Skip to content
LuvemBooks
LuvemBooks

Who it's for. Who should skip it. What to read next.

Rhys Bowen

About This Author
Reviewed

Read Time

8 min read

Our age bandAdult
Reader rating
4.2 · 75,227 Amazon ratings, as of Nov 2026
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
Buy on AmazonAudiobook
Curated & edited by

LuvemBooks Editorial

How we create our reviews →
Share This Review
Back cover with synopsis, barcode, and publisher logo on teal and gold gradient background.

Our review

In Farleigh Field

In Farleigh Field Review: A Family Spy Mystery, Mixed Verdict (Rhys Bowen)

by Rhys Bowen

Rhys Bowen's In Farleigh Field sends MI5's Ben Cresswell to a Kent estate after a parachutist falls dead, with Bletchley Park codebreaker Pamela helping him. Reviewers praise its suspense and period detail but split on freshness and pacing.

Buy on Amazon
Our age band: Adultwartime espionage and treason · a death on a country estate

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Readers who want a comfortable, stand-alone wartime spy mystery centred on an aristocratic Kent family, with a slow-burn romance and well-researched home-front detail.

Worth it if

Worth reading if you enjoy a Downton-style country-house setting and can accept a familiar premise and some overdone period slang for a plot that Bookreporter says lands on a surprising solution.

Skip if

Skip it if you want a fresh take on Bletchley Park and MI5 stories, fast pacing from the first page, or a short cast list: The Lit Bitch found it familiar and the slang overdone, and History Woman Perspective found the pace slow until about halfway.

Where reviewers agree and split

Readers rate it 4.2 on Amazon. The reviews we read that discuss it in depth split on some points:

  • Mixed

    Publishers Weekly · Press review: gripping with some reliance on familiar elements (from its headline)

  • Positive

    Bookreporter · Magazine: top historical suspense with skillful plotting and surprising solution

  • Positive

    Inverarity LiveJournal · Magazine: sweeping riveting saga of class family love and betrayal (from its headline)

  • Mixed · 3 out of 5

    The Lit Bitch · Book blog: solid historical elements and family saga marred by overdone British slang

  • Positive

    Historical Novel Society · Book blog: well-plotted entertaining thriller with fully fleshed characters and vivid settings (from its headline)

  • Positive

    Tubarks Blog · Book blog: pleasantly surprising mystery with well-researched period details and quick pace

  • Positive

    History Woman Perspective · Book blog: absorbing suspenseful novel like binge-watching quality television drama (from its headline)

  • Positive

    Criminal Element · Book blog: excellent riveting page-turner beyond typical genre fiction (from its headline)

    Overall verdicts are our summary of each review we read, from its headline, rating and conclusion.

    Reception leans positive with reservations: Bookreporter called it a well-crafted espionage thriller, and Tubarks Blog and the Historical Novel Society both enjoyed it, while The Lit Bitch rated it a mixed 3 out of 5, finding it not fresh and its British slang use heavy-handed.

    Sources: Bookreporter, The Lit Bitch, Tubarks Blog, Historical Novel Society
    4.2from 75,227 Amazon ratings, as of Nov 2026— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score

    Ask LuvemBooks

    Was this helpful?

    In Farleigh Field is a stand-alone wartime spy mystery set on a Kent estate, where a dead parachutist draws MI5's Ben Cresswell into a plot that may reach the family itself. Bookreporter's reviewer praised its plotting, while The Lit Bitch found it familiar and the slang excessive. It suits readers who want a comfortable country-house spy story over a novel take on Bletchley Park.
    Is it worth reading?
    Bookreporter's reviewer found it a surprising, well-plotted thriller, while The Lit Bitch found it good but not riveting. Bookreporter placed it among that reviewer's top historical suspense reads of 2017, and the Tu Barks blogger was pleasantly surprised by how satisfyingly the clues come together.
    Similar books
    For another wartime codebreaking story, The Rose Code by Kate Quinn follows women at Bletchley Park. The Alice Network, also by Kate Quinn, offers a dual-timeline espionage tale. Churchill's Secret Messenger by Alan Hlad is another home-front wartime novel with a spy-adjacent plot. Reviewers of this book also pointed to Jacqueline Winspear, Susan Elia MacNeal and Charles Todd, and one compared it to Downton Abbey. Rhys Bowen's The Tuscan Child is the closest in author voice.
    Who should read this?
    It suits readers who like an aristocratic family at the centre of a wartime mystery, with a slow-burn romance and details on rationing, black marketing and travel difficulties. It points away from readers who want rapid action from page one, a short cast list or a fresh angle on Bletchley Park and MI5 stories.
    What age is it for?
    It is written for adults. No review we found flags specific content concerns or states a recommended age, so the judgement here rests on its wartime espionage subject matter and adult cast. Ben's hidden feelings and Pamela's long attachment to Jeremy Prescott make up a slow, unspoken romance, which The Lit Bitch called tasteful and believable.
    How does the love triangle work?
    Pamela has long loved the flamboyant RAF pilot Jeremy Prescott, who has escaped a German prison and come home to recover. Ben's feelings for her stay hidden while the investigation throws them together. The Lit Bitch found the romance tasteful and believable, and the triangle is the unspoken, slow kind rather than a dramatic one.
    How well does it handle the history?
    The Lit Bitch said the history added authenticity. The Tu Barks blogger said Bowen conveys wartime England through food shortages, black marketing, London raids, gas rationing and the difficulty of travel. The Lit Bitch also felt the ancestral-estate atmosphere might sit better in World War I than World War II.
    Is the dialogue overdone?
    The Lit Bitch found phrases such as "crikey" and "blimey" nearly distracting, and said other reviewers she had seen made the same complaint. One reviewer separately felt the book tells more than it shows.
    Summarize this book

    Summarize this book

    A soldier falls to his death from a failed parachute on Lord Westerham's Kent estate, and his uniform and belongings raise doubts about who he really was. Ben Cresswell, an MI5 operative and family friend, is sent quietly to find out whether he was a German spy. The inquiry pulls him toward Westerham's daughter Pamela, who secretly works at Bletchley Park, and toward a trail of traitors that may include her own relatives.

    Follow up

    Is it part of a series?
    How does it end?

    Synthesized from verified book data & published reviews · How we review

    Ask LuvemBooks

    What would you like to know about In Farleigh Field?

    Answers come from our editorial notes on this book. If we haven't covered something, we'll say so.

    Readers often ask

    Our Review

    We review the evidence: published critics, reader verdicts and BookTube reviews, gathered and weighed with AI assistance and edited by LuvemBooks, rather than one reader's first-hand take.

    In Farleigh Field is a competently written wartime espionage story with a Downton-style family at its centre, and its strongest sourced selling point is a plot that Bookreporter's reviewer says builds to a surprising solution. The Lit Bitch found it less fresh than it hoped, so it suits readers wanting a comfortable country-house spy mystery more than one wanting something new.

    What is In Farleigh Field about?

    A soldier with a failed parachute falls to his death on the Kent estate of Lord Westerham, father of five daughters. His uniform and possessions raise suspicions, and MI5 operative Ben Cresswell, a family friend, is secretly sent to learn whether the man was a German spy.
    The job puts Ben near Lord Westerham's middle daughter, Pamela, whom he loves in secret. She has her own secret: a post at Bletchley Park, the code-breaking centre.
    As Ben follows a trail of spies and traitors, which may reach into Pamela's own family, he uncovers a plot to wreck the British government.
    The romance is a love triangle of the slow, unspoken kind. Pamela has long been in love with the flamboyant RAF pilot Jeremy Prescott, who has escaped a German prison and come home to recover, while Ben's feelings stay hidden.

    What did reviewers find in the mystery and suspense?

    Bookreporter's reviewer called it a well-crafted espionage thriller in which family dynamics, personal relationships and local politics all play a part. That reviewer said Bowen uses a red herring or two to stir curiosity and weaves the plot toward a solution that is not anticipated earlier.
    The review placed it among the reviewer's top historical suspense reads of 2017.
    The Lit Bitch blogger was cooler. She found the story good but not excellent or riveting, and said she felt she had read something like it before.
    She did enjoy the suspense enough to keep reading.
    On the blog Tu Barks, the reviewer was pleasantly surprised and said the clues come together satisfyingly. She enjoyed the quick pace despite 378 pages across 40 chapters, though the History Woman Perspective blogger found the pacing slow.

    How does In Farleigh Field handle its wartime setting?

    The Tu Barks reviewer said Bowen conveys life in wartime England through food shortages, black marketing, London raids, gas rationing and the difficulty of travel. Characters in secret jobs kept running into each other under cover stories, unaware they were chasing the same goal.
    The Lit Bitch blogger said the history seemed well researched and added authenticity. The same reviewer felt the ancestral-estate atmosphere might sit better in World War I than World War II.
    Back cover with synopsis, barcode, and publisher logo on teal and gold gradient background.
    Back cover with synopsis, barcode, and publisher logo on teal and gold gradient background.
    A reader writing on LiveJournal thought it a bit lightweight as historical novels go, though competently written with individual characters. That reviewer saw it as a more successful version of a similar upper-class war-effort story by another author.

    Where does In Farleigh Field fall short?

    The History Woman Perspective blogger called the pacing slow, with the story only picking up around the halfway mark. The History Woman Perspective blogger also said the large cast sent her back to the character list at the front to remember who was who, and that the book tells more than it shows.
    The Lit Bitch blogger found the period slang overdone, with phrases such as "crikey" and "blimey" nearly distracting. She also said the other reviewers she had seen made the same complaint.
    Bookreporter's reviewer saw the large cast differently, noting that minor characters stay true to their personalities.

    Is In Farleigh Field worth reading?

    Weighing these reviews, the tension is between comfort and novelty. The reviewers who warmed to it praise its family drama, its romance and its period detail.
    The ones who held back say the premise and tone feel familiar.
    That points the book toward readers who like a stand-alone mystery with a wartime backdrop and a family at the centre. One reviewer compared it to Downton Abbey, and another recommended it to fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Susan Elia MacNeal and Charles Todd.
    Bowen is better known for her cosier Royal Spyness and Molly Murphy mysteries, and the Lit Bitch blogger approached it as a departure from those.
    It points away from readers who want fast pacing from the start, a short list of characters, or a fresh angle on Bletchley Park and MI5 stories. None of the reviews we hold comments on the ending's emotional payoff, so readers cannot judge that here.

    Who is the author and when did it appear?

    Rhys Bowen is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty mystery novels, according to BookBrowse. The novel was published in 2017 by Lake Union Publishing and runs 378 pages in hardcover, though other listings give 395 or 398.
    The publisher's description lists Agatha and Macavity awards for it.

    Sources & Further Reading

    The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

    1. Cited in this review
    2. 1
      In Farleigh Field: A Novel of WWII by Rhys Bowen: A Book Review

      historywomanperspective.com

    3. 2
      Review: In Farleigh Field: A Novel of World War II by Rhys Bowen – The Lit Bitch

      thelitbitch.com

    4. Further reading
    5. 3
      Summary and Reviews of In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen

      bookbrowse.com

    6. 4
      Book Review: In Farleigh Field, by Rhys Bowen: inverarity — LiveJournal

      inverarity.livejournal.com

    7. 5
      In Farleigh Field: A Novel of World War II | Bookreporter.com

      bookreporter.com

    8. 6
      Book Review: In Farleigh Field: A Novel of World War II | Tubarks - The Musings of Stan Skrabut

      tubarksblog.com

    9. 7
      In Farleigh Field: A Novel - Rhys Bowen - Google Books

      books.google.com

    10. 8
      Historical Novel Society

      Historical Novel Society

    Age & Reading Level

    Our age band

    Adult

    Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.

    Browse all adult books

    Content to know about

    wartime espionage and treason
    a death on a country estate

    Skip if you want fast pacing from the first page or a fresh take on Bletchley Park stories.

    From our readers

    Reader reviews

    Be one of the first readers to answer.

    Read it? Was it right for you?

    Books like In Farleigh Field

    Curated picks for readers who enjoyed In Farleigh Field, with our reasoning for each match.

    More by Rhys Bowen

    On Amazon

    The Tuscan Child

    Rhys Bowen

    Bowen's other WWII standalone: a downed airman in occupied Tuscany, a hidden letter, and the daughter who follows it decades later — same period texture, fresh mystery.

    A British bomber crashes in occupied Tuscany in 1944; decades later the airman's daughter finds a letter he wrote about a child and goes to Italy to untangle it. The wartime chapters carry the suspense while the later timeline does the detective work. For readers who wanted more of Bowen's period detail with a buried family secret at its center.

    If you liked In Farleigh Field

    In our catalogue

    The Rose Code

    Kate Quinn

    Three women codebreakers at Bletchley Park, a traitor in their ranks, and a frame set around the 1947 royal wedding — the fullest version of Pamela's codebreaking strand.

    In our catalogue

    Churchill's Secret Messenger

    Alan Hlad

    A typist from Churchill's war rooms is sent into occupied France as an SOE courier — the MI5-versus-spies tension pushed from a Kent estate into enemy territory.

    In our catalogue

    The Alice Network

    Kate Quinn

    A real female spy ring of the First World War collides with a 1947 search for a missing cousin — darker, tougher covert-women storytelling in two timelines.

    On Amazon

    The Nightingale

    Kristin Hannah

    Two sisters resist the occupation of France in different ways — home-front suspense where the danger comes from everyday choices, matching the women-at-war side of this story.

    Not your thing?

    On Amazon

    Eye of the Needle

    Ken Follett

    For anyone who found the pacing slow or the territory familiar: Follett's lean cat-and-mouse chase of a German spy across wartime Britain, built entirely on momentum.

    Discussion

    Reader comments