February 1916. The population of Britain is struggling through a harsh winter and a
deepening depression about the war that was supposed to ‘be over by Christmas 1914.’
To make matters worse, the moment that people had been dreading has arrived –
The Military Service Act 1916, passed by Parliament in January – which makes
military service compulsory for, initially, all single men aged 18-41. The first time
that the government of Britain has made serving in the Armed Forces compulsory.
It will come into effect in March, when men across the country, who were
obliged to register in 1915, will start receiving the letters to report to the nearest
military authority, to begin their lives as sailors, soldiers and airmen.
Yet, until the orders are processed, the recruiting drive for volunteers continues,
with relentless war propaganda pumped out by posters, newspaper headlines and
popular songs. There is even a resurgence of the The White Feather Campaign –
a nasty initiative – where young women shame men in the street, not in uniform,
by handing them a white feather for cowardice.
When a leading light of The White Feather Campaign is found dead in a stairwell,
with her throat cut, the police have many suspects. Then, when another woman,
an artist who designs recruitment posters, meets a similar fate, it begins to look
like the work of a killer with a special purpose.
The Mayfair 100 team are stretched to the limit, as matters escalate''
Genre: Historical Mystery
deepening depression about the war that was supposed to ‘be over by Christmas 1914.’
To make matters worse, the moment that people had been dreading has arrived –
The Military Service Act 1916, passed by Parliament in January – which makes
military service compulsory for, initially, all single men aged 18-41. The first time
that the government of Britain has made serving in the Armed Forces compulsory.
It will come into effect in March, when men across the country, who were
obliged to register in 1915, will start receiving the letters to report to the nearest
military authority, to begin their lives as sailors, soldiers and airmen.
Yet, until the orders are processed, the recruiting drive for volunteers continues,
with relentless war propaganda pumped out by posters, newspaper headlines and
popular songs. There is even a resurgence of the The White Feather Campaign –
a nasty initiative – where young women shame men in the street, not in uniform,
by handing them a white feather for cowardice.
When a leading light of The White Feather Campaign is found dead in a stairwell,
with her throat cut, the police have many suspects. Then, when another woman,
an artist who designs recruitment posters, meets a similar fate, it begins to look
like the work of a killer with a special purpose.
The Mayfair 100 team are stretched to the limit, as matters escalate''
Genre: Historical Mystery
Used availability for Lynn Brittney's The Propaganda Murders