A Courage Undimmed
Olive Bright Mystery Book 3
Stephanie Graves
Kensington Pub
Jan 24th, 2023
A Courage Undimmed by Stephanie Graves continues the adventures of British pigeoneer Olive Bright. She works as a FANY,First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but desires to be an English agent to be dropped behind enemy lines. Currently, she is training pigeons to be used in the war effort but also is an amateur sleuth solving crimes in her small village.
This installment is more of a mystery than a spy novel. “I always thought the books were half village mystery and half historical mystery. Olive is vicariously living through her worries for those agents in Europe. I did have Jamie missing through the séance so they both could figure out their feelings.”
“I do not have any experience with a séance but understand how people would want to communicate with their loved ones who have died. I am skeptical like Olive was in the story although I do like to leave the possibility open. A séance was very popular during that time.”
Olive was recruited by Colonel Jamie Aldridge to secretly train homing pigeons for missions into occupied Europe. As a cover Jamie and Olive pretend to be in love. But both come to realize that the “pretend love” may be turning into a reality. “I wanted them to reach a consensus of how they felt for one another. There is mutual respect, understanding, and affection. It went from friendship to flirting to a possible romance.”
Readers get a glimpse of how Jamie thought about Olive. “He felt she was loyal, flippant, and has now come to appreciate and tolerate her more. He still thinks she is reckless and insubordinate but now realizes she thinks outside of the box.”
With a new station commander who does not believe that women should have a role in fighting the war, including training pigeons, Olive is even more determined to help those involved in clandestine operations. As with all the novels she must solve a mysterious crime. In this novel Jamie is MIA in the first part of the book, which concentrates on the murder of a psychic, Mrs. Velda Dunbar. After a very public channeling of a doomed seaman aboard the HMS Bartholomew,which she claims has sunk, she dies at a Séance that Olive and her friends have initiated. It seems Dunbar was poisoned, and Olive is determined to find out who did it.
This is the third in the series, possibly the last. “I do not have any information in the next book. I am not sure what will happen with the series. I am working on another historical novel set right after the war taking place in Paris and Germany. Maybe down the line there will be more Olive books.”
These novels display sacrifice, bravery, and the strength of a community during WWII is sprinkled with the relationships between characters to make a good read.
