Blue Madonna

May 1944: Captain Billy Boyle is convicted on spurious charges of black market dealings—stripped of his officer’s rank, reduced to private, and sentenced to three months’ hard labor. But Billy is given an opportunity: if he takes on the incredibly dangerous mission of investigating a set of murders at the Allies’ safe house in the French town of Chaumont, he can avoid his punishment. Parachuted in as part of a three-man team the night before the Normandy invasion, he has very little time to find the killer’s identity and lead a group escape back to England, with a whole army of foes nipping at his heels.

©2016 James R. Benn (P)2016 Recorded Books

A good story, however...

Mr Benn loses one star for his frequent use of profane expletives. Such language adds nothing to the story. Would Mr Benn appreciate it if people asked him to damn everything? Would it not hurt him to have people use his name as a curse? 😕

So good.

Top 3 in the Series. Starts strong and doesn't stop. Mr. Benn, can you hurry on the next?

a good story in the series

it's a good story I struggle with the narration though I hate to be critical of a narrator when I don't think I could do it. the only thing I can say is I enjoy the narrator of the first four books so much better but somehow this person is taking hold of the narration and has narrated all the books since then. it's an interesting story I think the offer does a lot of really good research on the historical context of the time invoking a lot of historical facts in and out of his novels.

An edgier Billy Boyle!

James Benn has done a great job in developing the protagonist through the series. I found Billy Boyle as a much darker version than the character from the earlier novels. This seems to go hand in hand with a person subjected to the horrors of war over the past years. Peter Berkrot delivers once again as the narrator. Listen to the book and enjoy. You will not be disappointed.

Great WWII Historical Fiction

While I have not read all of the Billy Boyle books, every one is great. Blue Madonna, like the others, is historically accurate concerning the increasing theft of army supplies by deserters and criminal gangs. Billy gets called in to help investigate, which also leads to some action in occupied France. The story has good pacing and also includes a murder mystery with some interesting twists. I wouldn't say this is the best Billy Boyle story, but it's solid and a good lead up to D-Day. Note that you can read the books in any order you like. One minor problem: this audiobook does not include the short author's note at the end which provides more historic context for the story.