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Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Book Review: The Truth We Hide by Liz Milliron (Homefront Mysteries #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Strong mystery, Betty, settings
Cons: I would have liked more of the supporting characters (but it’s minor)
The Bottom Line:
When new client dies
What was motive for murder?
Betty’s next great case



Betty Searches for the Truth About Her New Client

I admire when an author changes up the premise of her series, especially after only three books.  But Liz Milliron did just that with The Truth We Hide, the fourth in her Homefront Mysteries.

This series follows Betty Ahern in World War II Buffalo, New York.  When we first met her, she was working at Bell Aircraft, doing her part for the war.  That’s behind her now, and she is attempting to follow her dream of becoming a private investigator, an ambition that is being encouraged by her father.  She’s still studying for her license when this book opens in May of 1943, but she’s landed herself a new client.

Edward Kettle worked at American Shipbuilding Company.  He’s been accused of giving secrets to a reporter, who then wrote a story about it, but Edward denies it.  He wants Betty to clear his name, but he gets evasive when Betty asks why anyone would want to get Edward in trouble.

Betty decides to press Edward on this the next day only to discover that someone brutally murdered Edward during the night.  It’s only then that Betty learns the truth – Edward was a homosexual.  Edward’s sister wants Betty to finish the job and find Edward’s killer.  Will Betty continue on with the case?  If she does, what was the motive for Edward’s murder?

Betty quitting her job and working full time to become a PI makes sense given what we’ve seen in the first three books in the series.  I enjoyed seeing Betty get more confident about her goals while also worrying about what her fiancé, who is serving somewhere in Africa, will think.  Of course, the practical reason is that it allows Betty to devote more time to detecting, something she couldn’t do with all the hours she had to be at work in the past.

This means the plot is strong.  Betty is focused on proving her client innocent and finding out who killed him.  There are a number of suspects, and they keep her guessing until we hit the logical climax.  I figured it out a bit before Betty did, but not that long before.

I will admit, I almost didn’t pick up this book despite enjoying the previous three books in the series.  When I learned that Edward was a homosexual, I was expecting a book that would turn into a lecture.  I couldn’t have been further from the truth.  Don’t get me wrong, we see just what being homosexual in that time period met, and we see plenty of hateful comments from people we meet about Edward.  And these are also clearly presented as wrong.  While Betty is uncomfortable when she learns about Edward, she also doesn’t agree with the attitudes she runs across.  But she does it without getting into a lecture at all.  The focus of the book is on the mystery, and this is just one aspect of the case.  And all of the attitudes expressed by characters in the book feel realistic for the time, even those that aren’t negative.  I’d been worried about running into modern views in this book, but none of them feel anachronistic.

I will say, we didn’t see enough of the supporting players for me.  I love Betty’s friends and family, and they were definitely background players this time around.  But I did enjoy our time with them.  The suspects were good, some were developed a bit more than others, but we got clear views of each of them and clear motives for them potentially having committed the murder.

There were some interesting threads introduced in this book, and I’m curious if any of them will come into play in the next in the series.

Once again, I was back in 1943 as I was reading.  It was easy to get lost in the time period as Betty tried to find the killer.

If you are looking for a strong historical series that looks at World War II through the lens of life for those left behind, I highly recommend this series.  If you are already a fan, you’ll enjoy The Truth We Hide.

Be sure to read the rest of the Homefront Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

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