Dead Man Switch (Billie Walker Mystery, #1) in Aussie Readers

Dec 07, 2019 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-mystery, aussie-authors, first-in-a-series, borrowed-from-library, mystery, 2019-release

4.5★s

Set in 1946 as people were recovering from the war years, this historical mystery is the first in the Billie Walker Mystery series by Aussie author Tara Moss. Dead Man Switch is intriguing, fast paced and refreshingly different with Billie a Private Inquiry Agent located in Sydney at her late father’s detective agency.

Billie’s assistant, Sam Baker, an ex-soldier, was reliable and completely trustworthy and when the case of a missing seventeen-year-old was presented to them, Billie had no i ...more

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Oct 17, 2019 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-are, netgalley-reviews, aussie-author

Dead Man Switch by Tara Moss introduces Billie Walker, an ex war correspondent now working as a private investigator in post-war Sydney, Australia.

Still grieving the absence of her photojournalist husband who is missing Europe, Billie Walker has reopened her late father’s private detective agency to support herself and her mother. As a woman in what is considered a man’s world, work has been slow, but a missing persons case is about to change all that.

With her 'Fighting Red' lipstick, elegant at ...more

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Sep 10, 2019 Tien rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian-author, historical-fiction, net-galley, mystery

Firstly, loved the cover!

Secondly, it kinda reminded me of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series... albeit set a couple of decades later (in comparison between first books) and in different countries BUT that is the best thing about this book, it is set in my own backyard or rather Sydney & the Blue Mountains. I recognised all the landmarks and that was just added an extra layer of sweetness to this novel.

I must admit though that it meant I did a lot of comparing between Billie Walker (the p Firstly, loved the cover!

Secondly, it kinda reminded me of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series... albeit set a couple of decades later (in comparison between first books) and in different countries BUT that is the best thing about this book, it is set in my own backyard or rather Sydney & the Blue Mountains. I recognised all the landmarks and that was just added an extra layer of sweetness to this novel.

I must admit though that it meant I did a lot of comparing between Billie Walker (the protagonist in this novel) to Maisie Dobbs and while there are a number of similarities (eg. losing their loves to war, setting up private investigation agencies, injured returned soldier as assistant, etc), there were enough differences that I could appreciate especially the fashion (!) If you love fashion in novels, in combination with mysteries, you'd love this book.

Billie Walker is working hard to push her grief aside. She's also working hard because things are tough after the war; everyone is looking for work & are mostly strapped for cash. At the same time, she also loves her work. She loves solving puzzles and seeing justice served. She's a character one can easily loved. It was also quite easy to love the secondary characters from her toff mother, her most reliable assistant, to the enigmatic detective inspector; Moss has created a most appealing set of characters.

The mystery itself was pretty interesting and the author has done well in connecting the dots. I do love the car chase scene and Billie's overall capability as a private investigator. There is no bumbling about like an amateur, she's all professional.

There were 2 things which I found a little bit weird... Instead of using words like 'gut instinct' or 'intuition', she used 'little woman'. There was a paragraph in the book explaining why she's chosen this phrase of 'little woman' but really, it just didn't sit right with me. Maybe I've just got a dirty mind (?) because when we have a male protag and he refers to 'little me', he's usually referring to his private parts. Can I just say that I therefore automatically applied the same meaning and had to work really hard to steer myself in the right direction? That was just too strange.

Also, there were too much 'looking into people's eyes' - not staring as such but Billie seems to like to make sure she's looking into whoever's eyes a lot... but then again, I read an uncorrected proof so maybe there have been some changes since.

Dead Man Switch was an absolute delight to read. I loved walking through Sydney in the 40s in the high-heeled shoes of a fashionable, capable & brave young woman. If you love historical mystery set in Australia or those like Maisie Dobbs series, I'd highly recommend that you get on board with Billie Walker!

Thanks to HarperCollins AU via Netgalley for ecopy of book in exchange of honest review ...more

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Nov 04, 2019 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, australian, mystery, crime, historical-fiction, post-ww2, aww2019

This new series from prolific Canadian-Australian author Tara Moss is set in Sydney in 1946, right in the fallout of the Second World War. Those that survived are returning home and walking straight back into jobs that women took over during the war. Women are expected to head back to the home and the kitchen now that the men have returned, although Billie Walker isn’t one of those. The daughter of an ex-cop and former Private Investigator, Billie worked as a journalist overseas during the war a This new series from prolific Canadian-Australian author Tara Moss is set in Sydney in 1946, right in the fallout of the Second World War. Those that survived are returning home and walking straight back into jobs that women took over during the war. Women are expected to head back to the home and the kitchen now that the men have returned, although Billie Walker isn’t one of those. The daughter of an ex-cop and former Private Investigator, Billie worked as a journalist overseas during the war and now that she’s back in Sydney, she’s opened her father’s former office and is working as a PI herself. Infidelity cases are mostly how she keeps her head above water but then she gets an interesting assignment about the disappearance of a young man, a boy almost really.

Everything Tara Moss does is meticulously researched and I’ve read a lot about what she put herself through to authentically write the Makedde Vanderwall books. This probably involved less trauma but the streets of 1946 Sydney and its surrounds feel very real. I enjoyed Billie as a character – it feels as though she’s had an interesting life but one that is not without its tragedy. She lost her father, obviously a very important and admired influence in her life. During the war she was lucky enough to fall in love amidst all that horror but now her photojournalist husband Jack is missing, believed to be dead. Nothing has been heard from him in the longest time and Billie is struggling with that. She’s being urged to move on, especially from her mother but it’s not that easy. She doesn’t have any definitive proof that Jack is dead, apart from the fact that no one has heard from him and the war has been over for a while now. I think there’s always hope when there isn’t proof and maybe Billie feels he’ll come striding down the street toward her one day. At the same time, she’s also a realist and if that has not happened already in this time since the war ended, it probably isn’t likely to.

I really enjoyed the mystery element to the novel. Billie is fun to observe doing her job and I love her assistant Sam, who has layers and layers to explore there. There’s a police detective who has all the possibilities of being someone interesting as well. Billie has a lot of hidden talent and depth and she does occasionally I think, take all of that and put herself into situations she should definitely not. Sometimes it’s much better to wait for back up, or the novels tend to stray into this varieties where the main characters end up being far too capable to really be believable but also you feel that they might be a bit thick for continuously believing themselves able to do the things on their own that really only a team of experts should be taking on.

I think that the story went in a really interesting direction and it’s not something I’ve really thought about much before in connection with Australia. Definitely in stories of post-WWII Europe and even places like South America, where it’s well known that a lot of Nazis fled to escape prosecution but I haven’t really read many books that involve Australia in this way so it felt fresh and well written. What started as a seemingly innocuous disappearance of a teenage boy, who might’ve found a girlfriend his parents wouldn’t approve of or been on a bender with some mates escalated in some really unexpected and intriguing ways and Billie put the pieces together really well. There are some truly chilling scenes in this book as well, definitely the one where Billie sleeps (or is more like unconscious) through something. But even in a fog, she can think really quickly and has good instincts on what is going to come next and how it’s going to affect her and how she can manoeuvre to get herself out of such situations.

All in all, this was a promising start to a new series and quite a few things about it have me intrigued and interested to read more. I definitely hope there’s more about Jack, Billie’s missing husband in the future. I am also interested in the progression of her working relationship with Sam and perhaps also a mutually beneficial working relationship with the police detective. I’m definitely interested to read the next book and see where it goes from here.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review***
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Oct 31, 2019 Tracey rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian, fiction, crime, thriller, mystery, 2019

It has been a long time since Tara Moss has given us a fiction novel and it has well been worth the wait.
In post World War 2, Billie Walker has returned to Sydney, nursing a broken heart with the whereabouts her partner unknown and trying to reinvigorate her father's private inquiry business after his death. A woman seeks Billie's help in locating her missing 17 year old son and what should be simple turns into a complicated series of intrigues lashed with danger and thrills.
Billie as the cent ...more

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Aug 11, 2022 Rina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars.

I picked up this book in preparation of reading the second book, Ghosts of Paris.

In 1946, Ms. Billie Walker was a Sydney-based Private Investigator. After spending years in Europe as a war journalist, she was forced to go back to Australia and rebuild her life post her husband’s disappearance during WWII. Heartbroken, but not defeated, she embraced her new independent life fashionably. When she was hired to track down a missing young man, she had to face Sydney’s worst underworld inha ...more

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Dec 01, 2019 Robin rated it really liked it

I have always enjoyed books set in the post-war era, so I appreciated this book from the historical perspective. The plot was clever and the characters well-portrayed; however, I thought in places the story was too 'overwritten' and the author was inserting various historical bits to prove she'd done her research and not because they added anything to the narrative. ...more

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Sep 05, 2025 Cardi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, 2025-read

Finally circled back to this novel after an incomplete reading a few years ago. Listened to the audio this time, which was great. Loved the post WW2 Sydney/Blue Mountains setting and Billie, who is a 'grown up Veronica Mars' 1940s style. ...more

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