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Transcript

Welcome to Mystery Books Podcast where you’ll discover new mystery books and authors. I’m USA Today bestselling mystery author Sara Rosett. I’m also a bookworm who specialties in the mystery genre. I love sharing my favorite mystery discoveries  from classic golden age novels to contemporary cozies. This is Season two, Episode six, and it’s all about Olive Bright, Pigeoneer by Stephanie Graves. Olive Bright, Pigeoneer was published in 2021 and it is book, one of the Olive Bright series.

Book Blurb

Here’s the blurb: Though war rages across mainland Europe and London is strafed by German aircraft, the little village of Pipley bustles along much as it always had. Adrift since her best friend, George, joined the Royal Air Force, twenty-two-year-old Olive Bright fills her days by helping at her father’s veterinary practice and tending to her beloved racing pigeons.

Desperate to do her bit, Olive hopes that the National Pigeon Service will enlist the Bright Lofts’ expertise, and use their highly trained birds to deliver critical, coded messages for His Majesty’s Forces.

The strangers who arrive in Pipley have a different offer for Olive. Jameson Aldridge and his associate are tied to a covert British intelligence organization. If Olive wants her pigeons to help the war effort, she must do so in complete secrecy.

Tired of living vicariously through the characters of her beloved Agatha Christie novels, Olive readily agrees. But in the midst of her subterfuge, Pipley is dealing with another mystery, the death of a villager. Is the murder tied to Olive’s new assignment?

With the gruff and handsome Jameson as an unlikely ally, Olive intends to find out—but homing in on a murderer can be a deadly business . . .

It gives you a good overview of the setup and the characters and the plot.

Here’s the first line: Olive Bright coasted to a stop beside a familiar figure, turned out respectably in the Wedgewood-blue uniform of the British Royal Air Force, her gaze arrowing to the telltale white flash on his cap, which signified he hadn’t yet completed training.

So this is George, her friend from the village, and the book opens with him leaving to go complete his training. And Olive is feeling a little left out, a little useless, because she wants to contribute to the war effort. But she wants to do so in particular with her pigeons, but so far, no one’s really been interested. Her father is a little problematic, a little outspoken, and sometimes people don’t want to work with him. Their pigeon loft has been overlooked. She’s trying to find her, what she can do to help the war effort.

Themes and Tropes

And that leads beautifully into themes. Which I think one of the main themes of this book is Finding Your Place in the World, because that’s what Olive is trying to do. She’s trying to figure out what she can do to help the war effort, and where she belongs in the village, and what her role should be.

There’s a couple of other themes, things that I thought were interesting. There’s a theme of Life Interrupted. And I read this during COVID; maybe that’s why I picked up on this. But there’s a feeling of, you know, this was the plan and then the war happened and things have changed. And so you have to deal with that. And then there’s another theme of Separation. George has gone off to training, and she’s trying to deal with that as well.

Okay, tropes. Olive Bright, Pigeoneer has one of my favorite tropes, the English Village With Characters, interesting kind of quirky people.

One of the first ones we meet is Mrs Husslebee. Olive calls her the sergeant major and says, “She has a strong sense of the proper way to do things and a compulsion to impose her will on others in the interest of the greater good. Naturally, this tendency was not generally well received. Her habit of wearing binoculars didn’t help the situation.” So I thought that was quite funny. And Mrs Husslebee is an interesting character. She’s rough and a bit of a busy body, and most of the village doesn’t really like her. But her and Olive sort of having a little affinity. Mrs Husslebee was friends with Olive’s mother, who is now deceased. They have a special bond because of that.

And then you got some other characters. Her father, the vet; he’s quirky his own way, and then he’s stubborn and not very helpful. And then you got a couple of other characters that I really enjoyed.

One is the stepmother, Harriet. It’s a very refreshing portrayal of a daughter and stepmother. Harriet has a chronic illness, and it’s interesting to see that portrayed. And then I liked the way their relationship between Harriet and Olive was written. It was very refreshing and different.

And then you also have Jonathan, who plays a part in the story. He’s a young boy from London who’s staying with them. There were a lot of young people who had been evacuated from London because of the air raids. He’s there because his mother was friends with Harriet, the stepmother. That’s her family unit. And then there’s quite a few other interesting people in the village, and I won’t go into all of them because it would take a long time. But lots of interesting characters in this book.

All right. So getting back to tropes. So we have the English village trope, and then we have a Romantic Subplot, and this is a large part of the narrative. So if you’re not into romance, then you might give this one a miss. But if you like romance with your mystery, then this would be a good choice for you.

It’s Olive and Jameson, or she calls him “Jamie.” They have a Pretend Relationship, which that’s a huge trope in Romance. Where they’re trying to keep the village in the dark about Jamie’s clandestine activities. So they pretend to be dating, so he will have a reason to be in the village.

And then you have one other trope that I wanted to mention. It’s a Puzzling Item. It’s something odd that doesn’t fit or puzzling. This isn’t really an item; it’s a puzzling aspect to the case that doesn’t really fit. So once the murder happens before the victim dies, they– I won’t say who’s killed, so it doesn’t spoil it– they mention one thing: a name. And it’s not someone who currently lives in the village, but Olive knows this name, and she must figure out what it means. And so this is a really common mystery trope where you have a death and then you have something that is just kind of odd. Why would the dying person say the name of somebody who no longer lives in the village? It’s a curiosity, it’s a mystery. And it keeps readers turning the pages because you want to find out why that name was said.

Story Behind The Story

Okay, so onto the Story Behind the Story and Fun Facts. So Stephanie Graves included a historical note in this, and I thought it was fascinating. And I thought this was one of the most interesting parts of the book is that it deals with the pigeons and their role in the war. You know, there’s a lot of World War II books out there, and this is an area that I didn’t know much about. It was really fascinating. So I’m going to quote a little bit from the historical note, Grave says.

When World War II was declared, she says, “Memories of pigeons’ heroic exploits and the Great War had not been forgotten. Pigeons had, in fact, been carrying messages in war and peace time as far back as Greek and Roman times.” So that was interesting. And then she goes on to talk about the role of the pigeons in World War II. “All rural Air Force bombers and reconnoissance  aircraft had at least one pigeon on board, tucked carefully into its watertight container, complete with a parachute.” So I just thought that was great. “In the event of an unscheduled landing, the bird would be released to return to its home loft with the information necessary to facilitate a rescue mission.” I thought that was just really interesting. And also she talks about the Germans used pigeons as well. They realized the importance of the pigeons she says. “They also made the strategic decision to clear the pigeon lofts in the countries they occupied. And the result was that any unidentified bird and the person who harbored it became instantly under suspicion and their lives forfeited.” Pigeons may seem like a not very important aspect to the war, but obviously it was a life and death situation. It’s hard to believe that if you owned a pigeon, you could be killed, just for owning a pigeon. So that was very interesting. And that was one of my favorite parts about this book.

If you enjoy World War II stories, if you enjoy English Village stories, discreet sleuth. Because Olive, she wants to serve in the war, but she also wants to figure out why this person died in the village. And so she’s trying to figure things out, but in a quiet way, because she wants to make sure it’s not related to what she’s doing with the pigeons, which is supposed to be top secret. She doesn’t want that to end.

There’s a couple of read-a-likes that would go along with this. If you enjoy this, then you might also enjoy Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders episode, which was in Season one, Episode three. Or I have a whole series set in English Village; it’s not during World War II. But if you enjoy the English Village aspect, you could check out the Murder on Location series. I talked about the first book in that series called Death in the English Countryside in Season one, Episode two, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death.

Quotes

All right, so we need a quote to end with. I’m going to read you a little bit about Olive’s affinity for Poirot. “It had been Mrs Husslebee who had introduced Olive to Agatha Christie’s Belgian Detective. The sergeant major had taken Peril at End House from the library and not care a jot for the antics of that frivolous little man.” And I’m going to skip down to the next paragraph. “Unlike Mrs Husslebee, Olive found she rather had a soft spot for Monsieur Poirot, his unflinching determination to do what must be done, tempered by his many little absurdities. Those moustaches!” She’s obviously interested in detection. And you got to love somebody who loves Poirot.

So my question for you is: have you read any offbeat World War II mysteries? I think the aspect about the pigeons gives this book kind of a new and different twist on a World War II mysteries. So have you read any mysteries that are set during World War II, but they are focused on an interesting or overlooked aspect of the war? Let me know. I’d love to hear your recommendations for those types of books.

You can find me on Instagram @SaraRosett, no H in Sara and no E in Rosett. Or you can leave a comment on the show notes for this episode, which will be at sararosett.com/Bright. I hope this podcast has let you revisit a favorite book. Or perhaps helped you discover a new author to try. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, I hope you’ll tell a fellow mystery reader, thanks for listening. And I’ll see you next time!