Private Lives

A Bob Robbins Home Front Mystery

Cozy crime with a sinister twist and a dash of dark humour during World War II

England, 1942. While reluctant wartime detective Bob Robbins is enjoying a few days’ holiday on the North Devon coast he becomes involved in a shooting incident on a derelict farm. An elderly farmer lies injured, and then disappears. A young man is found dead in the barn. Bob reports the incident to the local police in Bideford, but they are so over-stretched with extra Home Front duties he finds himself in charge of the case. In urgent need of assistance, Bob requests the help of the young police recruit Laurie Oliver. They take rooms at Peony Villas, an unusual sort of guest house where a troupe of London actors are in residence, and where Bob soon finds himself involved in yet another peculiar mystery.