About the Book
Book: The Cryptographer’s Dilemma
Author: Johnnie Alexander
Genre: Historical Christian Fiction
Release date: August, 2021
A Code Developer Uncovers a Japanese Spy Ring
Full of intrigue, adventure, and romance, this new series celebrates the unsung heroes—the heroines of WWII.
FBI cryptographer Eloise Marshall is grieving the death of her brother, who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor, when she is assigned to investigate a seemingly innocent letter about dolls. Agent Phillip Clayton is ready to enlist and head oversees when asked to work one more FBI job. A case of coded defense coordinates related to dolls should be easy, but not so when the Japanese Consulate gets involved, hearts get entangled, and Phillip goes missing. Can Eloise risk loving and losing again?
My Review:
I was so looking forward to reading this book since I have read other books by Johnnie Alexander and loved them and I enjoy books set in the World War II era; I was not disappointed in the least! Eloise is devastated after losing her brother and instead of having time to let her heart heal, she is busy at work as they are in the midst of war. Eloise is brilliant, and has a strong analytical mind, and this where she feels led to be right now. The letter that she is investigating does not seem to really be anything; however tensions rise, and when there is other involvement further complicating things, things are not as innocent as they first appeared. Philip was all set to be shipped overseas, but he gets assigned to this one more case; not only is the situation intriguing but the cryptographer is as well. As Eloise and Philip work together, not only are their minds involved, but their hearts as well. I love the mixture of suspense and romance along with the historical details thus creating a sweet and powerful story.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Johnnie Alexander creates characters you want to meet and imagines stories you won’t forget in a variety of genres. An award-winning, best-selling novelist, she serves on the executive boards of Serious Writer, Inc. and the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference, co-hosts Writers Chat, and interviews other inspirational authors for Novelists Unwind. Johnnie lives in Oklahoma with Griff, her happy-go-lucky collie, and Rugby, her raccoon-treeing papillon. Connect with her at www.johnnie-alexander.com and other social media sites via https://linktr.ee/johnniealexndr.
More from Johnnie
American Traitor in WWII
Not all secret messages involve substitution codes where random letters and numbers replace the original letters and numbers. Velvalee Dickinson, a doll collector who owned a doll shop on Madison Avenue in New York City, used jargon code to pass along information to the Japanese about the U.S. ships that had been damaged at Pearl Harbor.
Here’s an excerpt from one of the letters (as originally written):
The only new dolls I have are THREE LOVELY IRISH dolls. One of these three dolls is an old Fisherman with a Net over his back—another is an old woman with wood on her back and the third is a little boy….I can only think of our sick boy these days. You wrote me that you had sent a letter to Mr. Shaw, well I want to see MR. SHAW he distroyed Your letter, you know he has been Ill. His car was damaged but is being repaired now. I saw a few of his family about. They all say Mr. Shaw will be back to work soon.
Velvalee, who the FBI nicknamed The Doll Woman, wrote this letter on her Underwood typewriter. She used the return address and forged the signature of one of her regular customers, Mary Wallace of Springfield, Ohio. Then Velvalee mailed the letter to an address in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Unknown to Velvalee, the Japanese had abandoned the Buenos Aires address as a drop point. The letter was marked “return to sender.” When Mrs. Wallace received it, she turned it in to the Post Office Director in Springfield who passed it along to the FBI.
Cryptographers determined that the letter was written in jargon code. To the casual reader, the letter is about dolls. But the intended recipient would have understood it’s about much more than that.
In this example, only one of five letters given to the FBI between February and August of 1942,
cryptographers decoded the message as follows:
- Old Fisherman with a Net over his back ~ refers to an aircraft carrier which has anti-torpedo nettings on its sides.
- Old woman with wood on her back ~ refers to an older battleship, one made of wood.
- A little boy plus our sick boy ~ a damaged ship.
Cryptographers believed that the words Mr. Shaw and Your were purposely capitalized and that the word distroyed was purposely misspelled to draw attention to them. Mr. Shaw referred to the USS Shaw, a destroyer (distroy + your = destroyer).
The remainder of the letter says Mr. Shaw is ill but “will be back to work soon.”
The ship was in dry dock at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. As the heroine in The Cryptographer’s Dilemma explains, “About two weeks before this letter was written, it [the USS Shaw] was undergoing repairs in San Francisco.”
In the novel, Eloise Marshall is a naval cryptographer who teams up with FBI agent Phillip Clayton, to find the person responsible for forging the signatures on the letters. Their search takes them from Washington, DC to the Springfield, Ohio, to the west coast and back again. On their journey, Eloise will confront an unexpected specter from her past and Phillip will risk his life to save hers.
Blog Stops
Life of Literature, August 25
Where Faith and Books Meet, August 25
Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, August 25
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 26
Reflections From my Bookshelves, August 26
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 27
Bizwings Blog, August 27
Daysong Reflections, August 27
Texas Book-aholic, August 28
A Baker’s Perspective, August 28
Inklings and notions, August 29
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 29
For Him and My Family, August 30
Simple Harvest Reads, August 30 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
Older & Smarter?, August 31
Mypreciousbitsandmusings, August 31
Aryn the Libraryan 📚, September 1
Rebecca Tews, September 1
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, September 2
deb’s Book Review, September 2
Locks, Hooks and Books, September 3
Blossoms and Blessings, September 3
Mary Hake, September 3
Connie’s History Classroom, September 4
A Good Book and Cup of Tea, September 4
Sodbusterliving, September 4
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, September 5
Labor Not in Vain, September 5
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, September 6
Moments, September 6
Splashes of Joy, September 6
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 7
Pause for Tales, September 7
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Johnnie is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/1161a/the-cryptographer-s-dilemma-celebration-tour-giveaway
"Hangin' by a Moment" is the latest novel set in Deep Haven and it is written by Andrea Christenson and Susan May Warren. I have absolutely loved this entire series and I love how each story keeps this town and community alive! Boone's buddy has just been released from jail and Boone has convinced him that Deep Haven is the place to come heal and start living life once more. After all, Deep Haven helped him. However, he is not quite prepared to jump right into the community and be as involved as some would like him to be as they are trying to get their Crisis Response Team fully staffed and prepared. Colleen grew up in Deep Haven and have been trying to live her own life away from her mistakes in high school; however she is forced into taking a longer break than anticipated back home and finds herself stepping in and helping out. Colleen and Jack both are not planning to really make this town a permanent place for them; however neither can help the pull that they have to help out and the feelings of belonging that begin to take hold. However, it is not that easy to forget the past or to forgive ourselves. Will Deep Haven's community and their love work their charm once more to help these two who are hurting and adrift? I highly recommend this book and this entire series; however I would definitely be sure to start at the beginning and read in order as you do not want to miss out on anyone's back story or the small town charm!
