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Murder on the Marshes by Clare Chase
This is an enjoyable opening book to the series, featuring reporter Tara Thorpe and DI Garstin Blake. The pace allows you to get to know the characters while you follow the investigation into the murder of Professor Samantha Seabrook within the private garden of a Cambridge college. While the professor has the kind of lifestyle and attitude that could make enemies, Tara has also received similar threats to her life, which brings her to the heart of the police investigation. With a murder to solve and Tara to protect, DI Blake feels stretched as he searches for motives and clues among a growing list of suspects. Tara too has to…
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Lies of Mine by Cheryl Rees-Price
Lies of Mine by Cheryl Rees-Price This is another original and gripping story in the DI Winter Meadow series, which is one of my favourites. When a body of David Harris is found at Dinas Rock, it has repercussions with a previous murder 16 years ago at the same location. The killer convicted of the original murder of a teenage girl is out on probation. David Harris was present on the day of the original murder, creating a link that cannot be ignored by Winter and the team. Their present day investigation soon expands into a closer examination of the original murder, causing unrest and ill feeling as lies are…
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Dead Level by Damien Boyd
This complex and engaging story begins with the brutal murder of Lizzie Perry, the wife of a leading candidate in a by-election. Is the murder a burglary that went wrong, or is there a political motive? This is the dilemma facing Somerset police. Deprived of the services of DI Boyd, who’s suspended, the team makes little progress. With rivers bursting their banks in a flood, the crime scene is compromised, along with vital evidence that points to a known villain. Forced to release him, he winds up dead within hours, prompting the return of DI Boyd, who offers a fresh perspective on the case. It’s an absorbing story, filled with…
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One Two Buckle my Shoe by Agatha Christie
As an Agatha Christie fan, I’m used to her original and complex plots, particularly in the Poirot series. This 24th outing for the Belgian detective is no exception, leading you down false trails, baffling you with a plot that makes little sense until he reveals all in the denouement. Poirot visits his dentist, Mr Morley, who is found dead a couple of hours later. It looks like suicide, prompted by an accidental overdose of anaesthetic that kills another patient. Only Poirot isn’t convinced. Morley wasn’t the suicidal type. The mystery deepens when the body of a woman is found in a flat. Links to an influential banker, who is shot…
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A Snowball’s Chance in Hell by JD Kirk
In another fast-moving, banter-filled story, DCI Jack Logan and the team are on the hunt for a killer who targets the villains that escape justice. Nicknamed the Iceman, he has his own distinctive ways of torturing and killing. Only he killed himself five years ago. Or did he? This is the problem facing Jack, especially when he discovers the Iceman has a list of targets, which includes several police officers. It becomes a race to identify the killer before he kills again. It’s another thrilling ride, laden with humour and familiar characters, leading to a thrilling climax and a couple of neat surprises. It’s dramatic, tense and exciting, with a…
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The Monument Murders by Rachel McLean
DCI Lesley Clarke finds herself juggling two investigations in the fourth story in this enjoyable series set in Dorset. Thanks to a persistent and prying journalist, Lesley’s struggling to keep the lid on an investigation into the death of her predecessor. Then there’s the man who was killed and hauled onto a local monument. While the victim is soon identified, his work with a controversial new development along the coast raises concerns about racism. Or is he simply an outsider who wasn’t liked? They’re complications Lesley could do without, particularly when progress is slow and your partner is the solicitor representing one of your prime suspects. But just when it…
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What’s Your Book About?
It started with a simple question. It became something of a nightmare. My first public speaking engagement as an author resulted from some welcome publicity in my local newspaper for my first novel, No Accident. Having trained food handlers as part of my day job as an environmental health officer (EHO) and spoken at seminars, I enjoyed talking to the public. Or so I thought. I’m given a rousing introduction by the chair person. I stand and make eye contact with the audience. They appear friendly and welcoming, listening intently to my biography. Growing confidence, I slip in some of the strange and amusing incidents I encountered as an EHO.…
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Why murder mysteries?
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Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie
Elinor Carlisle is awaiting trial for the murder of Mary Gerrard, who died from morphine poisoning. The evidence looks overwhelming to everyone, including Hercule Poirot, who accepts the case to uncover the truth about the murder. As he investigates, he finds little to dispel the charge of murder at first. But little by little, he uncovers lies and false testimony from some of the witnesses. Will these discoveries be enough to solve the murder? As usual, Agatha Christie weaves a complex web in another original story that reveals her mastery of the classic whodunit. Poirot is not convinced of Elinor’s innocence, which gives his investigation and behaviour a different slant,…
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The Ones Who Are Hidden by Kerry Wilkinson
The fourth novel of the series builds on the ones before with another original and intriguing mystery for Millie Westlake to solve, alongside her continuing personal challenges. It starts with a call from Oliver, who has a strange tattoo behind his ear. He’s found someone else in the neighbouring town with the same markings. Despite her reservations, Millie offers to help, calling on Guy, her Godfather and former journalist. As she digs deeper, uncovering a former commune and cult in nearby woodland, personal problems threaten to derail her enquiries. She’s a witness to a robbery that affects her more deeply than she expected. Her relationship with her former husband deteriorates…
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Mystery at Magpie Lodge by Clare Chase
19th September 2023. This is another enjoyable entry in one of my favourite series, featuring obituary writer and sleuth, Eve Mallow. She’s one of the most likeable and engaging sleuths in crime literature and a joy to follow, thanks to great writing, original plots and the wonderful characters in the backstory. Emory Fulton, a former TV presenter and occasional medium, makes quite an impression when he briefly enters Eve Mallow’s life. After a ghost walk through the Saxford St Peter, he’s found dead in a bath in a nearby cottage the following evening. Eve, who liked Emory, knows he had troubles with his family and his goddaughter. But were these…
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J is for Judgement by Sue Grafton
13th September 2023. In the tenth outing for PI Kinsey Millhone, she’s faced with two challenges. The first involves an insurance fraud involving Wendell Jaffe, who was declared dead after going missing from his boat out in the ocean. Five years ago, his wife received a substantial payout on his life insurance. When he’s spotted in Mexico, Kinsey’s despatched to confirm the sighting. This she does, but he escapes before she can confront the man. His son, Brian, has escaped from jail in Santa Teresa, and Wendell is believed to be heading there. Back on home soil, Kinsey continues her investigation. She interviews a couple who seem to shed light…
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Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
11th September 2023. The tense build up in this locked room murder provides the foundation for another classic Hercule Poirot investigation. It’s a couple of days before Christmas and the various members of the dysfunctional Lee family have gathered at the behest of patriarch Simeon. This is the first time they have been together under one roof for many years. Add in a wayward son, the son of Simeon’s former partner in a diamond mine in South Africa and a half Spanish granddaughter, and there are plenty of suspects when the old man is murdered and left to die in his room, which is locked from the inside. Enter Hercule…
