Murder in the Ranks

September 2, 2024
Jones debuts with an arresting if overstuffed historical mystery that follows a Women’s Army Auxiliary commander as she tracks down a killer during WWII. In 1943, 29-year-old Dottie Lincoln is attending a dance thrown by the Auxiliary at an Algerian opera house. While dodging advances from lecherous soldiers and attempting to round up her squad—the first group of women assigned to a combat theater—Dottie defuses a confrontation between one of her charges, Ruth Wentz, and Ruth’s pushy dance partner, U.S. Army private Carlos Rivera. After successfully intervening, Dottie heads outside to meet with her captain, and the sound of a body hitting the pavement catches their attention. The dead woman turns out to be Ruth. Army officers speculate the incident was a suicide, but Dottie believes Ruth was murdered—possibly by Rivera—and launches an investigation. Jones soars when cataloging the sexist forces pushing against Dottie and her squad, and Dottie makes for an appealing, three-dimensional protagonist. The plotting gets crowded, however, with Dottie’s attempts to disentangle herself from her German husband and reunite with her daughter. Still, a sequel would be welcome.