I'm pleased to turn over Cozy Up With Kathy to Kate Parker today. Kate pens the Deadly series. DEADLY TRAVEL is the fifth book in the series and was released last month.
By Kate Parker
By 1938, the number of Jewish residents trying to leave Germany, and then Austria and Czechoslovakia, far outstripped the number of immigrants other countries were willing to take in. The Great Depression still left the industrialized world with high unemployment rates and every country wanted to protect their citizens from newcomers who would take some of their jobs.
A conference was held in July, 1938 in Evian, France with the aim of convincing countries to raise their immigration quotas. Very little was accomplished, and the conference ended in failure.
On November 9, 1938 in Nazi-held territories, a systematic program of looting, burning, and torture was held against Jewish citizens. Called Kristallnacht after all the broken glass in the streets, the next morning people found synagogues and Jewish owned businesses were destroyed and the buildings gutted.
Demand grew from Jewish citizens to leave Nazi-controlled countries for any place that would take them. A group of leading British citizens approached the government with a plan. They wanted to take in Jewish children and house them in England temporarily. The government agreed with the understanding that a fifty pound bond would be raised for each child to assure they wouldn’t become a drain on public revenue. Fifty pounds at that time is equal to nearly a thousand pounds today, and the chore of raising these funds and finding lodging for these children fell to various religious groups.
Between December, 1938 and the end of August, 1939, about 10,000 children from the very young to seventeen-years-olds came to Britain from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. These groups of hundreds of children, brought in by Jewish, Quaker, and other groups, were called the Kindertransports. Kinder is German for Children.
They traveled by train across Europe, locked into the carriages until they left German held areas, and then took the ferry from the Netherlands to Britain. These children left behind parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, their homes, toys, schools, and everything familiar to them for the safety of a new land where everyone is a stranger who speaks a new language.
For DEADLY TRAVEL, I used a variety of details to create the Kindertransport in my story. In this case, it was a matter of using an historical event as the backdrop of a murder mystery and surrounding it with spies and danger. The story focuses on two little boys who escape to Britain under Olivia Denis’ care and how they still face danger.
DEADLY TRAVEL takes place in March and April, 1939, a few months before World War II begins in Europe. I try to show England through Olivia’s eyes as everyone faces the threat of war, and Olivia faces a new investigation that begins with the murder of a young Quaker woman who was scheduled to travel on the next Kindertransport.
DEADLY TRAVEL is the fifth book in the Deadly Series. Kate Parker is the author of the Deadly Series of pre-World War II mysteries, as well as the Milliner Mysteries set in 1905, and the Victorian Bookshop Mysteries. All three are set in London.
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Review
The Fifth Deadly Mystery
It's March 1939 and war is looming ever closer. A Quaker woman working with the kindertransport has been murdered and it appears that there is a traitor in their midst, giving information to the Nazis while shepherding Jewish children out of Germany. Olivia Denis is once again conscripted by Britain's counterintelligence service, tasked not only with finding the killer, but catching a spy as well. Her assignment is made more difficult once she arrives in Berlin when she's told she must also get the hysterical wife of a dissident and their two sons out of Germany with the rest of the kindertransport. Will Olivia be able to help get everyone to England safely? Will she succeed in finding the spy before more British secrets are shared with the Nazis? Could a Quaker, a pacifist, actually be both a murderer and a spy? Or is someone not truly a Friend?
I love everything about the fifth Deadly Mystery. From the rich historical backdrop and the deep characterizations to the well plotted mystery and the action packed story. DEADLY TRAVEL grabs you and never lets go.
DEADLY TRAVEL is a taut complex mystery that increases feelings of apprehension and worry as the story unfolds. The thought of being in Berlin in 1939 is already terrifying and adding the daunting task Olivia faces makes for heart racing, pulse pounding, page turning reading. There are scenes that take your breath away. Meanwhile, lighthearted moments throughout the book give readers a break from all of the tension. Moments Olivia shares with her fiance, time spend on the farm outside of London, and Olivia's attitude toward many of the men all give glimmers of hope and laughter. The characters themselves reassure readers. They are so well developed they practically jump off the page. I admit to having a bit of a crush on Oberst Wilhelm Bernhard and fear what will happen to him in future books.
Filled with historical detail that is both fascinating and chilling DEADLY TRAVEL is the best book I've read all year.
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Deadly Travel: A World War II Mystery (The Deadly Series) by Kate Parker
About Deadly Travel
Historical Cozy Mystery 5th in Series
Publisher: JDP Press (September 28, 2020)
Number of Pages 320
Travel to Berlin in 1939 is treacherous. Carrying out two clandestine missions in the enemy capital could prove deadly.
When a Quaker Kindertransport chaperone is murdered in the East End of London, Britain’s counterintelligence spymaster tasks Olivia Denis to join the group rescuing children from Nazi Germany. Olivia must find not only a killer, but a traitor relaying sensitive material to the enemy.
Once they reach Berlin, Olivia discovers she must rescue the family of an imprisoned British spy before she leaves the next day. An attack convinces Olivia the family’s two young sons are in grave danger, but where to hide them?
Can she protect the boys before they become the traitor’s next victims?
DEADLY TRAVEL, Book Five of the Deadly series, is for fans of World War II era spy thrillers and classical cozy mysteries, of intrepid lady sleuths with spunk and smarts. No explicit cursing, sex, or violence.
Continue your journey today into Olivia’s world of intrigue in London in the days leading up to war.
About Kate Parker
Kate Parker caught the reading bug early, and the writing bug soon followed. She’s always lived in a house surrounded by books and dust bunnies. After spending a dozen years in North Carolina, she moved to Colorado. The Rocky Mountains are beautiful, but she’d developed a love of wide rivers, warmer and wetter weather, and fast-growing greenery that sent her hurrying back to North Carolina.
DEADLY TRAVEL is the fifth book in the Deadly Series, and Kate’s plan is to follow it quickly with DEADLY DARKNESS, both set in 1939 in the days leading up to war. There are at least three more of the Deadly Series coming that will bring the beginning of the war to Olivia’s doorstep. Kate reports that she is having fun creating new stories to entertain readers and chaos to challenge her characters.
Author Links:
www.Facebook.com/Author.Kate.Parker/,
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kate-parker,
www.goodreads.com/author/show/7123001.Kate_Parker
Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo -
I appreciate getting to read about your book. With sisters and daughters who love to read, this helps so thank you.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the synopsis of the book. I like reading historical fiction and I'm looking forward to reading "Deadly Travel".
ReplyDeleteThe book sounds very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading excerpt of book. It sounds interesting, intriguing, mysterious, action packed and suspenseful. It sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteWould love to read and review the book(s) in Print/hardback/paperback format. I love reading historical books. Love the cover.
Thanks for opportunity to win.
Hope I win.
Sounds like an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn
Sounds like a really dramatic read, on my TBR. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteoh but this sounds wonderful. i love history. i just finished The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker. Oh my gooodness this is a historical mystery also quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
ReplyDeleteI like the book cover and synopsis, this sounds like a really interesting read. Thank you for sharing your book and author details and for offering a giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your review. This sounds like a well rounded book. I love this. Are there more blogs on this tour? quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
ReplyDeletethank you for your review. I didnt even know that historical cozies existed. I am having a blast trying to find authors that write like this. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net
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