Rhys Bowen's The Rose Arbor: A Review by E. B. Davis

 

An investigation into a girl’s disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense by the bestselling author of The Venice Sketchbook and The Paris Assignment.

London: 1968. Liz Houghton is languishing as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when a young girl’s disappearance captivates the city. If Liz can break the story, it’s her way into the newsroom. She already has a scoop: her best friend, Marisa, is a police officer assigned to the case.

Liz follows Marisa to Dorset, where they make another disturbing discovery. Over two decades earlier, three girls disappeared while evacuating from London. One was found murdered in the woods near a train line. The other two were never seen again.

As Liz digs deeper, she finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, which was requisitioned by the military during the war and left in ruins. After all these years, what could possibly link the missing girls to this abandoned village? And why does a place Liz has never seen before seem so strangely familiar?

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I love books by Rhys Bowen, especially those featuring WWII British history. I’ve learned so much from her. My reading of The Rose Arbor, her recent release from Lake Union, was no exception. I knew about the London children who were shipped out of town on trains to the countryside so they could survive the bombing by Axis planes. What I didn’t know was that the British military took over at least one town to simulate fighting conditions to train troops.

 

In this case, the village of Tydeham, which was a coastal town with similar geographic features to the beaches of Normandy and was annexed by the British military. Its inhabitants were evacuated and told to find somewhere else to live without compensation. Rhys didn’t make it up. It’s a real town, still sitting blown to smithereens by training exercises during WWII. Since we won, it must have helped, but I can’t imagine that happening in the US. The British sacrificed so much to survive.

 

Rhys set the plot in 1968. When a little girl goes missing, main character Liz Houghton decides to investigate on her own. She knows her skills are good since she had delved deeply into political shenanigans getting her busted back to writing obituaries via the good, old boy network, alive and well in 1968. She has no intention of remaining in that boring dead-end job. To circumvent the chauvinistic system, she decides to find the little girl before the police can and get the scoop—which starts her unraveling the mysteries of more missing little girls, including two from WWII and bringing her to Tydeham.

 

Because of the multiple cases, the plot became complex, but also surprising. In a manor house nearby to Tydeham, Liz experiences a déjà vu moment while seeing a rose arbor in the garden. Fear overwhelms her and also mystifies her. A phone call to her parents reveals nothing as they claim she never visited the manor house. Solving each case brings her closer to learning of her own personal history, one she never questioned or suspected.

 

Rhys has written another wining book I enjoyed reading. I was surprised and grateful to find it on Kindle Unlimited.