Welcome to Ann’s War a series of five mysteries set during 1944-5.
Series and Historical Background
Betrayal, the first story in the Ann’s War Mystery Series, is set in March 1944. The story centres on Ann, a young recently married secretary, and her relationships with her husband, Emrys, a man working for British Intelligence, and a widower, Detective Inspector Max Deveraux. The mystery centres on an alleged infidelity, and a murder.
Four individual mysteries will follow Betrayal. These mysteries will include the preparations for D-Day, a mass escape from a prisoner of war camp and the VE Day celebrations. Although the stories are fictitious they will be based on factual events. At the conclusion of book five Ann’s story arc will be complete.
Emrys and Ann Morgan’s car, a stylish 1938 Jensen S-Type.
Spymaster Charles Montagu’s Austin 10
Ann’s War is a mystery series set against the social history backdrop of the Second World War. Ann Morgan, the reluctant detective in the series, is fictitious. However, she is loosely based on real women of the period. For example, in the 1940s Melodie Walsh established herself as a private detective. Melodie Walsh’s father was a close friend of G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc. Initially, Melodie worked as an actress – along with modelling, acting was a career path for many middle-class women in the 1930s – before establishing her agency. Her bread and butter tasks included divorces and writ-serving, although glamorous assignments also presented themselves – on one occasion, Melodie went undercover as a model to foil a series of fur thefts. With her father’s social connections, Melodie was in demand, hired by people who wished to gain information while avoiding a scandal. In the 1940s, private detective work was still predominantly a male profession. However, through the likes of Melodie Walsh women were beginning to assert themselves.
Hannah Howe 