History Literature / SmallChange

* BiTheWay: David Kahn was his future wife Lucy's brother's best friend and lover in the RAF. David is very reluctant to admit it, but Lucy completely understands -- she prefers David having loved somebody whom she also loved, rather than some random other woman. Lucy seems to have particularly good {{Gaydar}}, spotting those who are "Greek" (gay), "[[UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat Macedonian]]" (bi), and "Roman" (straight).

''Farthing'' starts out as a classic English country-house murder mystery, investigated by Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard, but becomes darker and more complicated as Carmichael begins tripping over the political threads that run through the case. Things gfio downhill from there, for Carmichael personally and for England as a whole.

%% * ConcertClimax: in ''Ha'penny''

%% * EvilCripple: [[spoiler:Mark Normanby]] after the events of ''Ha'Penny''.

%% * HonoraryUncle: Carmichael to Elvira in ''Half a Crown''

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:

* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The series effectively extends this into the 1950s, with Britain only participating in WorldWarII from 1939-41.

* AllohistoricalAllusion: An unnamed handsome singer from Liverpool at the British Power rally in ''Half a Crown'' is almost certainly PaulMcCartney. Several references are made to a science fiction novel titled ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1974]]''.

* {{Homage}}: David and Lucy Kahn's story owes quite a bit to ''BridesheadRevisited'', albeit with a happier ending for their relationship- up until the events of ''Farthing'', that is.

* BiTheWay: David Kahn was his future wife Lucy's brother's best friend and lover in the RAF. David is very reluctant to admit it, but Lucy completely understands -- she prefers David having loved somebody whom she also loved, rather than some random other woman. Lucy seems to have particularly good {{Gaydar}}, spotting those who are "Greek" (gay), "[[AlexanderTheGreat Macedonian]]" (bi), and "Roman" (straight).

* GreatOffScreenWar: Germany continues fighting on the Eastern Front past 1949; Japan conquered most of China.

* ConcertClimax: in ''Ha'penny''

* EvilCripple: [[spoiler:Mark Normanby]] after the events of ''Ha'Penny''.

* GreatOffScreenWar: Germany continued fighting on the Eastern Front past 1949; Japan conquered most of China.

* HonoraryUncle: Carmichael to Elvira in ''Half a Crown''
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: in ''Farthing''.
* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: [[spoiler:Alan Brown, Agnes Timms, and Lady Thirke]] in ''Farthing''.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: in ''Ha'penny''

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: the eccentric upper-class Larkin sisters central to ''Ha'Penny'' are clearly based on the real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family Mitford sisters]], right down to some becoming fascists and one becoming a communist. Unity Mitford is mentioned in ''Half a Crown'', so they still exist.

* SettledForGay: Poor Daphne Normanby.

* UndergroundRailroad: The Inner Watch.

* WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame: The Caravan Club in ''Half a Crown.''

* BiTheWay: David Kahn was his future wife's Lucy's brother's best friend and lover in the RAF. David is very reluctant to admit it, but Lucy completely understands -- she prefers David having loved somebody whom she also loved, rather than some random other woman. Lucy seems to have particularly good {{Gaydar}}, spotting those who are "Greek" (gay), "[[AlexanderTheGreat Macedonian]]" (bi), and "Roman" (straight).

''Farthing'' starts out as a classic English country-house murder mystery, investigated by Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard, but becomes darker and more complicated as Carmichael begins tripping over the political threads that run through the case. Things go downhill from there, for Carmichael personally and for England as a whole.

* BiTheWay: David Kahn was his future wife's Lucy's brother's best friend and lover in the RAF. David is very reluctant to admit it, but Lucy completely understands -- she prefers David having loved somebody that she also loved rather than some random other woman. Lucy seems to have particularly good {{Gaydar}}, spotting those who are "Greek" (gay), "[[AlexanderTheGreat Macedonian]]" (bi), and "Roman" (straight).
* ABloodyMess: In ''Farthing'' the murder victim's body has been arranged with a knife sticking out of his chest and a large red stain on his shirt, which is fist assumed to blood but is soon discovered to be lipstick.

* AllohistoricalAllusion / DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: An unnamed handsome singer from Liverpool at the British Power rally in ''Half a Crown'' is almost certainly PaulMcCartney. Several references are made to a science fiction novel titled ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1974]]''.
* AlternateHistory: The main departure point is the US not supplying the Allies through the Lend-Lease Act.

* BiTheWay: David Kahn was Lucy's brother's best friend and lover in the RAF- David is very reluctant to admit it, but Lucy completely understands. Lucy seems to have particularly good {{Gaydar}}, spotting those who are "Greek" (gay), "[[AlexanderTheGreat Macedonian]]" (bi), and "Roman" (straight).
* ABloodyMess: in ''Farthing''

* [[spoiler: EverybodyDidIt]]: ''Farthing''

The short story "Escape to Other Worlds With Science Fiction" is set in the United States in the same timeline, with different characters.

** Guy Braithwaite is a Soviet sleeper agent, who is so well-intrenched in fascist British politics he's become Foreign Secretary by the events of Half a Crown in 1960. He is modeled on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess Guy Burgess]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Maclean_%28spy%29 Donald Maclean]], real-life British Soviet spies in the Foreign Office. After the USSR was defeated by the Axis, Braithwaite remarks that maybe Stalin wasn't the answer any more than Hitler was, and [[spoiler: he winds up Prime Minister after Normanby is arrested for James Thirkie's murder.]]

* RichBitch: Most of the women in the Farthing Set

* TenLittleMurderVictims: subverted in ''Farthing'', which is set up as a classic country house GenteelInterbellumSetting murder mystery, then turns out to be [[spoiler:[[EverybodyDidIt a political conspiracy]]]].

* UndergroundRailroad: The Inner Watch

* IdiotBall: The fact that David Kahn didn't destroy Chaim's letters before the events of ''Farthing.'' David has every reason to be paranoid about his personal information and no reason to keep them around. For the rest of the book, David handles himself quite well.

* AllohistoricalAllusion: An unnamed handsome singer from Liverpool at the British Power rally in ''Half a Crown'' is almost certainly PaulMcCartney. Several references are made to a science fiction novel titled ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1974]]''.

* TokenEnemyMinority: {{Invoked}} by Jacobson in ''Half a Crown'', the token Jewish member of the Watch. He's [[ZeroApprovalGambit perceived as]] a CollaboratorFigurehead by most of the remaining British Jewish community, who naturally don't know he's part of the Inner Watch's RageWithinTheMachine.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: the eccentric upper-class Larkin sisters central to ''Ha'Penny'' are clearly based on the real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family Mitford sisters]], right down to some becoming fascists and one becoming a communist.
** Unity Mitford is mentioned in ''Half a Crown'', so they still exist.

The "Small Change" trilogy by JoWalton -- consisting of ''Farthing'', ''Ha'penny'', and ''Half a Crown'' -- is a series of detective novels set in an AlternateHistory where World War II ended with Hitler still alive and in possession of most of continental Europe.

''Farthing'' starts out as a classic English country-house murder mystery, investigated by Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard, but becomes darker and more complicated as Carmichael begins tripping over the political threads that run through the case. Things go downhill from there, for Carmichael personally and for England as a whole.

* AllohistoricalAllusion: An unnamed handsome singer from Liverpool at the British Power rally in ''Half a Crown'' is almost certainly PaulMcCartney. Several references are made to a science fiction novel titled ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1974]]''.

* [[spoiler: EveryoneDidIt]]: ''Farthing''

* ChristieTime: The series effectively extends this into the 1950s, with Britain only participating in WorldWarII from 1939-41.

* TenLittleMurderVictims: subverted in ''Farthing'', which is set up as a classic country house ChristieTime murder mystery, then turns out to be [[spoiler:[[EverybodyDidIt a political conspiracy]]]].

* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Carmichael is blackmailed into [[spoiler:effectively becoming leader of a [[StateSec British gestapo]]]].