A Harvest Murder is the third of the Ham Hill mysteries. It can be read as a stand-alone, but I think, like most series, you get a fuller feel for the characters if you read them in order.
We have two mysteries here. The first is the missing farmer. It's no surprise he ends up dead - the title is A Harvest Murder - but who killed him is unclear. The second mystery is who is harassing Dan, the local artist. First, one of his donkeys is kidnapped and brought back, then one of his paintings in a gallery is destroyed.
Our sleuths are Imogen, who owns the local hotel, and former detective, Adam, who owns a local bar. A lot of the scenes take place in those locations, where people gather and talk and air their suspicions. The mysteries are well done, with several clues and enough suspects to keep you guessing. The townsfolk are a typically mixed...
This is the second of the Ham Hill mysteries and, while it works as a stand-alone, you will definitely get to know the characters better by reading them in order. Adam is a pub owner and retired police officer and Imogene owns the local hotel. They are the main investigators, although this time around they have the help of a couple of friends, Steph, a reporter, and Dan, a painter. All four are competent and intelligent and each adds their own skills.
Belinda is the main suspect in the death, and her desperate mother asks for Adam's help. The local authorities deem the death an accident due to lack of evidence, but the local chief inspector asks Adam to continue looking into the case, not convinced it wasn't murder.
It turns out there are actually plenty of suspects, although no one has a really good motive. There are the investors who own the horse that Belinda rode. There are the grooms and...
Amber asked me the other day why I read so many British books. I have a tendency to read bits of books that I find funny or interesting out loud and apparently a lot of them have had British slang/terms lately. I don't have an answer to that question, at least as far as current mystery writers go. I'm a huge fan of Golden Age mysteries, and most of those are British. I guess, I probably am drawn to books set in the present that have the same feeling, as A Village Murder certainly does.
A local businessman and town councillor has died and following his funeral, his daughter, Imogene, discovers the corpse of her soon-to-be-ex-husband in the greenhouse. She, of course, is the main suspect. Happily, her new friend and neighbor, is a former detective and believes she's innocent. Between the two of them, they dig up some clues and talk to several other folks who might have had reason...
