James R. Benn
| James R. Benn |
Author James R. Benn |
| Born |
James Robert Benn
September 5, 1949 (1949-09-05) (age 62)
New York City, New York |
| Occupation |
Writer |
| Nationality |
American |
| Genres |
Mystery
Historical fiction |
| Notable work(s) |
Billy Boyle series |
| Spouse(s) |
Deborah Mandel |
| Children |
two sons, seven grandchildren |
James R. Benn is an American author, best known for the Billy Boyle World War II Mystery Series.
Personal life
James Robert Benn was born September 5, 1949 in New York City, New York to parents Harold Joseph and Gertrude Ross Benn and grew up in Southington, Connecticut. After graduation from Southington High School in 1967 Benn attended the University of Connecticut earning a Bachelors degree. He also holds a Master of Library Science (MLS) from Southern Connecticut State University. From 1969 to 1971 Benn was a VISTA volunteer.[1]
Benn did not begin his writing career until age fifty. Prior to that he served as head of information for the West Hartford Public Schools in West Hartford, Connecticut. Currently, in addition to writing, James Benn is the director of the Godfrey Memorial Library, a private family history library in Middletown, Connecticut. Benn is married to Deborah Mandel, a psychotherapist.[2] They have two sons and seven grandchildren.
Billy Boyle books
The series of six books center on fictional Boston Police Department detective Billy Boyle. He comes from a family line of cops with Irish Republican leanings. When America enters World War Two his father and others fear he will be killed defending the hated British, as had his uncle in World War One. Calling on family connections they arrange for Billy to be assigned to the staff of a cousin's husband, a then little-known U.S. Army officer named Dwight D. Eisenhower. "Uncle Ike", as he is called in private, is soon promoted and takes Boyle with him as a staff investigator to solve crimes that require not only professionalism but discretion. Far from the relatively safe rear area job his family back in Boston hoped for, Billy finds himself in great danger on every assignment.
Other characters
- Lieutenant Baron Piotr Augustus Kazimierz: Known as "Kaz", he was attending school in the United Kingdom when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. His family all killed by the Nazi's, Kaz joins the Polish government-in-exile and is assigned to Eisenhower's staff as a translator. He quickly develops a strong friendship with Billy and can often be found at his side in times of greatest danger.
- Daphne Seaton: Assigned to the Allied staff, she becomes the love interest of Kaz as well as Billys assistant in the first investigation. She is killed, and Kaz seriously wounded, by a car bomb meant to derail an ongoing investigation.
- Diane Seaton: Billy Boyles love interest. Haunted by memories of the Dunkirk evacuation and the death of her sister Daphne, Diane joins the British SOE. A series of brutal missions behind enemy lines put not only her life in danger but her love with Boyle.
- Sam Harding: Major, later Colonel, Sam Harding is a by-the-book West Pointer who is Boyles immediate commander. As the book series progresses he proves to be not only an able leader but somone of great loyalty, willing to take risks to protect Billy, Kaz, and the others under his command.
The books
- The first novel in the series, Billy Boyle, was published by Soho Press in 2006. Second Lieutenant Boyle and is charged with investigating a crime that endangers Allied operations in Norway and the Norwegian government-in-exile as well. Having hardly been out of Boston in his life, Billy finds himself now behind the lines in occupied Norway, bent on stopping treason and avenging the death of a friend. The novel Billy Boyle was short-listed for the Dilys Award.
- The third, Blood Alone, featured an amnesiac Billy Boyle during the invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky. He knows he must arrange for Mafia assistance to the invasion, but doesn't remember how.
- The fourth book in the series, Evil For Evil, takes on this conflict directly as Billy Boyle is sent to Northern Ireland to investigate the theft of weapons from an army base.[4] The following review highlights this plot development.
"A twisting, turning plot drives Benn’s gripping fourth WWII mystery to feature Lt. Billy Boyle . . . As an Irish-American whose family is sympathetic to the Republican cause, Billy struggles to remain impartial as he investigates the various factions on both sides of the Catholic-Protestant divide. Benn offers no easy answers in this rich mix of Irish history and wartime intrigue."—Publishers Weekly
- The sixth book in the series, A Mortal Terror (September 2011) finds Allied officers in Italy not only in danger from enemy action, but from being killed by one of their own men. A serial killer is on the loose, leaving a playing card with each body. Lieutenant Boyle struggles to capture him before the killer completes his royal flush.
References
External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Benn, James R. |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
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| Date of birth |
September 5, 1949 |
| Place of birth |
New York City, New York |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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