Billie Walker, Private Investigator, is hired by a wealthy client to find her husband, who has been missing for over two years. Her husband’s last letter was from Paris, so Billie and her able assistant Sam fly (in a most uncomfortable airplane) to London. But it’s not only Mrs. Montgomery’s husband that is missing. Billie has not heard from her own husband, Jack, since 1944 when he disappeared during the fighting in Warsaw. Will she find out Jack’s fate as she searches for Mr Montgomery?

Billie is well ahead of her time and her progressive ideas make her an appealing protagonist. She is, for example, outraged by the White Australia policy legislation, referring in particular to the dictation test that demanded immigrants to Australia pass a dictation test in a European language, thus excluding non-European immigrants. She has befriended an indigenous woman Shyla and refuses to treat her any differently to her other female friends, even if the staff at the Central Station Cafe sniff and refuse to acknowledge Shyla’s existence. And she has the audacity to wear trousers to the Hotel Ritz Paris where she is told she cannot enter the hotel:

‘I do apologise, Mademoiselle. It is illegal for a woman to
wear trousers in Paris without a police permit, you see. The
hotel policy applies even to Marlene Dietrich when she is at
the Ritz.’

The Ghosts of Paris has a wonderful mix of locations: post war Sydney, London and Paris and Moss uses these setting to illustrate how WW2 affected the world in different ways. The spectre of atrocities committed during the war and the hunt for war criminals looms large.

This is the second Billie Walker novel and Tara Moss has created a strong, independent female character who has overcome many obstacles to carve her own path. I can’t wait to share another adventure with Billie Walker.

This book has also been published under the title The War Widow

Billie Walker returns to Sydney from war-torn Paris, grieving for her husband who went missing on assignment in Europe. It’s now 1946, and Billie has taken over the reigns of her late father’s detective agency. Most of her work involves tailing cheating spouses - if not particularly savoury, at least it pays the bills. But her latest client has asked her to look for their missing seventeen year old son - and suddenly Billie and her trusted assistant Sam find themselves mired in the murky Sydney underworld.

Moss’s meticulous research shines in this book, illuminating post-war Sydney: its tired glamour and shadowy underbelly. I’m Sydney born and bred, and many of the locations lovingly described are still part of my daily landscape. I’m not, however, much of a fashion-plate, so Moss’s very detailed descriptions of every-piece-of-clothing worn by characters started to wear a bit thin with me - but that’s just a small quibble. I know Moss absolutely adores vintage fashion - and she loves to share the love!

Billie is an independent woman in a world that is reeling from the effects of World War Two. Society wants a return to the comfort of the world it knew, with gender roles clearly defined. ‘After Victory in the Pacific Day women were expected to walk out of the aviation plants and munitions factories and news offices and hospitals they’d run successfully during the war and abandon the independence of a wage to return to their kitchens, but Billie had never been one those women, hadn’t been raised that way, and she certainly wasn’t going to bow to the pressure now.’

Moss deftly tackles several disturbing issues in this book. She doesn’t shrink from the horror, but nor does she wallow. She is a skilful storyteller, and Dead Man Switch is a cracking good read. I’m very much looking forward to more adventures with the sassy Ms Billie Walker.