A COURAGE UNDIMMED

The murder of a medium presents a prickly problem for a village sleuth in World War II England.

When Capt. Jameson Aldridge first approached pigeoneer Olive Bright to provide birds for espionage missions in occupied Europe, they used the story of a budding romance as a cover for spending time together. Now that Olive’s working at nearby Brickendonbury Manor, home to a training school for agents, the fake romance is becoming real for her as her desire to become an agent battles her fear that she’s not brave enough to pull it off. Olive, who’s developed a reputation as a sleuth after solving several murder cases and who is very active in village affairs, is appalled when Mrs. Velda Dunbar, a newcomer and spiritualist, goes into a trance on the village green and announces the sinking of the HMS Bartholomew with several local men onboard. Lady Revell, whose sister recently passed away, asks Mrs. Dunbar to arrange a séance, and Olive is asked to invite a select group. Assigned to escort a Navy officer on a tour of the manor, she finds Lt. Cmdr. Ian Fleming clever but arrogant, with ulterior motives that obviously have to do with Mrs. Dunbar. Mrs. Dunbar has a special cabinet set up for the séance and, with the help of her husband, puts on quite a show until she begins "thrashing about the cabinet, her body heaving and shuddering"—and mysteriously dies. Since she turns out to have two different poisons in her system, Olive has two possible killers to track down while training her pigeons for an important and dangerous mission that could change the course of the war.

A charming portrayal of village life, romance, and sacrifice set against the horrors of war.