Tag Archives: Cosy Murder/Mystery

The Art of Betrayal: A Kate Hamilton Mystery by Connie Berry ~ Cosy #Murder #Mystery @conniecberry @crookedlanebks

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Crime, Murder/Mystery by

51UXY-jVgiSAuthor: Connie Berry

Published: June 2021 by Crooked Lane Books

Category: Cosy Murder Mystery, Police Procedural, Book Review

four-half-stars

Spring is a magical time in England–bluebells massing along the woodland paths, primrose and wild thyme dotting the meadows. Antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is spending the month of May in the Suffolk village of Long Barston, enjoying precious time with Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. While attending the May Fair, the annual pageant based on a well-known Anglo-Saxon folktale, a body turns up in the middle of the festivities.

I was a little concerned when asked if I’d like to review The Art of Betrayal as it’s the third book in a series. Thankfully, it works perfectly well as a standalone with enough background information woven through the narrative that I didn’t feel at a loss at any stage.

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The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood @robthor Cosy #MurderMystery #FridayReads

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Cosy Mystery, Murder/Mystery by

51-9D+V2UmL._SX338_BO1,204,203,200_Author: Robert Thorogood

Published: January 2021 by HQ

Category: Cosy Murder Mystery, Book Review

four-half-stars

To solve an impossible murder, you need an impossible hero…

Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper. 

Seventy seven year old Judith Potts was very happy with her life, living alone in an Arts and Crafts mansion on the banks of the Thames. She’d inherited the house from her great aunt, along with a modest portfolio of shares. Although she didn’t need to work, Judith had a job she loved, compiling crosswords for a national newspaper. No doubt her life would have carried on in this way but for the small matter of a murder.

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#ThrowbackThursday ~ Murder at the Bridge (Exham on Sea Mysteries 5) by Frances Evesham #CosyMurderMystery

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Murder, Throwback Thursday by

Murder at the Bridge is part of a very enjoyable cosy murder mystery series, published in June 2017.

My Thoughts

Taking a moment to relax in the marquee after her son, Robert’s wedding to Sarah, Libby Forrest has a strange conversation with Belinda, the bride’s mother, interrupted by an unnerving man in a kaftan, causing Libby to prickle with discomfort and Belinda to make a hasty exit. Libby’s innate curiosity is aroused but before she could process her thoughts she is dismayed to hear an altercation break out over a supposedly stolen ring. 

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The Postscript Murders (Harbinder Kaur #2) By @ellygriffiths #Cosy #MurderMystery #FridayReads

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Mystery by

Author: Elly Griffiths

Narrated by Nina Wadia

Published: October 2020 by Quercus

Category: Cosy Murder Mystery, Audiobook, Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PS: thanks for the murders.

The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should absolutely not be suspicious. DS Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing to concern her in carer Natalka’s account of Peggy Smith’s death.

But when Natalka reveals that Peggy lied about her heart condition and that she had been sure someone was following her…

Although Peggy Smith is ninety with a supposed heart condition, living in sheltered accommodation, she has all her wits about her. Her flat looks out over the bay in Shoreham-by-Sea and she enjoys nothing better than keeping an eye on goings on, sitting in her armchair in the bay window with binoculars to hand, sometimes  making detailed notes of who she sees and what they appear to be doing. She is visited on a daily basis by carer Natalka, who works for the Care4You agency. This particular morning Peggy notices something out of the ordinary that piques her interest.

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Listed Dead by @Jancoledwards ~ A Bunch Courtney Investigation, Book 3 #HistoricalFiction #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Historical Fiction, Murder by

Author: Jan Edwards

Published: July 2020 by Penkhull Press

Category: Historical Fiction, Cosy Murder/Mystery, Book Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

November 1940. The Battle of Britain has only just ended and the horror of the Blitz is reaching its height.

Two deaths in rapid succession on the Sussex Downs brings Bunch Courtney and Chief Inspector Wright together once more. What could possibly link a fatal auto accident with the corpse in a derelict shepherd’s hut? The only clue the pair have is a handwritten list of the members of a supper club that meets at London’s Café de Paris. Two of those on that list are now dead and the race is on to solve the mystery before any more end up on the mortuary slab.

Listed Dead is the third in the Bunch Courtney series and told from her perspective in the third person. There’s much more insight into the Courtney sisters’ background, the environment in which they grew up and the family dynamics in this book. Things have changed drastically for Bunch since the start of the war. The family home, Perringham House, has been requisitioned by the military and Bunch is left to run the estate with the help of Land Girls, while living at the Dower House with her Granny Beatrice.

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Death by Windmill: A Mother’s day Murder in Amsterdam by Jennifer S. Alderson #BookReview for #RBRT #CosyMystery

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Murder by

Author: Jennifer S. Alderson

Published: May 2020 by Travelling Life Press

Category: Cosy Murder/Mystery, Book Review

A Mother’s Day trip to the Netherlands turns deadly when a guest plummets from a windmill. Was it an accident or a murder? For Lana Hansen, the answer will mean freedom or imprisonment for someone close to her…

Lana Hansen is scheduled to lead the Mother’s Day tour of the Netherlands despite her boss Dotty Thompson’s reservations. Lana and her estranged mother, Gillian, haven’t been close for the past ten years, since Lana was sacked from her job as an investigative reporter for the Seattle Chronicle. Dotty is determined to bring them closer together and has a plan.

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Death at the Duckpond (Finch & Fischer Mysteries #2) by J. New #Cosy Murder/Mystery @newwrites

Posted in Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Cosy Mystery, Murder by

Author: J. New

Published: January 2019 by Phantom Press

Category: Contemporary Fiction, Cosy Murder Mystery, Book Review

When a much loved pillar of the community is found dead in the duck pond early one morning, the village residents are left reeling with shock.

Initially deemed a tragic accident it’s not until Penny receives a letter from the victim, dated one week before the death, that she begins to suspect a different motive.

Death at the Duckpond is the second book featuring mobile librarian Penny Finch and her rescue pup Fischer, and finds the intrepid pair embroiled in another mystery.

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Mini #AudiobookReviews ~ #Cherringham Cosy Mysteries by @neilmustard & @katonahprod #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Audiobook, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Cosy Mystery, Crime by

Just a quick recap ~ Jack Brennan, a retired NYPD homicide Detective, relocated to the Cotswold village of Cherringham after his wife died and now lives on an old Dutch barge moored at Cherringham, with his dog Riley. Sarah Edwards, a web designer, returned to Cherringham from London with her two children when her husband left her for his boss. She now runs her own company.

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Darkest Before The Dawn by Mike Martin (Sergeant Windflower Mystery Series) Cosy #Murder #Mystery @mike54martin

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Crime, Murder by

Author: Mike Martin

Published: September 2018 by Ottawa Press and Publishing

Category: Cosy Murder/Mystery, Book Review

Darkest Before the Dawn is the latest adventure of Sgt. Winston Windflower, a Mountie who finds himself surrounded by a new family and a new life in tiny Grand Bank, Newfoundland. There are signs of trouble that may disturb his pleasant life, including a series of unsolved break-ins and the lack of supports for young people in the most trying time of their lives. But there are always good friends, good food and the sense that if we all pull together, we can find a way to get through even the darkest days.

Although Darkest Before The Dawn is the latest in a series of cosy murder/mysteries set in the small town of Grand Bank, Newfoundland, it could be read as a standalone at a push but like any series started half way through means the development of the characters and their storylines are missed.

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The Riviera Affair (The Yellow Cottage Vintage Mysteries #4) by @newwrites Cosy Mystery #BookReview for #RBRT #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted in Book Review, Cosy Mystery, Crime, Historical Fiction, Paranormal by

Author: J. New

Kindle Edition

Category: 1930s Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Crime, Book Review

The glamour of the French Riviera quickly turns sour as Ella is caught up in an investigation which will have repercussions on both sides of the channel. But has she finally met her match?

‘The Riviera Affair’ is set in 1930’s England, and is the fourth of The Yellow Cottage Vintage Mystery series.

When Ella Bridges takes a frantic phone call for help from her mother Elspeth, who lives on Cap Ferrat in France, she and her aunt Margaret waste no time in travelling to the French Riviera accompanied by Margaret’s dear but eccentric friend, Pierre DuPont. 

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