Billy is a Boston detective, enlisted in the army and stationed with his uncle "Ike," yes the Ike. Ike wants to use his abilities as a detective to investigate nefarious goings-on and to make sure that corruption is held to a minimum. Problem is that Billy's relatives, good Irish cops, pulled some strings to get him attached to Ike's entourage so as to avoid the front and Billy doesn't have much experience as a detective, having only been appointed to the detective squad. No matter, he gamely takes on, at Ike's request, to investigate whether a spy has infiltrated the Norwegian government-in-exile and finds himself presented with a locked room mystery. An aide to the King ostensibly jumped out of a window after leaving a suicide note apologizing for having stolen some Norwegian gold. Just one hitch: the door was locked from the inside, but there was no key in the room that could have locked the door.No need to go into more detail and ruin the story. If you enjoy self-deprecating detectives in an interesting and unusual setting, you will enjoy this novel. It certainly held my interest.
