This part mystery part historical fiction is a departure from Rader-Day's usual thrillers. While I've loved all of her books, this one has a different feel to it and reads almost like an Agatha Christie mystery of old. Two young women, hired as nurses, are evacuated to the countryside from London during WWII. Sent with 10 children and an older couple in charge, they settle into Greenway, the country estate of Agatha Christie. A murder soon occurs and suddenly there's no telling what is safe and who can be trusted.

Heartrending and well-crafted historical fiction with Agatha Christie's country home as a backdrop. Nurse in training Bridget finds herself assigned to escort and care for a group of child evacuees to the country. As she and her fellow nurse Gigi learn the routines of the household, they realize they are both keeping secrets - and soon find themselves enmeshed in mysteries as strange as any written by their host.

At the beginning, Bridget's character seems wooden and unlikable; Rader-Day reveals more and more about Bridget as the book goes on, and I found myself empathizing with her more and more, until things were revealed that made her strangely mute demeanor make sense. A brilliant use of showing, rather than telling, character development in fiction. So much historical fiction about the British home front during WWII espouses the stiff upper lip, keep calm and carry on ethos of that time period - this novels' acknowledgement of the danger and harm done to the folks at home is both refreshing and eye-opening. Rader-Day clearly did her research.

I stayed up late into the night to finish this mystery set in Agatha Christie's home on the English Coast during WWII. Although Christie herself only makes one brief appearance, her methods and processes hover over not-quite-nurse Bridget Kelly as she tries to untangle the happenings at the home where she cares for a group of under-5 evacuees from the bombardment of London. Rader-Day allows minor characters to shine without sacrificing the quality of her main characters--especially Willa, who gives a heartfelt send off to the young soldiers leaving for D-Day.

Judging by the cover art, I thought Greenway's famous resident, Agatha Christie, would be more of a presence in Death at Greenway. Instead, she is a very minor character in a mystery set in her home during the second world war. Children evacuated from the Blitz in London come to live in the country at the Greenway estate, but mistaken identities bring danger closer than they wanted. Based in part on the memories of one of the evacuees, Death at Greenway was a good mystery with the twist of having the most famous mystery writer of all's house as a setting.