Murder at the Wedding is seventh in the Kitty Underhay cosy mystery series by Helena Dixon and the series is definitely reaching that familiar point where it is necessary to read from book one to appreciate everything. There are so many familiar characters from previous books, the nuances of things said and not said, the promise of romance, that this novel is definitely not a standalone read. This time Kitty and her beau, private detective Captain Matthew Bryant, face a ghost, a shocking shooting, a domineering old lady and a fascist who supports Oswald Moseley. Kitty is in Yorkshire at Thurscomb Castle for the wedding of her cousin Lucy to her fiancé Rupert, now Lord, Woodcomb. This is ripe territory for mysteries. Rupert has only just assumed his title and ownership of the estate after the death of his uncle. The estate is rundown and in need of repair. There is a derelict wing burned in a horrible fire, the electrics have a mind of their own and there are rumours of a ghost. Kitty and her maid Alice arrive to find Lucy in the midst of pre-wedding jitters. The guests are gathering, the house is being spring cleaned and the flowers are arriving by the cartload.
There are some familiar faces – Lucy’s parents Lord and Lady Medford of Enderley Hall, Lord Medford’s cousin Hattie, Rupert’s sister Daisy and her new husband Aubrey. Newcomers include Aubrey’s cantankerous mother Adalia Watts, Rupert’s best man Sandy Galsworthy and his wife Moira, Moira’s father Ralston Barnes, Rupert’s old schoolfriend Sinclair Davies and his wife Calliope. It is quite a cast of characters to get your head around and they all appear by the second chapter.
When Ralston’s butler Evans is shot dead, the local inspector soon arrests a man staying at the local inn. But Kitty and Matt are not so sure this is the guilty man. Inspector Lewis is however cut from different cloth to the policemen Kitty and Matt are used to working with in Devon and on no account will he allow amateurs to interfere with police investigations. Then on the evening of the wedding there is a second death.
Murder at the Wedding takes a while to get going but once it does the shocks, the suspicions and the clues continue to arrive. There is a concern about poisoning, the electrics frequently fail plunging the house into darkness, and items of furniture and decorative items seem to be moving around. Then just when I’d forgotten about it, the ghost appears again.
This is a cosy mystery in that the gruesome details of murder are not described, but the action is fast and the threat to the vulnerable is great. Kitty as usual heads into danger without hesitation and by now Matt realises he can’t stop her. Is she simply too headstrong and independent for him, does he want and need a wife he can protect and care for. Their tentative courtship adds romance while the 1934 setting brings a dark political element, something which I’m sure will be developed in further books.
Great fun and tricky to predict.
Next in line is Murder in First Class.

Here are my reviews of other books in the series:-
MURDER AT THE DOLPHIN HOTEL #1MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ENDERLEY HALL #2MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT THE PLAYHOUSE #3MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER ON THE DANCE FLOOR #4MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER IN THE BELLTOWER #5MISSUNDERHAY
MURDER AT ELM HOUSE #6MISSUNDERHAY

If you like this, try:-
‘A Deadly Discovery’ by JC Kenney #4AllieCobb
‘The Silver Bone’ by Andrey Kurkov #1KyivMysteries
‘A Necessary Evil’ by Abir Mukherjee #2Wyndham&Banerjee

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER AT THE WEDDING by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-82p via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-