Transcript
Welcome to Mystery Books podcast, a podcast covering mysteries and all of their forms, from classic golden age novels to contemporary cozies, I’m mystery author Sara Rosett. And this is season one, episode three. And it’s all about Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen. So first, let’s read the blurb.
Book Blurb
Summer 1942. The world has been at war for three long and desperate years. In the remote English village of Little Buffenden, Poppy Redfern’s family house and farmland has been requisitioned by the War Office as a new airfield for the American Air Force. As the village’s Air Raid Warden, Poppy spends her nights patrolling the village as she tries to ease her neighbors’ fears about the “Friendly Invasion” and what it means to their quiet way of life. When two young, popular women who were dating American servicemen are found strangled, Poppy quickly realizes that her little town has been divided by murder. The mistrust and suspicion of their new American partners in the war threatens to tear Little Buffenden apart.
OK, so that gives you a little taste of the type of book this is in a little overview of the plot.
Story Behind the Story
Now, we’re going to talk about some fun facts about it, some interesting tidbits behind the writing of the story.
Tessa Arlen and I had a book event together at the fantastic, independent mystery bookstore: Murder By The Book in Houston. We had a wonderful time talking about books and writing and murder.
During the event, Tessa talked about how she’d listen to her grandparents stories about World War II in England and how she used that as inspiration for the book. A lot of the incidences in the book sounds like they were inspired from real life. In the acknowledgements, she mentions her father and grandfather and thanks them for “Their stories of World War II” and adds, “I wish you were here. I wish you were both here to enjoy my recycling of your antidotes and memories of wartime Britain, both sad and funny like.
And I think that’s a good little encapsulation of what this book is like. It’s sad and funny because it does have a lot of the drama and the sadness associated with World War II. But there is a lot of humor in it and a lot of funny things happen. So it is a book of contrasts. It opens with this vivid scene in London during an incoming air raid. And it’s Poppy’s last night of training to be an air warden. And so her job is to escort the civilians to the shelter of the underground and to make sure as many people get there as possible.
The description just really captures the like the chaos and the fear, as well as the really stoic attitudes of the people at the time. Their lives were completely disrupted, but they were still able to joke and put up this at least front of bravado. Maybe if they didn’t feel that inside, that was the attitude most of them seem to project. That’s captured in the book really well. After that opening chapter, Poppy goes back to Little Buffenden, where she’s going to be the air raid warden there.
And it is quite a contrast from the drama and the, you know, intensity of life in the capital. And in her little village, the people don’t feel the threat. Their village is quiet, it’s been safe, and they’ve never even seen a plane fly overhead. They are not worried at all about an air raid. And so her job is to go around and make sure all the lights are out and all the blackout curtains are closed so that there’s no tiny bit of light that could indicate there was a village there in case any German aircraft fly over. And so the people still feel like this, even though there’s an air base opening right there in their village. Basically, Poppy is kind of fighting a losing battle to get them to comply to all these regulations that she has to enforce. And she’s not the most forceful, assertive person. Her personality is not like that. So she has to really dig deep to make sure everyone complies. It’s a challenge for her to do this job.
What one thing I really liked about this book is that it’s got so many contrasts. So you have that contrast of the metropolitan kind of cosmopolitan, very dangerous city life in London compared with the quiet, slow paced, almost lackadaisical attitude towards the potential threats in the village. Another contrast you have is between rules and reality. Poppy is trying to get people to follow these rules. She’s in a really awkward position because she has to enforce all of these rules. And yet the villagers are not worried about it and they really don’t take the rules seriously. There’s certain things that they have to do every day. And then if there is an air raid, they’re supposed to go directly to their shelter and not, you know, bring everything from their home with them. And people are just not taking it seriously, and so there’s a contrast between, you know, what the rules are and how the people really live and how they feel.
And then there’s another contrast between the villagers and the American military men. So there’s a lot of inherent conflict there. The villagers, some of them are very happy to have the American men there because the American men will spend money, they’ll bring chocolate and things that the British people haven’t seen for years. You know, kind of these treats, there’s some good things, but then that also causes some strife and some tension. And then, of course, you have the classic British and American contrast, separated by a common language kind of thing where the British don’t understand some of the American ways of interacting. And it sets up another layer of contrast and tension.
And then you also have Poppy, who she herself has different aspects of her life to contrasting aspects. She’s independent and she wants to be independent. And she spends her evenings walking around this pitch dark village, making sure everything’s safe. But yet at the same time, she lives a very sheltered life. She lives with her grandparents. Her parents have passed away. And so she’s lived with her grandparents and stays with them. And so her life has two very distinct sides as well.
And then on top of all of that kind of is a layer over everything you have quiet village life pretty much going on, you know, as routine as it can during a war. But then you do have the news filtering back with the death of their boys from all over the world. You do have that grim reality intruding into this beautiful, idyllic setting.
Themes and Tropes
All right. So let’s talk about some of the tropes. So it is a World War II story, and that is so popular right now and there’s so much to explore in this trope. And it looks like that this series is going to explore all different aspects of World War II, because at the end of this, the way it ends, you realize that the next book is probably not going to take place in the village. So it looks like you’ll get to see World War II in the village and then World War II through Poppy’s eyes in different other aspects of life in England. So I’m looking forward to that.
Another trope is the Plucky Girl trope. She’s spirited and she pushes the boundaries a bit, but she’s not super rebellious, but she does have some spunk.
Let’s see. Another trope, I think, is the Cassandra trope. She’s spent so much of the book mourning people, telling them, you know, to be cautious and to be careful and that an air raid is possible and no one believes her.
Then you have another fun trope, the Struggling Writer. Poppy is doing her bit and she’s doing this practical job of walking around the village. And it’s not glamorous. Her uniform isn’t attractive and she doesn’t look very stylish in her uniform. But she’s doing her job and she’s, you know, doing what she can do for the war effort. But she also has this really romantic dream of being a writer. And she scribbles away on this thrilling mystery novel about a newspaper reporter who investigates murders in the East End of London during the Blitz. So you have that contrast again for her in her life with the really practical, plodding, unglamorous job of being an air raid warden, with her rich fantasy life and her desire to be a writer.
I think the last hope that we’ll talk about today is the Dashing Military Man. Lieutenant O’Neal arrives at the American military base. And it’s always good to have a dashing military man as an aspect of your story.
Quotes
OK, so let’s do a quote. This one is kind of a long one, but I think it captures a little bit of the book and of Poppy’s character. So in this book that Poppy is writing about, this savvy newspaper reporter, the newspaper reporters name is Ilona. Poppy is wondering what her character would make of the murder in a backwater like Little Buffenden if she were reporting on it. And so Poppy says, “She would have had Hargreaves gratefully thanking her for her observations as he wrote them down word for word. As a newspaper reporter who is used to handling tricky situations, Ilona is supremely confident in dealing with the police. She also lives a sophisticated life of enviable independence in an elegant service flat in Piccadilly. In short, Ilona Linthwaite is the sort of woman I long to be. . . ”
In a way, this is also a Coming of Age Story. That’s another trope that I didn’t mention earlier. This is sort of, Poppy, finding her way into her own, becoming her own person in her own independence.
So have you read Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders or do you have a favorite World War II mystery that you enjoy? Let me know.
Thanks for listening. I hope this podcast has let you revisit a favorite book or helped you discover a new author to try. If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, I hope you’ll tell a fellow mystery reader. Thank you. Talk to you next time.
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