Mulvey is a Catholic, which was unusual. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover apparently didn’t let Catholics become FBI agents until this period. The fictional Mulvey was one of the first ones. This reminded me of Adrian MvKinty’s superb series which features Sean Duffy. Duffy was a fictional Catholic cop in Northern Ireland during the period known as The Troubles and was one of the few Catholics in the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Our other protagonist in “The Rumor Game” is a young newspaper reporter named Anne Lemire. She grew up in the same Boston neighborhood as Agent Mulvey. Lemire wants to be an investigative journalist but is being restrained by her bosses on account of her sex.
Lemire writes a column about wartime rumors in Boston. She examines often hysterical war-related rumors and tries to debunk them. As she is scouting out stories she happens upon a troubling situation, some unknown parties are distributing antisemitic materials.
Bear in mind that at this point, June 1943, the United States was fighting the Japanese in the Pacific but we had not yet sent troops into Europe. There were isolationists here who did not want us to ever fight the Nazis. These were the kind of people who might anonymously publish anti-Jewish screeds and then claim that Hitler guy, he’s not so bad.
As we are reading along we know before long Mulvey will cross paths with Lemire, that’s the way these novels work. Mulvey is handsome, he’s been seducing lovely, lonely women he encounters. Bernie Gunther did the same things in Kerr’s series. By 1943 Mulvey didn’t have very much competition, most young men were off serving their country.
Early on in “The Rumor Game” there’s a funny scene in which Mulvey wakes up in a young woman’s bed and as he tries to sneak away he discovers he cannot find his pants. Eventually reporter and FBI agent cross paths and there are romantic sparks. But there’s no time for that because there are American Nazis to apprehend and corrupt cops standing in their way.
I spoke to Mullen recently and asked him to name some of his favorite authors. First he mentioned Philip Kerr, then Adrian McKinty. The man has excellent taste. “The Rumor Game” is a mystery and a thriller and a spy novel. It is also one heck of an engaging read.
Vick Mickunas of Yellow Springs interviews authors every Saturday at 7 a.m. and on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO-FM (91.3). For more information, visit www.wyso.org/programs/book-nook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
About the Author