Debut
Another WWII book….nooooo….but, wait. It was a big war with lots of unexpected corners and revelations, and this book highlights a bit of the war I hadn’t ever known about. It’s focused on the WAACs, or Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. As originally created, the women who volunteered to serve had none of the rights of the men in the regular army. This was pretty quickly corrected and the WAACs became simply the WACs, without “auxiliary” in the moniker. For the purposes of this novel, however, Auxiliary Dottie Lincoln has signed up as a WAAC and is serving alongside other women in Algiers, at a time when the war wasn’t going so well for the Allies.
As the book opens, Dottie is at a dance – one of the WAACs’ “duties” was to dance with the men and give them a little cheer before they head to the front. Men being men, they are pretty handsy and needy, and Dottie is occupied in saving one of her number from an especially persistent soldier. The woman, Ruth, is one of the most straightlaced in their group, adhering as closely as possible to every rule and regulation. It’s with great shock then, when, later in the evening, Ruth plunges off the roof of the hotel where the dance was being held. It’s seen as a suicide, but Dottie refuses to believe it and it’s her bull-headed persistence that forces the MP in charge to take a look at Ruth’s death as something else.
As I’ve said so many times before, this is a mystery novel, so naturally the death is not a suicide. Dottie has good instincts, though her efforts are sometimes stymied as she attempts to get men to pay attention and take her seriously when she’s seen mostly as “just” a secretary. (WAACs did many jobs but the bulk was secretarial, though they also served as drivers, translators, switchboard operators and more). Captain Devlin, the MP in charge, eventually recognizes a brain when he encounters one and does listen to what she’s saying.
The book takes a good look at the various girls in the unit. They are a little annoyed as they have mountains of work and Dottie has been requisitioned by the MP – but this allows Dottie, through questioning, to examine their backstories and for the reader to discover their different personalities and different reasons for being in the war. Dottie’s heartbreaking backstory is also teased out through the book.
The details of their lives – they are living in a convent, much to the displeasure of the mother superior –adds interest to the narrative, as does the setting. The author really seems to capture the feel of wartime Algiers. The women in the unit are mostly sturdy, practical and uncomplaining (with a few exceptions, of course), and all are there to further the war effort however they can. They are a wonderful backbone to this lively story.
The book is paced nicely and the characters are really well drawn. The solution is ingenious, though I will say Dottie misses an annoyingly obvious opportunity to find the evidence she needs much, much earlier than she actually does, but the book was such a fun read this was more of a momentary annoyance than a quibble with the entire book. This is a great debut, set at a time when there were still a couple years left in the war, so if there are sequels to this one there’s some room to grow. Dottie is an incredibly engaging and appealing heroine. — Robin Agnew