He that dies pays all debts

Well this was a good find.

Picked up a copy of The Rest is Silence by James R. Benn, number nine in a series of currently thirteen mysteries.

I almost did not get it because of the cover art work which is a little peculiar as it is a style which I like a lot (strong lines and strong color in a 1930s Art Deco style. Not sure what my aversion was to it as cover art for a murder mystery. Fortunately my literary inquisitiveness overruled my instinct.

Strong plot line, adequate character development. Suitably literary. Excellent history and clever integration of nuggets of unexpected information. Good attention to historical details.

I am always on the lookout for comfort reading material. Murder mysteries generally but basically books that capture and hold my attention but do not require deep thought. Something that can distract my overactive brain and pace it.

Billy Boyle is a Boston cop who is Eisenhower's staff as a special investigator.

Page 125. Tom Quick is a British policeman, back in his county after having flown thirty Lancaster missions and still recovering. Recounting his last mission.

We waited as he paused, the wind whipping my trench coat, the salt spray bitter on my lips.

"My pal. Freddie Swales kept my spirits up," Quick went on. "He was our rear turret gunner. Those chaps have an average life expectancy of forty flying hours in a Lancaster. Each night mission took about eight hours, so you can calculate the odds for yourself. By twenty-five missions, Freddie thought he could walk on water. When we took off for our last run, I believed it myself. If Freddie lived through it, there was hope for all of us. Hope for me."

"What happened?" I asked into the silence.

"We almost made it," Quick said. "We'd crossed the Dutch coast and were over the North Sea when a swarm of Me-109s hit us. It was near dawn, light enough to see them as they nipped at the formation, trying to score hits and get a straggler to drop out and fall behind. They got one, and formed up for one last attack before they headed home. One bastard came right at us, dead on from the rear. The whole aircraft shook as he peppered the rear turret with machine-gun and cannon fire. I thought we were going down, but we made it to the closest airfield, one engine belching flames and black smoke. There was nothing left of Freddie, nothing that you could call a man. The turret was smashed, nothing but a gaping hole. The ground crew pulled out chunks of Freddie and tossed them into a wheelbarrow. Then they hosed out what was left. And there was poor Freddie, all bits of flesh, blood, and bone, a pink froth settling into the ground. They told me I tried to gather them up, but I don't remember, thank God."

"No wonder you think the Germans still owe you," I said.

'Some debts can only be repaid in blood," Quick said. He turned away and walked back to the jeep.

"He doesn't understand they are not debts," Kaz said to me. "There is no payment for suffering and grief, no recompense for dead family and loved ones.'

"Maybe he hopes he can repay his own debts someday," I said.

"He that dies pays all debts,'" Kaz said, with a shrug.

'Shakespeare?" I guessed.

"Very good, Billy," Kaz said. "I forget which play. The Tempest, perhaps. I shall ask Edgar tonight."

Page 223, on rationaing in England during the war.

Since water was rationed as well as food, a hot bath in England was not as commonplace as back in the States. Soap was tough to come by as well. The limit for water was supposed to be four inches. Many hotels had a line painted in the tub to mark the level. But Ashcroft House bent the rules for three soldiers in need of a decent soak, and I didn't complain. The regulation was unenforceable, but most people went along with it, even though it meant a decrease in cleanliness and an increase in bodily odors. A running gag among GIs was that the tents and Quonset hut enclosures for American troops were nicknamed Spam Town after the prevailing odor, and everything outside the wire was Goat Town, for the same reason.

Agatha Christie and Yogi Berra also make cameo appearances in their real war time roles.

I am looking forward to the rest of the series.