Death’s Door

James Benn has returned with another excellent Billy Boyle mystery, “Death’s Door”. This novel, his 7th in the series – along with two stand-alones – has moved Lt Billy Boyle to Rome in early 1944. Italy was under German control: after the 1943 coup against Mussolini the Germans marched in and occupied the country. The Vatican, which was an independent city-state established in 1929 under the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini’s Italian government – is set in the middle of Rome. Less than 110 acres in size, the wartime Vatican population was a combination of Catholic clergy and officials, as well as a large number of refugees. Living conditions were difficult as food and basic needs were stretched to supply the refugees and religious. And over it all hung the specter of a German take-over of the Vatican State if the precarious peace was not maintained by Vatican officials keeping a strictly “neutral” stand on world affairs.

Author Benn has done a marvelous job with his character, Billy, since he introduced him in the series’ first book, “Billy Boyle”. Benn has established an identity – Boston policeman, reluctantly serving his country in WW2, as the private “cop” of his uncle, General Dwight Eisenhower – for Billy Boyle, and his adventures in what seems to be the entire European Theater of Operations. And in “bringing along” Billy Boyle as a character, Benn has also expanded the reader’s knowledge of the Second World War. This book, “Death’s Door”, is a very good look at the Vatican’s role in WW2.

Benn’s characters in “Death’s Door” are both fictional – Billy and his companions, Kaz and Diana – and real. Actor Sterling Hayden turns up – as he did in reality – as an OSS-affiliated agent and several of the Vatican officials are actual historic figures. Monsignor Giovanni Montini – later Pope Paul – was the Papal Secretariat of State under Pope Pius and was in charge of the difficult balancing act between Germany and the Church. He, as well as other real Vatican officials, work with Billy and Kaz when the two are smuggled into the Vatican to try to solve the murder of a monsignor active in the refugee movement. But Billy is also in Rome to find his girlfriend, Diana, who, while in Rome on her own espionage mission, was captured and imprisoned by the Germans. (I do have to say that Diana and her “imprisonment” was really the only part of the story that rang a little unlikely.) Between the attempt to solve the murder and save his girlfriend, Billy and Kaz meet and befriend – and be-enemy – an interesting assortment of people. Benn also does a great job setting the scene and conditions of the wartime Vatican. (A map of the Vatican in the front of the book would have been helpful. Maybe in the next printing…) I think Benn gave a lot of thought, too, to the Church’s – and Pope Pius’s – actions in WW2 and writes about them in an open-minded manner. He doesn’t draw any conclusions but they do relate to the plot of the story.

“Billy Boyle” and James Benn have come a long way since Benn’s first book. Benn’s writing has matured and the characters and plots have grown in complexity. It’s a series that I hope continues for a few more books.

Now an editorial word about book reviews. I’m one of Amazon’s top reviewers and I’ve watched, along with several friends who are also top reviewers, the problems of false reviews of books, both on Amazon/USA and Amazon/UK. This has been the subject of recent articles in the New York Times and in several newspapers in the UK. The problem is called “sock puppeting”. This has been an irksome problem for reviewers, most of whom take our careful reading of books and then, hopefully, writing well thought-out reviews very seriously. If you’re reading reviews, I would advise you to take a close look at any glowing reviews and click on “See my reviews” to see how many other books the reviewer has reviewed. If the reviewer has only written one review – that of the book being reviewed – or reviews of only that author’s books, then you’d be right to question the authenticity of the review.

I have read all of the Billy Boyle Books up to this point. This book is just as well written, suspenseful, and entertaining as all of the rest. One thing that I appreciate about this series is that although the books are fiction they are well researched and are well grounded in actual historical events.

Book Seven in the Billy Boyle World War II mystery series is one of my favorite books in it. Billy’s love, Diana Seaton has been captured and is being held in Rome. General Eisenhower directs Billy and Kaz to go to the Vatican to find out who mudered monsignor Corrigan. For Billy, of course, this is a heaven-sent opportunity to attempt to rescue Diana. He and Kaz immediately become imbroiled in Vatican politics. As Billy points out, the Vatican is a microcosm of society in general, good priests, bad priests, those striving for good combined with those striving for evil. Death’s Door is a fascinating look at Church politics, combined with an excellent mystery and heart-stopping suspense.

Jim Benn has written a page-turner, a “who dun it” taking place in the Vatican toward the end of WWII in Europe. The descriptions of the buildings reminded me of my visit there. They felt real. There was the usual love intrigues and spurts of violence. In the spirit of full disclosure, I officiated at Jim and his wife’s wedding 35 years ago. This is the first Billy Boyle mystery I have read.

This entry in the Billy Boyle series continues the masterful depiction of one man’s journey through WW2, through events famous and little-known. In Vatican City, Billy searches for a killer – and a way to rescue Diana. The fictional elements intertwine with reality, and the notes at the end must be read to fully appreciate how many of the characters moved through our world before they ended up in Billy’s. The writing, as always, is solid, with occasional flashes of poetry and pathos. Highly recommended, as is the entire series.

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