I Refused to Be a War Bride: Detective Levy Detects, Episode 3

Detective Levy is at it again in episode three, where the past meets up with the present and something unforeseen becomes the center of his life.

In this issue, Bettina Eldersveld arrives in Halifax by steamer from Holland during WWII. She's obligated to marry the man who had paid her passage, but when she meets her sponsor face-to-face, she boldly says, "I refuse to be a war bride!" Decades later, she hires Detective Levy and his fiancée, the photographer Alexa Sands, to track down Bettina's long-lost daughter, whom she raised as a single mother in a house full of other wayward war brides. While ruminating on WWII history, Levy and Sands realize the sheer passage of time deeply affects their own romantic courtship. Will they solve the case and still have time to marry? Find out in this stand-alone graphic noir story of war, absence, redemption, and love. With special guest appearances by (the fictionalized) Senator Leahy, the ghost of Veronica Lake, opera singer Erik Kroncke, film historian Rick Winston, and Robert the bakery poet!

Howard Norman is the author of ten novels, four memoirs, and a number of award-winning children's books illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, including The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese. Both his first and second novels were finalists for the National Book Award. He received the Lannan Award in Literature, the New England Book Award, and the Friends of the Library citation. Detective Levy Detects: I Refused to be a War Bride is the third in an ongoing series of noir graphic episodes illustrated by Annie Bakst. Norman's most recent novel is Come to the Window (W.W. Norton, July 2024), and his most recent memoir, The Wound is the Place the Light Enters (Texas Tech University Press, September 2024), is about a friendship with the painter Jake Berthot. Howard Norman lives in Vermont.

From New York to California, Annie Bakst worked in large and small agencies before turning to her first love, illustrating. She currently lives in Vermont and is the co-owner of Bohemian Bakery in Montpelier.