Officer of the Court: A Novel of WWII

This is the first book I read from Mesce. The other reviewers will give you a good rundown on the plot, characters, etc. of the book. What amazed me was the extensive bibliography listed at the end. There was scant little about the author, however, except where he lives and his family. What interested me was his use of British colloquialisms for American things, and the reverse for British things (e.g., truck for British lorrie, and lorrie for an American truck, "boot" for an American car trunk, wireless for radio, etc. I suspect that this was either a tongue in cheek, inside joke by the author, or he is a Brit living in America. Well worth reading if you are interested in WWII wartime life.

This WW II book kept my interest from start to finish. Good mix of military, aviation and police detective work . Should appeal to multiple genres. The plot was excellent and there were numerous snipets of humor mixed in at times (caught myself chuckling out loud on several occasions). I look forward to the hopeful continuation of the Major Harry Voss series.

I loved this book. The characters are engaging and well-defined, the plot is well crafted -- for a change, the characters don't seem to be willfully missing things that are right in front of them. The description of the front seemed very alive (not that I have any real life experience to compare it to). If the book has a fault, it's motivation -- why don't these guys just write a letter to the brass and go home? but it's easy to suspend disbelief when you are excited to see what happens next.

In 1943 in the Orkneys, two pilots find the murdered body of American army Lieutenant Armando Grassi on the empty beach. The Criminal Investigation Corps Captain Woody Kneece begins the investigation of why a soldier stationed in Greenland was found on an island just north of Scotland. Woody leaves DC, stopping in New Jersey to talk with Staff Judge Advocate Major Harry Voss, who recently worked with the deceased in Europe. Woody asks a surprised Harry to accompany him to Greenland and the Orkneys because the former says he is just a country cop not used to being north of Chapel Hill. Though he hates returning to Europe and leaving his wife and two children behind, Harry agrees to help with the investigation. They fly to Greenland where they begin a case that soon turns quite dangerous for both investigators. The return of Voss (see the fabulous WW II tale THE ADVOCATE) is a reason for fans of historical and military mysteries to rejoice. In his second tale, Harry remains a viable real person as the audience gets a glimpse of his family before he flies across the Atlantic. The who-done-it is enthralling but the why is even more intriguing as Bill Mesce provides readers with another strong novel that paints World War II in an intriguing but different light. Harriet Klausner