Murder While You Work

Noel Streatfeild writes with authority in a setting she knows well - a wartime munitions factory, with episodes of Civil Defence and W.V.S. The background detail is superb, from letting the capstan turret swing in time to 'Coming Home on a Wing and a Prayer' to looking forward to fried spam for tea. Judy Rest, the newest recruit to the factory, has an odd billet in the village but refuses to move despite unsettling deaths in the house. In an atmosphere of increasing Gothic creepiness, Judy and Nick, a brilliant young explosives researcher, work out not by whom, for that's pretty obvious, but why and how the family, including the dog, are being murdered one by one. Add to this a portrait of a disturned child, at which Miss Streatfeild excels, a nicely forthright Lady and, of course, a spot of restrained romance, for a real treat from a well-loved author. Originally published in 1944.