Harbinder Kaur – Carol's Notebook

When Peggy Smith, a 90-year-old woman, is found dead, no one believes foul play had a role in her death….that is no one but her Ukrainian carer, Natalka. Peggy was a murder consultant, thinking up unique ways for characters to die for popular authors, I do wish we had gotten to know Peggy a bit more, she sounded like an amazing character. Natalka teams up with Edwin, an 80-year-old former TV producer, and Benedict a former monk now coffee shop owner to investigate Peggy’s death. And she takes her story to the police, bringing Detective Harbinder Kaur into the group. This is a character-driven mystery. Natalka, Edwin, and Benedict are fully developed and each truly likable, and they work together so well. The investigation and friendships change all their lives, in good ways. It's an eccentric group of characters, and each has their own viewpoint and reasons for joining the inquiry. I love Harbinder and how she both befriends and accepts...

The Stranger Diaries is a contemporary mystery, but with the feel, and potential hauntings, of a gothic novel. Modern gothic novels don't always work for me, but the combo was flawless here. Clare Cassidy is an English teacher at Talgarth High; she is divorced and has a 15 year old daughter, Georgia. At the school, there is a building where R. M. Holland, a reclusive Victorian writer, lived. Clare is writing a biography of R. M. Holland and is interested in the death of his wife, Alice Avery, whose ghost haunts the school. Then, Clare's best friend and colleague, Ella Elphick, is found murdered with a note that is a quote from Holland's "The Stranger": "Hell is empty." The whole story is actually framed by Holland's creepy "The Stranger," with bits thrown in at just the right times. The Stranger Diaries is told from three female points of view, Clare, her daughter, and DS Harbinder Kaur, the lead investigator on the case....

Series: Harbinder Kaur

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths