Foyle’s War TV series should rejoice.”
—Globe and Mail

“The period setting is amazingly vivid and terribly real. Writing with all senses on high alert, Jennings creates a flawless approximation of a typical day in the life of all the girls who worked on weapons assembly lines, their skin yellow and their hair orange from the cordite. And when she takes the story underground during an air raid, those bombs she starts dropping come so close that readers might want to duck their heads and take cover.”
—New York Times Book Review

“The atmosphere and dialogue in Beware This Boy puts you at the heart of the story. The haunting melodies of Vera Lynn seem to settle in with the words. Writing about the past — 1940 England, a year into the Second World War — is a skill. Making the reader feel they’re in the middle of it is a gift. . . . Readers are drawn into as fine a piece of historical mystery writing as they’re likely to come across. Read and relish this extraordinary piece of storytelling.”
—Hamilton Spectator

“Well-crafted characters are [a] Jennings hallmark and this novel has many. The story is told from the perspective of several men and women, both inside and outside the factory. . . . Jennings keeps readers guessing who the culprit is, thanks to a surprise or two along the way.”
—Halifax Chronicle-Herald

“It’s among Jennings’ gifts that all her people are painted in full colours, each comprehensibly human, even the nastiest with their own sorrowful, if not quite mitigating, histories. And Tom Tyler is the most complete and human of them all—smart, empathetic, yearning, mournful and fair. Jennings [is] the author of seven Detective Murdoch novels set in late-19th-century Toronto and currently dramatized in the eponymous TV series. Those novels are compelling in character and plot, and historically valuable, but her efforts with her new protagonist in a more recent period are possibly even more sterling—may, in fact, be verging on classic war- fiction status.”
—Joan Barfoot, in the London Free Press

“Whether she’s writing about a police inspector in turn of the (past) century Toronto or a cop in World War II Shropshire, Jennings skillfully transports us back in time by recreating the emotions of the periods. . . . [She] weaves her way through a complicated web to a satisfying resolution that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.”
—Denver PostMAUREEN JENNINGS was born in the UK and emigrated to Canada as a teenager. After a long career as a psychotherapist, she became an award-winning writer. She is the author of four series in the crime fiction genre—Christine Morris, Tom Tyler, Murdoch Mysteries, and Charlotte Frayne P.I.—as well as a book on creativity, one novella, and four plays. The Murdoch Mystery series has been adapted into the beloved television series Murdoch Mysteries shown in over 120 territories worldwide, and the Tom Tyler series served as the inspiration for the television series Bomb Girls. In 2011, Jennings was the recipient of the Grant Allen Award for her contribution to Canadian crime writing. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their dog, Murdoch.