Bunch Courtney's hopes for a quiet market-day lunch with her sister are shattered when a Dutch refugee dies a horribly painful death before their eyes. A few days later Bunch receives a letter from her old friend Cecile saying that her father, Professor Benoir, has been murdered in an eerily similar fashion. Two deaths by poisoning in a single week. Co-incidence? Bunch does not believe that any more than Chief Inspector William Wright.
Set against a backdrop of escalating war and the massed internments of 1940, the pair are drawn together in a race to prevent the murderer from striking again.
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[Bunch Courtney leaned against the top rail of the stock pen, enjoying the sensation of unseasonably warm May sunshine on her back, and perused the pair of Jersey heifers she had purchased at auction]***
(Penkhull Press, 4 April 2019, 282 pages, ebook, ARC via @Jancoledwards and voluntarily reviewed, blog tour 6 April)
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I enjoyed the first book featuring Bunch; Winter Downs so I was really looking forward to reading this. I was not disappointed. In Her Defence is an even better book. Bunch is a great character. The book is set during WW2. Bunch is quite the opposite of the kind of women you expect from this era. She's feisty, opinionated and stubborn as hell at times. I loved her a little. I was rooting for her from the book's striking opening pages. Edwards does an impressive job of bringing Britain during WW2 to vivid, memorable life. The historical details are spot on. In Her Defence gets pretty dark towards the end as Bunch and Wright start to close in on the villain. If you like historical crime this is a must read.