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  • Published: 11 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781641298377
  • Imprint: Soho Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $45.00

A Bitter Wind




To solve a murder at an English airbase, US Army Captain Billy Boyle must immerse himself in the fascinating and secretive world of WWII radio espionage.

Christmas Day 1944: After his last mission put him in the tailspin of the Battle of the Bulge, Captain Billy Boyle travels to southeast England to visit his girlfriend, Diana Seaton, for a brief holiday respite. Diana is engaged in classified work at RAF Hawkinge, including Operation Corona, which recruits German-speaking Women’s Auxiliary Air Force members—many of them Jewish refugees from the Kindertransport rescue—to countermand German orders and direct night fighters away from Allied bombers.

It’s fascinating and critical espionage work, but it’s laced with peril, as Billy finds out. On a scenic Christmas walk along the White Cliffs of Dover, Billy and Diana stumble upon the dead body of a US Air Force officer. In the dead man’s pocket are papers with highly confidential information. Information worth killing over? Billy’s investigation brings him from the fascinating world of airbase codebreakers to war-torn Yugoslavia, where he must rescue an escaped POW who may be the only person who knows the truth.

  • Published: 11 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781641298377
  • Imprint: Soho Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $45.00

About the author

James R. Benn

James R. Benn is the author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries. The debut, Billy Boyle, was named one of five top mysteries of 2006 by Book Sense and was a Dilys Award nominee. A Blind Goddess was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and The Rest Is Silence was a Barry Award nominee. Benn, a former librarian, splits his time between the Gulf Coast of Florida and Connecticut with his wife Deborah Mandel.

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Praise for A Bitter Wind

Praise for the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries

“Spirited wartime storytelling.” 
The New York Times Book Review