Shadowed by Death

It’s 1944, and Oliver is working as a police detective with his German Shepherd Harley when he gets an assignment assigned to guard Sophia, a Polish Jewish Resistance fighter who has come to the US to tell about the atrocities she has witnessed, and to raise money. Someone wants desperately to silence her. Another Polish woman is found unconscious and seriously injured in the city—are they connected somehow? The author has obviously done extensive research into the Russian role in the Holocaust, and knowledge of the situation in the USA (for example, I had no idea there was a community of Jewish chicken farmers in Petaluma, CA). Her research, the compelling characters she’s created, and the setting of wartime San Francisco make this a not-to-be-missed thriller.

historical-figures, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, world-war-ll, mystery, law-enforcement, dogs, resistance-efforts, us-marine

The good, the bad, and the clueless. A Marine damaged in the Pacific war is temporarily returned to the Homicide division at home whrre he investigates some suspicious events and seems surrounded by displaced people from mainland Europe. Ably assisted by his canine counterpart and a long leg brace, Oliver finds himself learning more than he can handle about the situations his new acquaintances have endured and the head in the sand attitude of the American government about their lives here in the US. Set in 1944 in California and clearly the sanitized novelization of much research, this is a book that is all too easily believed. As with most good mysteries, there are several entwined plots which all come together. The publisher's blurb gives clues but spoilers are not needed.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Dancing Dog Books via NetGalley. Thank you!