The War Widow by Tara Moss – Book Review

This is the first installment in the Billy Walker historical fiction series set in Sydney, Australia. 

When Penguin Random House reached out to me in November to see if I would be interested in reading and reviewing this book, my initial thought was “but I’m so behind reading my review books” but then I realized that it is historical fiction set in post-war 1946 Australia with a female private detective, and my answer became “yes, please”.

Billy Walker was a war correspondent during WW II, but when the war ended, she soon found herself unemployed as first priority for jobs were given to men returning from the war.  Billy is very self reliant and independent and it didn’t take her long to decide to take over her deceased father’s private investigation agency.  Although business was slow at the beginning, she found a niche in the market being a female investigator.  Soon women became the majority of her clients with many of them wanting Billy to find out whether their husbands were cheating on them.  One day a woman hires Billy to locate her missing son and the case turns out to be quite different than Billy anticipated.  Her life in danger, we follow Billy as she uncovers lead after lead to try to find this young man.

I love the character of Billy.  She drives fast, loves champagne, carries a gun in her garter belt and is fashion-forward, tailoring her clothing to allow her to run, climb walls, and pull out her gun quickly when needed.  Quite scandalous for that time!!  I always love a story about a woman who continues to push the boundaries of that glass ceiling. I look forward to further installments of this series and adventures with Billy.  Thank you to Netgalley for providing this book in exchange for my opinion.