Drop Dead, Gorgeous by Helena Marchmont Narrator: Nathaniel Parker
Series: Bunburry #5
Published by Lübbe Audio on August 29, 2019
Source: Purchased
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Novella
Length: 2 hrs 50 mins
Format: Audiobook
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Miss Marple meets Oscar Wilde in this new series of cosy mysteries set in the picturesque Cotswolds village of Bunburry.
In "Drop Dead, Gorgeous," the fifth Bunburry book, Deb's Beauty Salon becomes the last resting place for merry widow and property magnate Eve Mosby, whose passions include haute couture and a young lover. Plenty of people disliked Mrs. Mosby, but enough to kill her? And what really baffles amateur sleuth Alfie McAlister and his friends Liz and Marge is that the body is found in a locked room - how did the murderer get in and out?
I was browsing Audible the other day and was happy to see Drop Dead, Gorgeous was out. This is just a fun little series. Alfie has inherited his aunt’s cottage in the Cotswolds and has been living there for almost a year now. He’s finally gathered the courage to ask the local beautician about getting a pedicure, something he enjoyed in London, but most men in Bunburry do not get pedicures. He meets the beautician while she is out walking her dog and they go back to the salon to set up the appointment only to find, what else? A dead body. Eve Mosby had been receiving a deluxe treatment, massage, hair, botox, the works, and the beautician had snuck out while Eve was napping, obviously not expecting her to be murdered while she was gone.
Time for the Bunburry Triangle to take a look at the case. Alfie, Liz, and Marge toss around theories and go about asking questions as always. I love that he, Liz and Marge get along so well. The two older women have practically adopted him. I like a couple of the turns this novella takes. Alfie is still grieving, but he and Betty are definitely getting closer. And I love how the pastor of the church talks to Alfie about grief and love. It was good.
As a mystery, it’s obviously quick, but the clues were there. I didn’t see the whodunnit coming. The author did a good job of both letting the clues point to the killer and keeping the killer a person we wouldn’t suspect.
And of course, we have the occasional Oscar Wilde reference, which never hurts.
About Helena Marchmont
Helena Marchmont is a pseudonym of Olga Wojtas, who was born and brought up in Edinburgh. She was encouraged to write by an inspirational English teacher, Iona M. Cameron. Olga won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2015, has had more than 30 short stories published in magazines and anthologies and writes the Miss Blaine’s Prefect mysteries.
Never hurts to have a Wilde reference. Always a hit!
I think so. I actually meant to read Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest this year but haven’t gotten around to it yet.