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WW1: A poignant read about Flanders and behind the scenes of war and wartime
The First Casualty
What you need to know before your trail
In Flanders in June 1917, a British officer and celebrated poet is shot dead. However he hasn’t been shot by German fire on the front but by someone from behind the lines whilst he was recuperating. A young English soldier is arrested and charged with his murder despite him protesting his innocence.
A former detective with the London police has the tough task of finding out the truth and it’s not going to be a easy or indeed safe job either. For he, Douglas Kingsley, is a conscientious objector who was imprisoned for his beliefs. His task now is to use his detective skills for the greater good and to go into the war zone..
Travel Guide
The main point of this novel seems to be in setting the scene for what the conditions were like for the man in the great war – the scenes of torture such as that in the Field Punishment number 1 is very uncomfortable reading as it describes in detail what happened to a soldier there.
Obviously the scenes on Flanders fields make for uncomfortable reading too and the first world war is explored in all it brutality which would be unbelievable if we knew any different. War was and is ugly on every front and the mud surrounding the fields and trenches are where secrets as well as bodies lie hidden.
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