The story:
It is 1940, and the Battle of Britain is just beginning. DI Jonathan Kember is on secondment to the Kent County Constabulary from Scotland Yard, and when a female officer of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) is found murdered near the RAF Scotney airbase, Kember is dispatched to investigate.

There he meets Lizzie Hayes, Third Officer in the ATA, and with a PhD in psychology, specialising in the criminal mind. At first dismissing her as a crank, Kember come to appreciate the unique insight Lizzie can bring to the case.

But with a Group Captain who is less than pleased to have women on his base, local criminals taking advantage of the blackouts, and German air raids putting everyone’s lives at risk, will Kember and Hayes be able to prevent another death when Lizzie herself becomes a target?

My thoughts:
Having recently taken part in the blog tour for the third book in the Kember and Hayes series, “A Perfect Time to Murder”, I was keen to go back to the beginning of the series and read about the duo’s first case together. Although I found the third book fine to read as a standalone, I enjoyed seeing how their relationship began, and this case is certainly a baptism of fire!

Kember is a diligent police detective who is determined to bring the murderer of ATA women to justice. Although sceptical that Lizzie can bring any value to the case he (reluctantly!) includes her, and is won over by her unorthodox but unique skills in understanding the psychology of the killer.

The suspects in the case range from a local thief to the village vicar, so Kember has his work cut out trying to get to the bottom of things. It was interesting to hear Lizzie’s thoughts on the possible ‘profile’ of the killer — criminal psychology being pretty much unknown to the police force, and most likely to be dismissed as “mumbo jumbo”, as local Sergeant Dennis Wright puts it!

The pair make a great team, with very different but complementing skills. And by the end there is definitely a hint that they may become more than colleagues…

The plot itself involves the gruesome killing of women in the ATA, and there are plenty of suspects in the frame. The author keeps us guessing right until the end, leading to a nail-biting final reveal. I enjoyed this introduction to the characters just as much as book three — Kember and Hayes are a partnership, and I look forward to reading the next book, “A Silent Way to Die” very soon!

This was a good solid, old fashioned mystery set at the beginning of the Battle of Britain. The author draws you in so nicely and the reader gets more of an idea how the war time really was. Nicely done, will read the next one in the series.

Strange but addictive
A serial killer is roaming Scotney village and RAF station brutally murdering the girls of the ATA but can police detective Kenber and psychologist and ATA pilot Lizzie work together to catch them
Lizzie has issues but she is also brilliant at what she does and without her insights Kember may not have been able to catch the killer, however at times I struggled with her as a character. She has a lot of internal struggles which can overwhelm her and makes it hard as a reader to connect to her, mainly because there are a lot of changes in her personality which can make it tough to fully understand her. However, now I have read her story I can see her as a more rounded character and I look forward to getting to know her more in the rest of the series
Kember is a police detective of his time, he is stuck in his ways and is very suspicious of things he doesn’t know about or understand, including Lizzie’s use of psychology to look into the mind of the murdered and create a profile of the killer. He is good at his job and I found myself warming to him so quickly and I could picture him in my minds eye going about and conducting his investigation
Two things initially drew me to this book, the first being the location where it is set, I live in Kent and have been to Scotney Castle many times before so it was easy for me to see the village and the Battle of Britain airfield, even though those in the book are fictional as they are places I know. The other thing that interested me was Lizzie’s job as an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot, without the crews of the ATA it would have been much harder to recover damaged aircraft for repair without using the resources of frontline pilots. It just so happened that a few weeks ago I heard a lecture from the Maidenhead museum which houses the ATA museum which charts the work of the ATA and the challenges that the crews, especially the women faced, to be able to fly all aircraft and not just the more basic ones like the Tiger Moth. I think that having this understanding of the ATA and the struggles going on behind the scenes really helped me to connect to the characters, their delight in flying as well as their frustrations and determination came through so strongly that I felt so connected to them and absorbed by their story
This means that there is a brilliant supporting cast of characters in this book and they work together to make it so addictive that I couldn’t put it down. The story telling and the descriptions were so vivid and compelling that I could see everything happening in my minds eye, it also kept me guessing right up to the end and I totally wasn’t expecting the killers identity
I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a historical murder mystery full of drama and twists that will catch your attention and have you unable to put it down

An absolutely original and fantastical read about the brave ladies during WW2. I would recommend this read for all those people that want to feel inspired to jump in to a book that works for all tastes.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review. Am intriguing book about women flyers at the beginning of their era. Solving the mystery was predictable but the journey was enjoyable. A few red herrings along the way...I hope this author writes more books like this one because the historical fiction was right on for a quick read. Could there be a sequel?

July 1940 Scotney, Kent. The ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) unit have been moved to RAF Scotney. But as the female pilots arrive a body is discovered. That of Lavinia Scott of the ATA. Sergeant Dennis Wright receives help from D.I. Jonathan Kemper. As part of rhe ATA is Lizzie Hayes, PHd, in Psychology, specialising in the study of criminal minds. She offers her help. But soon there is another body. Can Kemper and Hayes determine the guilty party, but what of the motive.
An entertaining, but slow paced, historical mystery with its cast of varied and likable characters. A good start to a new series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

A Quiet Place to Kill by N.R. Daws


I really enjoyed this tale set in WW2. Our main character is Lizzie Hayes who joins the Air Transport Auxiliary b ( ATA ) a post given to women to pilot planes to RAF based all over ( this took me on a journey via Google to find out more - fascinating . )
Anyway the story is that Lizzie is in a village wherein new member of them is murdered, and a DO Jonathan Kember is on the case to find out who is the murderer . Then another murder takes place , and Lizzie who has a PhD in psychology sets out to work with him to help solve the cases..
A great mystery / murder with good characters , and I could definitely see a series forming here , and would happily carry on reading them if it were.