The Return of Captain John Emmett

Book excerpt: A man investigates the deaths of his fellow veterans in this “haunting and beautifully written” novel of post–World War I England (C. S. Harris, author of the Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries). London, 1920. In the aftermath of the Great War and a devastating family tragedy, Laurence Bartram has turned his back on the world. But with a well-timed letter, an old flame manages to draw him back in. Mary Emmett’s brother, John—like Laurence, an officer during the war—has apparently killed himself while in the care of a remote veterans’ hospital, and Mary needs to know why. Aided by his friend—a dauntless gentleman with detective skills cadged from mystery novels—Laurence begins asking difficult questions. What connects a group of war poets, a bitter feud within John’s regiment, and a hidden love affair? Was his friend’s death really a suicide, or the missing piece in a puzzling series of murders? As veterans tied to John continue to turn up dead, and Laurence is forced to face the darkest corners of his own war experiences, his own survival may depend on uncovering the truth. At once a compelling mystery and an elegant literary debut, The Return of Captain John Emmett blends psychological depth with suspenseful storytelling that calls to mind the golden age of British crime fiction, “full of jolting revelations and quiet insights” (The Wall Street Journal). “A captivating wartime whodunit.” —The Boston Globe