Rag and Bone

I have just started reading Rag and Bone, the fifth in James R Benn's series of WWII mysteries.
I took a chance on the first in the series, Billy Boyle, because it was published by the dependable Soho Press and have read every one since.
The hero ,Boyle, is a young Irish-American detective who, through family connections, ends up as personal investigator to General Eisenhower, by which device Benn, a keen historian apparently, is able to deposit Boyle in various significant periods of the war. The historical research is certainly impressive and the author appears to have mastered the facts. Benn is particularly convincing when describing the complexities of executing a war,and of showing the tensions which arise when nations with competing agendas are forced to come together as allies. Employing principal characters from different nations, Benn is able to explore not just the respective fortunes of each country but also the personal cost to individuals.
All the covers are done by Daniel Cosgrove and have a great matinee serial flavour to them.
I have some gripes though. Boyle pursues a romance with the glamorous Diane, an upper-class english spy involved in dangerous behind-the-lines missions. It is strangely chaste, especially in a context where the two lovers never know if they will see each other again. He is not the stereotypical GI "oversexed and over here".
Secondly the british characters are for the most part one dimensional, bumbling toffs who are more concerned with good manners than winning a war. In Evil for Evil, the fourth in the series, Boyle has to tangle with the IRA, something he struggles with because of Irish Bostonian upbringing. Here I sense Benn is trying to be even-handed in his exploration of American sympathy for the cause, which has engendered much shame since 9/11, but he doesn't quite manage it. Still, this is an American series, by an American author, presumably intended for an American audience and it hasn't put me off continuing with the series so I won't make too much of it.

The books don't have the moral exploration of Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir, or the poetic style of Alan Faust, but if you are looking for a fine adventure series with good historical detail ,you won't go far wrong.