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Murder on the Farm by Kate Wells.
For a while now, my reading’s been moving towards the cosy mystery end of the market, and I’m delighted I chose this one. The story intrigued me from the start, while giving me some great characters and quite a few chuckles along the way. Jude’s friend Sarah dies shortly after the wedding of their mutual friend Ben. It looks like Sarah’s taken her own life, but Jude knows her better than that. Sarah wasn’t the kind of person to take her own life. When the police pay scant attention to Jude’s viewpoint, she knows she has to investigate herself. But she also has a farm to run. When her sister…
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Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie
In yet another original and intriguing story, Hercule Poirot is drawn into the world of Cloade family, where nothing is as it first appears. Gordon Cloade, wealthy and generous, has supported various members of the family over the years. Then he married a younger woman and was tragically killed in a bomb blast during World War 2. Overnight the widow inherits his fortune, and Cloade’s relatives lose the source of income they have come to take for granted. Then rumours claim the widow’s first husband did not die in Africa, as reported. If these rumours are true, her marriage to Gordon Cloade was illegal and she cannot inherit his house…
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Mystery at Lovelace Manor by Clare Chase
In another enthralling and colourful mystery, obituary writer Eve Mallow is once again on the trail of a murderer. Adventurer and celebrity, Cammie Harington, takes off in a hot air balloon as a climax to the open day at Lovelace Manor. But a fire in the basket of the balloon leads to an explosion and her death. It all looks like a tragic accident until evidence reveals foul play. Determined to uncover the truth, Eve starts to piece together a number of minor and seemingly unconnected events that reveal secrets, affairs and arguments among the well-heeled of Lovelace Manor and those connected with the estate. Narrowing down the list of…
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An Accidental Detective
How do you create something familiar, but different and less formulaic? Do you go for something original and distinctive – unique even? Perhaps, but you run the risk of alienating the readers you want to attract. They read certain books because they know what they want and what to expect. They might not take to kindly to you messing around with this. Murder mystery readers are pretty savvy when it comes to the classic whodunit. But they still want you to give them something they’ll enjoy and remember. For me, the desire to create a murder mystery readers would love held me in a vice-like grip. I had to start…
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Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Poirot is on holiday at Burgh Island off the Devon coast. When beautiful actress, Arlena Stuart enters the hotel, she makes a grand entrance, catching the attention of everyone there. It isn’t long before she’s spending time with another man on the beach. Her husband watches, silently and without comment. The wife of the man on the beach looks angry. Poirot watches, sensing there will be trouble. When Arlena is found strangled in a nearby cove, an investigation begins, dividing the disparate group of holiday makers into those with alibis and those without. But as the police and Poirot delve into the lives of these people, the solution is far…
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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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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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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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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…
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The Vicarage Murder by Faith Martin
27th August 2023. I enjoyed this traditional cosy mystery, set in a picturesque village in the Cotswolds. The old vicarage is being renovated into a number of flats. Monica Noble, the vicar’s wife, is throwing a garden party for the people who have moved in. But there are tensions already, which come to a head during the party. A shotgun blast is heard. Moments later, Monica finds a dead body in one of the flats being renovated. Some residents have alibis, some don’t, being absent from the party when the shot was heard. It falls to DCI Dury to investigate and uncover the killer. But it isn’t straightforward when so…