Fourteen years ago Natalie Grove found her older sister, Sarah, dead in a lily pond at Castle Vyne. The murderer was never caught and now Natalie, a best-selling author, has written a book based on the mystery. She wants to find the truth about what happened to Sarah. If you've read and enjoyed Marley's other English Village Mysteries, this one, while it takes place in the same area, happens before the other book and features different characters. I thought I might find that disappointing, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The new characters are fully developed, if not all that likeable, and the setting still feels like a claustrophobic small town.
Natalie has certainly stirred a hornet's nest by redrawing attention to her sister's death. There are so many twists here. The town, her friends, her family are all holding on to major secrets, and just when you have some idea of what's going on, there's another surprise. It kept me...
This is the final installment of the Secret Bookcase Mysteries - although don't worry, we'll get a spin-off, The Novel Detectives series. This time around, Annie and Fletcher are in Santa Clara for a book fair and Liam and Pri are coming along too. It just so happens that the fair is near the company that Annie blames for her best friend, Scarlet's, death, ten years ago, and Annie has a plan to get the evidence she needs. While we do get some background info on the cold case, this one probably works better if you've read others in the series. Of course, there's also a murder at the book fair. One of the presenters is killed by his own VR device, and Annie is there when it happens.
The book fair sounds amazing and makes me want to go to a bookish event soon. The two mystery plot are balanced well. We have several suspects for the current murder...
I don't really know where to start with Death in the Spires. Jem, our main character/amateur sleuth, has just lost his job thanks to an anonymous letter accusing him of murder. It's not a surprise. He's been getting letters on and off for ten years and he is tired - tired of the insinuations, tired of the not knowing, tired of his empty room. So he decides it's time to ask questions and find a killer.
Jem is not a "good" amateur sleuth. What he is is dogged and determined. The story is told from his point of view, both in the present, 1905, and ten years before. We see the school and the people through his eyes, and he's not without biases. It's a sad, moody book and even the weather plays along, with plenty of fog and drizzle, and clear, but melancholy, nights.
We have a closed circle of suspects. It had to be one of the six...
I love visiting Raven’s Edge, a lovely English village that leans into its history and folklore. The series is a bit cozy, a bit police procedural, and a bit Gothic. This time around, DS Harriet March and DI Ben Taylor are called in when a skeleton is discovered behind the florists. Actually, Harriet is already on the scene- she rents the apartment upstairs. Of course, the discovery leads to the reopening of a cold case involving a man who was reported missing over 25 years ago. At the same time, Iris Evergreen, a novelist with a mysterious past, has moved into Raven’s Hollow, a fascinating old mansion, and is asking questions around town about a photo of a man she found in her dead mother's belongings.
Murder at Raven's Hollow focuses on Harriet. The case is intricately connected Harriet's past and her family and what she has always believed about her father. But Iris too is connected. We get glimpses of...
We first met Milla Graham and DI Ben Taylor in Murder a Raven's Edge and saw the beginnings of their rather complicated relationship. So we're not surprised that at the beginning of Murder at Ravenswood House, Milla is meeting a friend/ex-boyfriend, rockstar Lorcan Black, in the evening at his house without letting Ben know. And when she runs into a problem, it's not Ben she turns to but rather PI Kieran Drake to help clean up the mess. But when a woman's headless body is found in the pond and Lorcan is discovered asleep on a crypt covered in blood, it will be tough to keep anything secret.
This time around Ben's family and history are at the forefront. Ben has tried for years to distance himself from his rather notorious family, but this case is bringing them all back together. I love the characters, Ben, of course, is dealing with his own past while trying to figure out what's going...
I truly enjoyed Murder at Raven's Edge. Milla Graham has returned to her childhood home for reasons of her own. At the same time, Inspector Ben Graham has a case which may be linked to the death of Milla's mother, Rosemary, 18 years ago. But is Milla really Milla Graham? Milla was presumed to have died in a fire the same night her mother was killed. Things get more complicated when Ben realizes he ight be falling in love with Milla, who lies as easily as breathing but is so likeable. She's a member of a wealthy family but feels very much alone. Ben is a divorced cop who doesn't always play by the rules, but is also uncomfortable straying too far from them. He's also very competent at his job and has learned when to trust his instincts.
The setting was interesting. It's a quirky, small English town, but this one leans into its witchy history.
The book just worked really...
