The Amber Shadows

The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester, 451 pages

In the midst of World War II, Honey Deschamps is a typist at Bletchley Park, a British compound dedicated to breaking Nazi communication codes. One night, as she's walking home to the home where she's billeting, a man who claims to work at the Park approaches her with a package that was mistakenly delivered to the wrong place. Inside is a square of amber, the first of several pieces that are sent to her. The mysterious packages (and the intriguing man, who keeps popping up at convenient times) send Honey on a cloak-and-dagger hunt for the meaning and sender of the coded message.

Ribchester does a good job of bringing to life the everyday elements of Honey's wartime life — the rations, the billeting, the high security, the double standards for women and the men with whom they work. Where she misses, however, is a much more crucial element of the story. Given all of the references to Alfred Hitchcock and Daphne Du Maurier, I think she's trying to create a spooky, atmospheric mystery, but it lacks the suspense and tension such a tale requires. A heavier edit (including cutting out some scenes that do nothing to advance the plot) would have helped immensely.