Tag Archives: cosy mystery

#BookReview ‘Murder on the Cornish Cliffs’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

A lost garden, smugglers, a lighthouse and a squabbling family. Murder on the Cornish Cliffs by Verity Bright starts as intrepid amateur detective Lady Eleanor Swift receives a plea for help from Mr Godfrey Cunliffe, an old friend of her beloved Uncle Byron, who thinks someone is trying to kill him. So the week before Christmas Ellie and butler Clifford drive to Cornwall to see if they can help. They plan to stay a few days then rush back to Henley Hall in time for a delightful Christmas surrounded by home comforts and with Ellie reunited with her fiance, Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon. But everything goes wrong from the beginning. Nothing at Gwel an Mor is as expected. The clifftop house is more a mausoleum, the garden overgrown. And when Ellie and Clifford pull into the drive they find the police. Mr Cunliffe’s gardener is dead. Did he commit suicide or, as Mr Cunliffe fears, was St Clair killed by mistake for his employer. The two men are physically similar.
Local policeman, Inspector Trevilick, has put in a call to Sergeant Brice in Chipstone’s police station so is well aware of Lady Swift’s detecting history. Cautiously, he allows her to investigate as long as she shares her findings with him. So Ellie and Clifford ask their questions and come to the conclusion that everyone, in the house, family and staff, and in the nearby village have secrets. Add in the peculiarities of the local dialect, Cornish Christmas traditions, folk songs, history of smuggling and unexpected food, the detecting pair flounder. And Mr Cunliffe is still scared for his life. Then bulldog Gladstone makes a discovery which sends the investigation off in a new direction.
There are many setbacks, twists and odddities. Every member of family and staff are peculiar in some way, the dotty aunts who quote random poetry, the sullen nephew, the downtrodden housekeeper and her bullying husband, the conspiring under-gardeners. But there are hints of the truth from local people in the village, such as Addled Aida who says ‘Let what’s buried in the past, stay in the past.’ Much to Ellie’s delight, Hugh arrives in disguise.
The mystery-solving is interspersed with humour; the banter between Ellie and Clifford, the flirting of the newly engaged couple, and the mischief of oddball pairing Gladstone and Tomkins the cat. As always, all is not as it seems. There are misunderstandings and prejudices, people who are overlooked or misunderstood, villains unrecognised, people wrongly accused and quiet unassuming heroes.
Fun and charming, with an edginess lacking in some cosy mysteries. Read it for the Cornish setting, for the eccentric aunts, the overgrown lost garden and Ellie and Clifford’s adventure at sea. Murder on the Cornish Cliffs by Verity Bright is sixteenth in the series, next is A Death in Venice.

If you like this, try:-
‘Death comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood #2MARLOWMURDERCLUB
‘A Fatal Crossing’ by Tom Hindle
‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ by Stuart Turton

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview MURDER ON THE CORNISH CLIFFS by Verity Bright @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Iw via SandraDanby

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#BookReview ‘Murder on the Marlow Belle’ by Robert Thorogood #cosycrime

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A party on a river boat. A film star. A dead body. An amateur dramatics production of The Importance of Being Earnest. The plot of Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood, fourth of the Marlow Murder Club mysteries, is as twisty and clever as the preceding three novels. When the body of Oliver Beresford, co-founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society (MADS), is washed ashore with two bullet holes in it, there is no shortage of possible murderers. He was last seen on board the Thames pleasure cruiser Marlow Belle with other MADS committee members celebrating the return to Marlow of local-born film star Lizzie Jenkins. But it seems everyone on the boat that night has an alibi. Detective Sergeant Tanika Malik tells the amateur detective trio of Judith, Becks and Suzie that she is facing an investigation at work so they must not help her solve the crime or she will lose her job. Undeterred, the crossword setter, vicar’s wife and dog walker decide to investigate but not tell Tanika what they are doing. It seems everyone – from the murdered man’s wife, the MADS technician, the skipper of the boat, MADS’ leading man and Lizzie Jenkins herself – has a reason to hate Oliver. But is the hatred enough to commit murder. In order to get closer to the suspects, Judith joins the cast.
Murder on the Marlow Belle is a closed room mystery that doesn’t disappoint. And what a cliffhanger ending! Next in the series is The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts. Please read these books in order, otherwise you’ll miss important character arcs and story threads.

Here are my reviews of the other books in this series:-
THE MARLOW MURDER CLUB #1MARLOWMURDERCLUB
DEATH COMES TO MARLOW #2MARLOWMURDERCLUB
THE QUEEN OF POISONS #3MARLOWMURDERCLUB

THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR OF JUDITH POTTS #5MARLOWMURDERCLUB

… and from the Death in Paradise series:-
A MEDITATION ON MURDER #1DEATHINPARADISE
THE KILLING OF POLLY CARTER #2DEATHINPARADISE

If you like this, try:-
‘The Art of the Imperfect’ by Kate Evans #1SCARBOROUGHMYSTERIES
‘Magpie Murders’ by Anthony Horowitz #1SUSANRYELAND
‘Dissolution’ by CJ Sansom #1SHARDLAKE

And if you’d like to share a link, try:
#BookReview MURDER ON THE MARLOW BELLE by Robert Thorogood https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-a9J via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder by Invitation’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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After lots of foreign travel Murder by Invitation, the fifteenth Lady Eleanor Swift cosy mystery by Verity Bright, returns to Little Buckford. As preparations are made to celebrate the King’s birthday, is it really possible that there is a nest of anti-monarchists plotting in the village? When the chairman of The King’s Birthday Celebrations Committee is found dead, Eleanor joins her new fiancé Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon in his investigation. At every step, they receive congratulations on their recent engagement. More awkwardly, the victim seems to have made enemies of just about everyone in the small community. As Henley Hall’s staff are working hard with their contributions to the celebrations – food, bunting, flags, costumes for the children, floral displays – news comes in of the death of a missing man, Clanger, Jimmie Dawkins the blacksmith. Frustrated with the lack of progress they are making given the unusually large number of suspects, Eleanor is horrified when a member of her staff is accused.
This is a wide-ranging investigation taking place in a small geographical area encompassing anti-monarchism, trading standards, secrecy, local rivalries and infidelity. As one of the villagers says, ‘you need to know a man’s past before you can judge him in the present.’
After a slowish start, the second half of the novel races towards the end with a manhunt across the countryside. Hugh searches the Chipstone area accompanied by Constable Fry while Ellie and butler Clifford search around Little Buckford. As their pursuit turns into terror, Ellie must once again find the courage that propelled her out of tricky situations in her years cycling solo in China, Persia, Peru and Africa.
The perfect read for a rainy day, this is a perfect combination of a senior policeman reduced to a blushing, bashful beau, and his intrepid, never-say-die, totally unconventional fiancé. The characters are still fresh and the action doesn’t disappoint. A nice addition to the animal family at Henley Hall is Tomkins the cat, a companion for Gladstone.
Next in the series is ‘Murder on the Cornish Cliffs.’

If you like this, try:-
‘Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley’ by MC Beaton #4AGATHARAISIN
‘Death and the Brewery Queen’ by Frances Brody #12KATESHACKLETON
‘Murder in the Belltower’ by Helena Dixon #5MISSUNDERHAY

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview MURDER BY INVITATION by Verity Bright @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8vY via SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder at the Charity Ball’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

10 Replies

December 1934. A few days before they are to marry, hotelier Kitty Underhay and her fiance, private investigator Captain Matt Bryant, attend a charity ball. When the hostess is strangled with a silk stocking, their wedding plans are thrown into chaos. Murder at the Charity Ball by Helena Dixon is eleventh in the 1930s Kitty Underhay mystery series. Familiar characters return, including beloved family, Kitty’s roguish father Edgar who has sailed from New York, awkward relatives, dodgy characters, faithful friends and a criminal mastermind. The ball, in aid of the Seafarers’ Widows and Orphans Fund, is held at the glamorous Villa Lamora, home to Lady Eliza Foxley, her sister Mrs Lillie Trentham and her teenage daughter Miss Caroline Trentham. When the hostess is found dead by Edgar, he is immediately arrested. Kitty, afraid her father will unable to walk her down the aisle, must continue with her wedding preparations and greeting guests. Matt throws himself into detecting the real murderer, aiding Inspector Greville who is also keen to wrap up the case. His new boss expects a quick result.
The victim’s sister Lillie is the main beneficiary of the will but before she can be thoroughly questioned, she is poisoned and is recovering in hospital under police protection. There are plenty of suspects apart from Edgar. There’s a nanny afraid she will lose her job, ditto a personal secretary, a valve salesman who isn’t who he says he is, and a financial advisor who gives dodgy advice.
Kitty is the perfect heroine for a cosy mystery. Clever, determined, loyal, resourceful and not afraid to face danger. Trusting her instinct when something doesn’t feel right, she gets closer to the truth than the two male investigators.
An easy-reading book, I read this at a gallop after finishing a long historical novel. Quite a twisty plot, the mystery kept me reading as the victims pile up. Will Kitty be next?
Any of these novels can be read as a standalone mystery but to appreciate the complex long-running story threads and character development, it pays to start from the beginning with Murder at the Dolphin Hotel.

Next in the series is Murder at the Beauty Pageant.

And my reviews of another series by Helena Dixon:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY
THE SEASIDE MURDERS #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

If you like this, try:-
‘A Medal for Murder’ by Frances Brody #2KATESHACKLETON
‘Murder in Manhattan’ by Verity Bright #14LADYELEANORSWIFT
‘A Meditation on Murder’ by Robert Thorogood #1DEATHINPARADISE

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER AT THE CHARITY BALL by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-a4L via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Cornish Castle Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #crime #cosycrime

7 Replies

Jodie Parker and DCI Nathan Withers are getting married at Kervoy Castle hotel but inevitably their weekend of pre-wedding activities is halted by a death. The Cornish Castle Murder by Fiona Leitch is eighth in the Nosey Parker Cornwall-set cosy crime series. Of course when a suspicious death occurs at a wedding where practically every guest is a police officer, there is no shortage of theories and help. There are also unforeseen complications. The wedding weekend is very expensive, prompting a debate about whether the nuptials should be postponed and everyone sent home; or should they stay for the limitless food and entertainment. So everyone stays. Nathan has two best men. Craig, who has flown from America, is acting strangely and having a dramatic personal crisis that can’t be ignored. The hotel is suffering from a spate of petty thefts. And the detective inspector in charge of the murder case is a) an outsider from Exeter; b) an officer Jodie worked with in London a long time ago; and c) determined to investigate the case in her own way without the interference of the police officers on site.
Nathan and Jodie of course ask their own questions, examine the murder scene and gather clues. Jodie’s daughter Daisy and boyfriend Joe are tasked with researching the victim’s social media feeds while Jodie’s oldest friend Tony teams up with her mother Shirley to find out the local gossip in the old-fashioned way, by talking to people. As always there are plenty of laughs, especially from Shirley who is an enthusiastic dancer and outlasts most of the youngsters at the disco. Dog Germaine, who at first is banned from the wedding as the hotel doesn’t allow pets, makes a crucial appearance and a key discovery.
The pace of the story is a little erratic at times and there are almost too many characters who look guilty. My attention strayed for a while, but the story hits its stride again in the last quarter. Leitch writes with an entertaining blend of humour, crime, puzzle-solving and saucy jokes, but is light on the food references this time.

Next in the series is The Cornish Christmas Pantomime Murder.

Here are my reviews of the first books in the Nosey Parker series:-
THE CORNISH WEDDING MURDER #1NOSEYPARKER
THE CORNISH VILLAGE MURDER #2NOSEYPARKER
THE PERFECT CORNISH MURDER #3NOSEYPARKER
A CORNISH CHRISTMAS MURDER #4NOSEYPARKER
A CORNISH RECIPE FOR MURDER #5NOSEYPARKER
A CORNISH SEASIDE MURDER #6NOSEYPARKER
THE CORNISH CAMPSITE MURDER #7NOSEYPARKER

If you like this, try:-
‘Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet’ by MC Beaton #2AGATHARAISIN
‘Death on Deck’ by Verity Bright #13LADYELEANORSWIFT
‘A Medal for Murder’ by Frances Brody #2KATESHACKLETON

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview THE CORNISH CASTLE MURDER by Fiona Leitch https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-9Yy via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder in Manhattan’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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1920s New York City. Yellow taxi cabs. Gangsters. Broadway. Prohibition. And Lady Eleanor Swift. What can possibly go wrong? In Murder in Manhattan by Verity Bright there are two murders and lots of suspects set in the twenty-four hour noise and bustle that is Manhattan. Following on directly from the action at the end of Death on Deck, Ellie, butler Clifford and her household staff are staying in a luxurious apartment; Detective Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon, Ellie’s new fiancé, has returned to England. New York is not quite what Ellie expected. There’s an irascible old lady who insults them in the lift, people seem to speak a different language and the food in the diners is greasy. But there are compensations; for example Marty, the welcoming doorman at their apartment block, and Iver Driver, the chatty cab driver. And, thanks to newspaper coverage of her trans-Atlantic investigations aboard the Celestiana, Eleanor has received invitations to lots of swanky parties.
When Marty is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Eleanor begins to investigate. Except no-one else is interested. The straight-talking New Yorkers shrug their shoulders and are bemused that a titled English lady should care about a dead man she hardly knew. Hard-nosed beat cop Officer Balowski tells her, ‘Forget the whole thing, lady. I know you don’t like it, but in this city, no one cares about one more dead doorman.’ Never one to take ‘no’ for an answer, Ellie’s team of two – herself and Clifford – go downstairs to the basement accommodation of Marty’s mother Mrs Morales and his brother Earl. There they make a discovery that suggests Marty may have had something to hide.
As in preceding novels – The French for Murder, Murder in an Irish Castle and Death on Deck – Ellie is away from home, far from her comfort zone with a background cast of familiar characters. Each of these books has a different tone and this one particularly has a dangerous edge. Eleanor doesn’t hesitate to defend the underdogs and doesn’t care a fig for what people think of her. But when she stands up to bullies, she meets her match. As the investigation progresses Ellie’s team expands in number until there is a second most unexpected murder. Yes I guessed the identity of the murderer but mostly on a hunch and an instinctive dislike rather than evidence. Bright as usual balances the mixture of murder investigation with mystery, tension, humour and food.
A fun read that made me pick up the book at every available moment. I do miss Hugh, though.

If you like this, try:-
‘Death and the Brewery Queen’ by Frances Brody #12KATESHACKLETON
‘The Seaside Murders’ by Helena Dixon #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY
‘The Killing of Polly Carter’ by Robert Thorogood #2DEATHINPARADISE

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview MURDER IN MANHATTAN by Verity Bright @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8tg via SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Death on Deck’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

19 Replies

It’s not normal to start a book review by describing the end but Death on Deck by Verity Bright ends in such a thrilling chase on an ocean liner that I had to mention it first. It is thrilling, in more ways than one. In Death on Deck, thirteenth in the 1920s Lady Eleanor Swift cosy mystery series, Eleanor is at last able to spend some time, her birthday, with her handsome beau Detective Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon. Except yet again, Hugh has to work instead. So Eleanor, offered a free ticket on the maiden transatlantic of the luxurious Celestiana ocean liner, takes Clifford and her staff with her across the Atlantic to New York. With echoes of Titanic, which sank ten years earlier, the descriptions of the accommodations, décor, furnishings, food and guests are beyond anything we have seen before in this series. Everything is going swimmingly until on a bitterly cold March night, Eleanor goes out onto deck to clear her thoughts. She thinks she is alone until she shivers and the hairs on her neck stand up. There are two dark shadows wrestling, a gunshot, then one of the shadows falls overboard. Racing to the scene, she stumbles on the murder weapon. It is a revolver, one she knows well.
Seldon, not knowing Eleanor is a guest onboard, is working undercover on the Celestiana. His gun is the murder weapon. Clifford and Ellie’s staff – housekeeper, cook and two maids are travelling too – identify Hugh’s cabin where he is valiantly trying to work despite suffering from extreme sea sickness. Of course the captain engages Seldon and Eleanor to investigate the murder, hoping they will solve the crime with discretion and the planned triumphant arrival of the liner into New York will not be wrecked. Ellie knows she has broken the law by not disclosing the murder weapon, but she will do anything to save Hugh.
Nothing goes to plan. Seldon is so ill he can hardly think straight, Eleanor’s usual slick questioning doesn’t seem to work on her fellow first class passengers, and every hour New York draws nearer. When another first class guest is murdered, Ellie fears Hugh will hang. This plot is full of twists and tumbles, false clues, over-the-top opulence and a cast of shady characters who all look very guilty. There is room for an attractive captain, who doesn’t appear in enough scenes, and a stowaway who proves critical at the end. Plus a dancefloor lothario, a card shark, an insufferable hotelier, a jobsworth master-at-arms and a femme fatale. Ellie’s staff, the ladies, travelling in second class, are under-used and some of the language slips into modern tones, but I loved it. The plot is pulled onwards by the thread of Ellie and Hugh’s growing recognition of their love.
Highly recommended. Read with delight over a weekend.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Marlow Murder Club’ by Robert Thorogood #1MARLOWMURDERCLUB
‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee #1WYNDHAM&BANERJEE
‘Fortune Favours the Dead’ by Stephen Spotswood #1PENTECOST&PARKER

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview DEATH ON DECK by Verity Bright @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8sn via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder on Board’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

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Kitty Underhay’s wedding is approaching fast but as the late summer season at the Dolphin Hotel proves busy there is little time to think of the nuptials. In Murder on Board by Helena Dixon, tenth in the 1930s amateur detective series, hotel owner Kitty is having a fitting for her wedding dress one day and organising a glamorous birthday party on board a riverboat steamer the next. Unfortunately the latter includes a murder and a jewel theft. Dartmouth, September 1934. Life at the Dolphin Hotel is transitioning as Kitty prepares to marry on Christmas Eve and her grandmother gets ready to retire. Chief evidence of this is the arrival of the new hotel manager, Mr Cyril Lutterworth. Meanwhile Kitty’s fiance Captain Matthew Bryant is working again for his old London spy boss, Brigadier Remmington-Blythe, following a man suspected of trading top secret information to the enemy. So when Kitty boards the Kingswear Castle to check everything is ready for the 21st birthday party of the Chief Constable’s daughter, she is horrified to see Matt’s suspect is working on board as a steward. And even more horrified when he is later killed in the engine room.
The party guests, unaware of the crime on board, are enjoying the second half of the celebrations at the Dolphin Hotel as planned with a glamorous evening ball. Sir Montague Hawkes presents the birthday girl, his daughter Serafina, with the fabulous Firestone diamond necklace, a family heirloom. But as soon as the necklace is fastened around her neck, the lights go out, Serafina screams and the necklace is gone. Chaos ensues. Inspector Greville is short-staffed and so recruits Kitty and Matt to help with the investigations of the two separate crimes, separate except for the fact that they happened in the presence of exactly the same group of guests.
Inspector Greville has no leads; every party guest seems to have seen nothing, to not know the dead man and to be shocked by the theft. There is an old foe, a kidnapping, a very flash car, a visit to Dartmouth Naval College and some unwanted romantic advances for Kitty, while Matt’s unruly dog Bertie is proven to have a hidden talent. How can Matt’s spy, the murder and the theft possibly be linked?
Borrowed from the library as an emergency read when my faithful Kindle finally died, this novel is just the ticket if you’re looking for a story to take you away from the stresses of modern life. I thoroughly enjoyed Murder on Board. I quickly guessed the puzzle of one of the crimes but wasn’t correct at identifying either the murderer or thief.

Next in the series is Murder at the Charity Ball.

And my reviews of the first in a new series by Helena Dixon:-
THE SECRET DETECTIVE AGENCY #1SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY
THE SEASIDE MURDERS #2SECRETDETECTIVEAGENCY

If you like this, try:-
‘A Mansion for Murder’ by Frances Brody #13KATESHACKLETON
‘The French for Murder’ by Verity Bright #10LADYELEANORSWIFT
‘Death comes to Marlow’ by Robert Thorogood #2MARLOWMURDERCLUB

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview MURDER ON BOARD by Helena Dixon @NellDixon https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8RS via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘The Cornish Campsite Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #crime #cosycrime

7 Replies

Strictly speaking, the title of The Cornish Campsite Murder by Fiona Leitch should really be ‘Murder at a Cornish Music Festival’. This is a fun, quickly-read murder mystery involving some great named pies, a few ageing rock stars and one dead body on the beach. Seventh in the Nosey Parker cosy crime series, Jodie and fiance DCI Nathan Withers have the weekend off. Like all their friends and family, they’re heading to the local music festival where Jodie and Nathan will run a friend’s catering van, Pie Hard. Of course the pies are named after Die Hard characters. First there is Jodie’s discovery that a couple she recently catered a dinner party for are actually old rockers – Caz Harper, bass player with The Burners, was a teenage idol of Jodie’s – and that the band, now called The Burnouts, will be playing at the festival. Except the band members are squabbling amongst themselves. And then the body is found.
Nathan, off duty and cooking pies with Jodie, keeps an eye on the investigation. The victim is the former lead singer of The Burners, Lee Roskill. But did he die in a drunken or drugged fall onto the rocks, or was he attacked. Lee, it turns out, had recently accused his fellow band members and manager of cheating him out of royalties. Was he killed to keep him quiet? Jodie, unable to accept that her heroine Caz is capable of murder, is determined to unearth the truth.
This story is on all levels all about first impressions, prejudices, acceptance and open-mindedness. Assumptions are made about the band members because they are known to take drugs. Jodie isn’t keen on her mum Shirley’s new friend because Jocasta is introducing Shirley to reiki and CBD oil. Paul Dyer, the local drug dealer who wears his signature hoodie with the snake motif, must be selling dodgy pills to teenagers. Teenagers like Daisy, Jodie’s daughter, now fifteen, enjoying her first festival and all the new experiences on offer. Shirley, Daisy and Jocasta all add their suggestions about the murderer and likely motivations.
I read The Cornish Campsite Murder when I was full of flu and feeling sorry for myself, so it’s a testament to Leitch’s writing that it made me chuckle. Read in 24 hours, it is sufficiently twisty and unpredictable without being confusing. Just what I needed. And yes I was suspicious of the guilty party but only on instinct, without evidence. That’s up to Jodie and Nathan to figure out.

If you like this, try:-
‘A Snapshot of Murder’ by Frances Brody #10KATESHACKLETON
‘Big Sky’ by Kate Atkinson #5JACKSONBRODIE
‘An Expert in Murder’ by Nicloa Upson #1JOSEPHINETEY

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview THE CORNISH CAMPSITE MURDER by Fiona Leitch https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8Km via @SandraDanby

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

#BookReview ‘Murder in an Irish Castle’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

16 Replies

Murder in an Irish Castle by Verity Bright is another Christmas instalment in the 1920s Lady Eleanor Swift mystery series, but with a big difference. The setting is in the west of Ireland at the remote estate inherited by Eleanor from her late Uncle Byron and never before visited. Arriving in December 1922 in the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence, snow is on the ground and the welcome is just as cold. After a long journey in the Rolls Royce, Eleanor and faithful butler Clifford find an unconscious man in an isolated lane near the estate. They seek help at the nearest building, an abbey, which is the first of many unexpected things they encounter. The behaviour of the abbess and doctor is distinctly odd. The poor man’s death, however, seems predictable.
Invited by the committee of Derrydee, the village closest to Hennelly Towers, Eleanor anticipates a warm welcome. But the house is empty, there is no staff, no food, no welcome and Miss Breen, whose name is on the invitation received by Eleanor, says she didn’t send it. This is the first in a series of denials, objections, obfuscations and lies that Eleanor and Clifford face.
I think this is the slowest start of all the titles I’ve read so far, and this is twelfth book. Perhaps the chill I feel reflects the cool welcome Ellie and Clifford receive from the locals. But ever the troupers, they make the best of it. With Gladstone and a newly adopted kitten, they settle into Hennelly Towers, make Christmas decorations, find a local hostelry for sustenance and then set about confirming the identity of the poor man and establishing the cause of his death. From day one it feels as if people are either lying to them, avoiding the truth or attempting to stop their investigations. As the story progresses, this feeling deepens. And then at 50% there’s a bombshell, and the story takes off.
The plotting is complicated and there are so many guilty-looking suspects. I guessed wrong again but was nearly right, so much so that I wanted to start reading from the beginning again to see what I missed. This is a clever, unusual storyline, deeply based in 1920s Ireland. Eleanor and Clifford are on their own. There is no help from Detective Chief Inspector Seldon, they are snowed in, without transport or telephone. And even murderers can appear friendly and smiling.
At one point Eleanor says, ‘this is definitely the most difficult of all the unpleasant matters we’ve tried to solve.’ For me this is a book of two halves, a slower beginning and a sprint to the end. Darker and creepier than the earlier books.

If you like this, try:-
‘Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet’ by MC Beaton #2AGATHARAISIN
‘A Death in the Dales’ by Frances Brody #7KATESHACKLETON
‘Murder at the Playhouse’ by Helena Dixon #3MISSUNDERHAY

And if you’d like to share a link:
#BookReview MURDER IN AN IRISH CASTLE by Verity Bright @BrightVerity https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-8r5 via @SandraDanby

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

	Rosie Amber on #BookReview ‘How to Lose a Lor…
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SANDRA DANBY'S BOOK REVIEWS

Sharing thoughts on the books I read, new authors, favourite authors, classics re-visisted

Tag Archives: cosy mystery

#BookReview ‘Murder on the Cornish Cliffs’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

#BookReview ‘Murder on the Marlow Belle’ by Robert Thorogood #cosycrime

#BookReview ‘Murder by Invitation’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

#BookReview ‘Murder at the Charity Ball’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

#BookReview ‘The Cornish Castle Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #crime #cosycrime

#BookReview ‘Murder in Manhattan’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

#BookReview ‘Death on Deck’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

#BookReview ‘Murder on Board’ by Helena Dixon @NellDixon #cosymystery #crime

#BookReview ‘The Cornish Campsite Murder’ by Fiona Leitch #crime #cosycrime

#BookReview ‘Murder in an Irish Castle’ by Verity Bright @BrightVerity #cosymystery #crime

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