A Midwinter Murder by Verity Bright

Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #20

352 pages

Publisher: Bookouture

Release Date: December 4, 2024

 

Blurb

Homemade baubles, reindeer-shaped cookies and snowy walks across the rolling moors… but Lady Swift’s festive plans are ruined when a body turns up!

Winter 1924. When Lady Eleanor Swift unexpectedly finds herself a guest of the reclusive Duke of Auldwyke, she’s determined to enjoy Christmas with all the trimmings at his sprawling manor house. And that includes kisses under the mistletoe and cozying up by the fire with her fiancé, dashing detective Hugh Seldon.

Instead, the season of goodwill turns frosty as she finds the Duke’s studious secretary, Mr Porritt, dead in the storeroom. Clasped in his chilly hand is a golden pendant in the shape of a rose. The Duke denies ever having seen the necklace before. But Eleanor can see the lies in his eyes… Did it belong to his mysteriously absent wife?

Hugh and Eleanor must ditch relaxing with hot cocoa in favour of interviewing the Duke’s holiday guests. Every suspect has a secret they’d kill to keep: the socialite with the false name, the Sir with a questionable inheritance and the husband hiding a crack in his marriage.

As the blizzard outside rages, Auldwyke Hall becomes cut off. Trapped by the snow, Eleanor and Hugh must skate around the increasingly secretive Duke to unwrap the identity of the killer. But does the answer to the secretary’s murder lie with a ghost of Christmas past? And when an attempt is made on the Duke’s life too, they realise the killer is closer than they think…

 

Review

May I present a delightful new instalment in the Lady Eleanor Swift series.

Despite her attempts to refuse the invitation, Lady Eleanor finds herself, accompanied by her full staff, dog, and cat, travelling to Auldwyke Hall to celebrate Christmas with a Duke she has never met and several other guests she’s never seen before either. Eleanor’s fiancé, Chief Inspector Hugh Seldon, will be joining them a day later. But what Eleanor had hoped would be a romantic and festive seasonal celebration turns dark within minutes after her arrival at the Hall when she discovers the body of the Duke’s secretary who has obviously been strangled.

What follows is an investigation conducted by Eleanor and Hugh with the help of a local constable during which it soon becomes clear that most of the guests have something to hide. At the same time, Eleanor and Hugh try to find time for romantic encounters as well and Eleanor’s staff try to create the perfect Christmas atmosphere in the gamekeeper’s cottage. As tends to be the case in the Lady Eleanor Swift mysteries, it’s all a bit mad-cap but very entertaining and a captivating read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book even if there were few clues on the page to help the reader identify the culprit. The story was a wonderful contrast between the mysterious and gloomy atmosphere in Auldwycke Hall and the wonderful Christmas mood created in the gamekeeper’s cottage by Eleanor’s loyal staff. And, as to be expected from a Christmas mystery, the ending is as merry and happy as can be.

Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin

The Val & Arbie Mysteries #1

336 pages

Publisher: HQ

Publishing date: January 4, 2024

Release Date Paperback: September 26, 2024

Netgalley

 

Blurb

As the sun rises over the Cotswolds village of Maybury-in-the-Marsh, at the Old Forge a cry of anguish goes up. Lady of the house Amy Phelps has been found dead – but with all the windows and doors to her room locked, how – and by who – was she killed?

Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Swift finds himself in the unlikely position of investigating. The author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Good Ghost Hunting – an excuse for Arbie to indulge his love of travel funded by the owners of country houses who hear the supernatural in every creak and echo – might be more used to dealing with the long dead, but as he’s currently staying at the Old Forge to investigate a suspected spectre, Amy’s murder falls to him too.

With old friend Val, he begins to dig into the old lady’s death, and soon uncovers a sorry tale of altered wills, secret love affairs and tragic losses. But when a second victim is killed, Arbie has to find the killer fast – and to do so will mean cracking the most ingeniously plotted murder…

Review

What an utterly delightful and clever mystery we have here. Allow me to set the scene.

The year is 1924 and we find ourselves in Maybury-in-the-Marsh in the middle of the Cotswolds. Mr. Arbuthnot (Arbi) Lancelot Swift is a young man of independent means who has been raised by his eccentric uncle and has recently acquired a minor form of celebrity after writing and publishing a book titled A Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost-Hunting. As far as Arbi is concerned, the book and its subject are mostly a joke, but he isn’t overly surprised when he’s approached by Miss Amy Phelps, a local spinster who asks him to inspect the Old Forge, her manor house. She has been plagued by mysterious noises and occurrences lately and wants to get to the bottom of what is going on.

Arbi, is less than enthusiastic about the prospect since he had other, far more relaxing plans for his days and nights.

‘Whilst it behoved one to help out one’s neighbours when called upon, of course, it was not something a chap actively encouraged.’

He is about to worm his way out of this invitation but finds his escape route blocked by Valentina Olivia Charlotte Coulton-James, the vicar’s daughter who is also a lifelong acquaintance of Arbi’s. Unsurprisingly, her curiosity is piqued as soon as she hears the words ‘ghostly goings on’ and next thing Arbi knows, she’s accepted an invitation to tea at the Old Forge for both of them.

At the Old Forge, Arbi and Valentina meet the other inhabitants of the big house. There is Jane Brockhurst, Miss Phelps’ housekeeper of about 30 years, Mrs. Cora Delaney, Miss Phelps friend, Reggie Bickersworth, another houseguest, Phyllis Thomas, Miss Phelp’s niece and Murray Phelps, her nephew.

While Arbi and Valentina’s initial night-time investigation reveals nothing, a later over-night vigil at the Old Forge ends with Miss Phelps found murdered in her bed. The question of who might have killed her is overshadowed by the mystery as to how it was done since her bedroom was locked…from the inside. Unable to resist temptation, Arbi and Valentina decide to investigate what happened while trying not to get in the way of, or send away by Inspector Bernard Gorringe.

I would love to get into the ins and outs of Arbi and Valentina’s journey to the solution. It’s filled with clues, red herrings, wonderful dialogue, and delicious sniping between our two amateur investigators. But no matter how much fun it would be to share those wonders with you, it would also thoroughly spoil the story, so I’ll reign myself in and stop my summary here.

What I can say is that Murder by Candelight is delightful book. From the very start of this story, I recognised how closely it matches mysteries written during the Golden Age of Mystery by authors such as Agatha Christie. The manor house setting combined with the locked room closed circle set-up took me right back to that era of amazing whodunnits. I smiled widely when Arbie says something similar while referring to ‘that Belgian chap with spats. You know, the one in the books. With his grey cells’. Having said that, Albie and Valentina reminded me of Tommy and Tuppence more than Hercule Poirot.

I do hope that Arbi and Valentina will follow in Tommy and Tuppence’s footsteps and involve themselves in further mysteries. They are wonderful together. I loved the way they snipe at each other, how much they exasperate each other, and how it is obvious to all except the persons in question that their feelings go much deeper than they are willing to acknowledge.

Apart from being an amazing and well-plotted mystery, Murder by Candlelight is also very well written, filled with fascinating characters and sparkling dialogue, and a very smooth and hard-to-put-down story. I liked that the point of view changed between players in this story, allowing me to get a better idea of who the participants were and of their motivations, although I can’t say it also helped me figure out the solution before it was presented.

Long review short: Murder by Candlelight is a delightful traditional locked room mystery. The (main) characters are fascinating, the police inspector not as foolish as we sometimes see, and the clues and red herrings kept me on my toes. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Golden-Age-of-Mystery-style books.

A Front-Page Murder by Fiona Veitch Smith

 

Poppy Danby Investigates #1

288 Pages

Publisher: Bonnier Books UK | Embla Books

Publishing Date: September 24, 2024

Previously published as The Jazz Files

 

Blurb

London, 1920. Starry-eyed aspiring reporter Poppy Denby emerges from the steam of the Edinburgh-London train onto the platform at King's Cross with nothing but a trunk of old notebooks and a heart full of dreams. She swaps her quiet northern hometown for the Big Smoke to act as companion for her ailing (but ever-sharp) Aunt Dot, a pioneering Suffragette and former West End leading lady.

She may only be twenty-two, but Miss Denby knows what she wants and quickly lands a job at the Daily Globe. She expects she's going to have to pull up her stockings and work twice as hard as her male colleagues, but what she is not ready to deal with is murder.

It's only Poppy's first day on Fleet Street when one of the Globe's senior reporters falls to his death from the highest staircase - just moments after receiving a mysterious note. Poppy is tasked with finishing his article involving the mysterious death of a suffragette seven years earlier, about which some powerful people would prefer nothing to be said. Did old Bert Isaacs get too close to a scoop?

As Poppy investigates, she is thrown into a world of hard-drinking newspapermen, flappers and jazz clubs, and learns she must tread very carefully indeed. Luckily, she has her new-found friendship with the terribly dashing Globe photographer Daniel Rokeby who seems terribly eager to lend a helping hand...

But first of all, she's got a murder to solve and this might just make the front page.

 

Review

This book was previously published as The Jazz Files.

When Poppy Denby arrives in London to stay with and assist her wheelchair-bound Aunt Dot she meets a dashing young press photographer named Daniel Rokeby in the train station. The encounter makes Poppy wonder what it would be like to be a journalist. So when Aunt Dot and her companion Grace Wilson, who were pioneering suffragettes before the First World War, encourage Poppy to look for a ‘real’ job, Poppy applies to the Daily Globe newspaper. Rollo Robinson, the owner and editor of the paper where Daniel is also employed takes Poppy on as his assistant but what initially was meant to be a secretarial job to organise and clear the files in Rollo’s office soon turns into an investigation when the political editor falls to his death on Poppy’s first day.

Convinced that the fall was no accident and encouraged by Rollo, Poppy dives into an investigation that is connected to her aunt’s past as a suffragette and the events that put her in a wheelchair. It will also take Poppy into London’s theatrical scene, bring her face to face with a lord who detests the suffragette movement, and will see her travel to Paris. And that’s just for starters. Poppy’s opportunity to prove herself as a journalist is a danger-filled rollercoaster both for her and for the reader.

I struggled a bit with that synopsis. There is a lot happening in this story and I’m not sure I could summarize it all without either spoiling the story and/or confusing readers of this review. There are also many characters to keep track of, both fictional and taken from real life. For example, Charlie Chaplin and Marie Curie make a supporting appearance on these pages. So, it is very helpful that the book starts with a list of characters, indicating whether they’re real or fictional, and that at about 70% into the story Poppy and Rollo, her boss, create and discuss a timeline that summarizes all the events both past and present that have come to pass up until that point.

This book is more crime-caper than mystery since most of the villains in this story are obvious from the start. What’s more, Poppy was a bit too much ‘do first, think later’ kinda girl for my liking, but the story flew across the pages and there wasn’t a boring paragraph.

Long review short: while I did roll my eyes on quite a few occasions while reading A Front Page Murder, I had a hard time putting this book down. This story is pure entertainment for anybody who enjoys their mysteries with a generous helping of shenanigans. And while I think I prefer the Miss Clara Vale mysteries by this author, I’m pretty sure I’ll return to Poppy Denby’s adventures before too long.

Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

Joseph Spector #3

320 Pages

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Release Date: August 1, 2024

Netgalley

 

Blurb

Sleuth and illusionist Joseph Spector investigates his most complex case yet in this gripping new locked-room murder mystery from Tom Mead, set in an English country house just before the Second World War.

Hampshire, 1938. Victor Silvius is confined in a private sanatorium after attacking prominent judge Sir Giles Drury. When Sir Giles starts receiving sinister threatening letters, his wife suspects Silvius. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered... by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles.

Caroline seeks the advice of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Flint, while the Drurys, eager to avoid a scandal, turn to Joseph Spector. Spector, renowned magician turned sleuth, has an uncanny knack for solving complicated crimes – but this case will test his powers of deduction to their limits.

At a snowbound English country house, a body is found is impossible circumstances, and a killer’s bullet is fired through a locked window without breaking the glass. Spector and Flint’s investigations soon collide as they find themselves trapped by the snowstorm where anyone could be the next victim – or the killer...

 

Review

Almost a decade ago a young woman died under suspicious circumstances, but the mystery of her death has never been solved. The aftermath left one man, Victor Silvius confined to a private sanatorium for attacking Sir Giles Drury, the judge he held responsible for the death of the woman he loved.

Now, in 1938 the old case is coming back to life and Scotland Yard inspector Flint and Joseph Spector, former magician and occasional sleuth, are asked to investigate. Unfortunately, their involvement doesn’t prevent further bloodshed. In fact, it isn’t long before Spector and Flint are up to their necks in murders which all appear to be impossible and require all of Spector’s skills to eventually unravel.

If the description of this book makes it sound as if there’s a lot going on in the story, you are right. In fact, the blurb barely scratches the surface when it comes to (impossible) murders, victims, and mysteries. There is so much happening in this story that it should be too much and overwhelming. And, I want to say that in the hands of a lesser author this story and the solutions to the mysteries wouldn’t have worked. Tom Mead works some kind of magic of his own in this book which allows him to tell a story at neck-breaking speed without overwhelming the reader.

Eighteen clues are masterfully hidden in this story and tagged so that the reader can check and discover, like I did, that Tom Mead plays fair with his audience. All the information the reader needs to solve the mysteries in this story is available to those who pay close attention. I for one have to admit that I missed most but, I’m proud to say, not all of them.

This is the third Joseph Spector mystery I’ve read and with every book I’m more in awe of Tom Mead’s storytelling and mystery-creating prowess. The release of the next book in this series can’t come soon enough for me.

Related reviews:

Death and the Conjuror: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2023/05/death-and-conjuror-by-tom-mead.html

The Murder Wheel:  https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-murder-wheel-by-tom-mead.html

 

 

Hemlock Bay by Martin Edwards

 

Rachel Savernake Mysteries #5

384 pages

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Release date: September 12, 2024

 

Blurb

The first rule of murder: know your victim.

Basil Palmer has decided to murder a man called Louis Carson. There's only one problem: he doesn't know anything about his intended victim, not who he is or where he lives.

Basil learns that Carson owns Hemlock Bay, a resort for the wealthy and privileged. Knowing that his plan will only work if he covers his tracks, he invents a false identity and, posing as Dr Seamus Doyle, journeys to the coast plotting murder along the way.

Meanwhile Rachel Savernake buys an intriguing painting of a place called Hemlock Bay, one that she cannot get out of her head. Macabre and strange, the image shows a shape that seems to represent a dead body lying on the beach.

Convinced that there is something sinister lurking amongst the glamour of the bay, Rachel books a cottage there – where she meets a mysterious doctor called Seamus Doyle…

 

Review

Exactly a year ago, I read Sepulchre Street, the fourth title in the Rachel Savernake series. That book opened on the intriguing dilemma of how one solves a murder before it has happened. Intrigue (and impossible murders) appear to be a theme in this series because the hook into Hemlock Bay is how do you murder somebody if you have no idea who he is?

The year is 1931 and a seaside resort called Hemlock Bay is about to live up to its somewhat sinister name. And a series of apparently unconnected events bring Rachel Savernake and her entourage to the resort.

Through diary entries, we learn that a man named Basil Palmer plans to kill Louis Carson although the two men have never met. Meanwhile, journalist Jack Flint is intrigued when he is visited by a man claiming to be a clairvoyant who claims that he has had a vision that a murder will be committed in a place called Hemlock Bay on the summer solstice. And finally, Rachel Savernake has recently bought a disturbing surrealistic painting titled Hemlock Bay which appears to feature a body draped over a rock on the beach.

It doesn’t take much to capture Rachel’s imagination and it isn’t long before she decides that she wants to know more about what’s going on in Hemlock Bay where she meets among other people the woman who painted the picture that inspired Rachel’s trip, a reclusive doctor named Seamus Doyle, as well as a man named Louis Carson. However, when murder does happen it isn’t on the summer solstice and the victim isn’t Louis Carson. The plot just thickened and is about to get a lot thicker again before Rachel figures out exactly what has been going on.

Hemlock Bay is a fascinating and captivating mystery. I was drawn in from the very first chapter and my interest didn’t flag until I had finished the full story and all the mysteries had been solved in a satisfying and fiendishly clever way. There is a lot going on in this golden age of mystery inspired story. We’ve got a locked room mystery, a fair number of red herrings, and plenty of clues there to be found for the ‘professional’ mystery reader/solver. For those of us who read too fast or too carelessly to pick up on (all) the clues, they are spelled out after the story has ended and they make it perfectly clear that Martin Edwards plays fair with his readers. Most importantly though, the recurring characters in these books are fascinating. Especially Rachel has captured my attention, just as she has captured Jack’s in the story. And like Jack, I’d love to discover more about her background and exactly how she became the woman she is. I can’t wait to read more titles in this series.

The Pyramid Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith

#3 Miss Clara Vale Mysteries

 Pages: 300

Publisher: Embla Books

Release Date: June 13, 2024

 

Blurb

A night at the museum, a dead body and a trail to Cairo. Sounds like a case for Miss Clara Vale!

1930: Miss Clara Vale, chemistry major turned detective, is taking a night off from sleuthing to attend the launch party of a new exhibition at the Hancock Museum in Newcastle. But when the piece de resistance, a rare ornate sarcophagus, is finally opened and it turns out the mummy inside it is a fake it looks like there is no rest for Clara after all...

Later that night, she is summoned back to the museum and asked to investigate a series of stolen Egyptian artefacts. Using her scientific and forensic prowess, Clara, with her trusted assistant Bella in tow, embarks on a trail that will lead from Newcastle to London and along the river Nile to Cairo.

But she is not the only person hunting for stolen antiquities and when she uncovers an international smuggling ring with a penchant for murder, it becomes clear that Clara's own life is in danger too.

Can Clara catch the smugglers before they get away with another murder among the pyramids?

Review

This is my second Miss Clara Vale Mystery. Last year I read and reviewed The Pantomime Murders. I ended that review with the words: ‘I’ve got a feeling I’ll be spending more time with Miss Clara Vale in the future’, and what do you know, just over six months later I find myself solving mysteries with the spunky lady investigator once again.

The year is 1930 and Clara, our heroine, has donated some of her deceased uncle’s Egyptian artifacts and papers to a local museum. But what should have been a joyous occasion soon turns sour when she discovers a mummy that is very recent as well as a selection of Egyptian jewels that shouldn’t even be in England, never mind in her local museum.

When she’s asked to investigate it isn’t long before she finds herself on a journey to Egypt where she soon encounters danger as the plot thickens.

There is so much to enjoy in this book. The mystery is intriguing, Clara Vale is a wonderful MC, as is Bessie her assistant and there isn’t a dull moment in the story. This story is properly set in 1930. For example, there is mention of Dr. Fleming and penicillin, the start of (commercial) air travel, and most delightfully, Agatha Christie makes an appearance when Clara is in Egypt. The author’s biography states that Fiona Veitch Smith is a huge fan of the Golden Age of Mystery stories, and her books show that clearly.

I love Clara Vale’s independence which was still rare and mostly unheard of in the early decades of the 20^th century.

The Pyramid Murders was well written and filled with detail without ever dragging. The characters are vivid, and the mystery is very well-plotted. Which means I’ll end this review as I did my review of The Pantomime Murders. I will be spending more time with Miss Clara Vale in the future. And while I wait for book #4 to be published, I'll go back and read The Picture House Murders, the first title in this series. 

Murder in a Country Village by F.L. Everett

An Edie York Mystery #2

318 pages

Publisher: Bookouture

Publishing Date: November 23, 2023

 

Blurb

England, 1941. With World War Two shaking the nation, rookie reporter Edie York wants to write the front-page news. But she ends up as the headlines when she stumbles over a body on the moors...

Eager to follow Churchill's order to keep calm and carry on, Edie York has left the bombed-out streets of Manchester behind for a stroll in the countryside. But her rationed picnic lunch turns to ashes in her mouth when she discovers Joyce Reid, a well-known anti-war activist, lifeless at the bottom of a cliff.

Despite infuriatingly handsome DCI Louis Brennan's less-than-amused warnings ringing in her ears, Edie is unable to leave the conscripted local bobby to do his work. Heading off to investigate, she immediately uncovers potential suspects galore. From alleged black-marketeers to the local land girl, a shell-shocked artist to Joyce's on-off lover, Edie is sure the murderer is right under her nose.

Then Edie makes another gruesome discovery, and realises she needs long-suffering Louis on the scene to officially investigate. Can they uncover the killer hiding in plain sight, before it's too late? Or will Edie's own obituary end up featured on the front pages she's coveted for so long...?

 

Review

I should start this review by saying that I haven’t read A Report of Murder, the first Edie York mystery, yet. While there are references to that first book in this story, I’m very happy that I never felt as if I missed out on vital information.

Murder in a Country Village is a charming, well-plotted, and fluently told mystery. It is also somewhat of a slow burner. While the first body is discovered fairly early on in the story it isn’t even qualified as anything other than an accident until well beyond the midway point of the book. Having said that, Edie has her doubts from the very start and can’t help but investigate both the death and the controversial community of pacifist artists Joyce, the victim was part of.

It isn’t until much later on in the story and Edie’s discovery of a second corpse that things speed up. That is also the moment when her friend, DCI Louis Brennan starts taking an active interest in the case.

There was quite a lot to enjoy in this story. Edie is a very likeable, be it at times exasperatingly impulsive, main character. It’s quite refreshing to encounter a DCI encouraging the amateur investigator to do more sleuthing rather than sternly forbidding them from such action. Edie’s roommate, her colleagues, her friends, and the girl she fell out with years earlier were all interesting and vividly described secondary characters. What’s more, Manchester and its surroundings during WWII made for a fascinating setting, just as the conflict between pacifists and the rest of the population added extra tension to the story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written and easy-to-read mystery. The crimes were enticingly mysterious, and the solution was satisfying. What’s more, the author played fair with the reader; the clues were there and I’m happy to say that Edie and I reached the same conclusion at more or less the same time. It’s highly probable that I will revisit Edie and Louis in the not-too-distant future.

 

Shot With Crimson by Nicola Upson

#11 Josephine Tey Mysteries

352 pages

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Publishing date: November 2, 2023

 

Blurb

 I will never understand why murder is considered such a lowbrow speciality in Hollywood.

September, 1939, and the worries of war follow Josephine Tey to Hollywood, where a different sort of battle is raging on the set of Hitchcock's Rebecca.

Then a shocking act of violence reawakens the shadows of the past, with consequences on both sides of the Atlantic, and Josephine and DCI Archie Penrose find themselves on a trail leading back to the house that inspired a young Daphne du Maurier - a trail that echoes Rebecca's timeless themes of obsession, jealousy and murder.

 

Review

 “The sky above our heads was inky black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.”

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

While I have to admit that I may have missed a title or two, I can honestly say that I have loved Nicola Upson’s Josephine Tey mysteries since I first read An Expert in Murder thirteen years (13!) ago. Right from the start I’ve loved Upson’s attention to detail, gentle voice, vivid descriptions, clever introduction of real historical figures, and perfectly plotted mysteries and Shot With Crimson was filled with all those qualities.

This isn’t the first Josephine Tey mystery featuring Alfred and Alma Hitchcock and fortunately, the first one, Fear in the Sunlight, is among the previous titles I have read (click the title for my thoughts on that book). The quote below, taken from that older review could have been written today for Shot With Crimson.

 In fact, there were times when I had to remind myself that I was reading a work of fiction featuring real historical figures. There is such detail in the descriptions in this story that it is quite possible to believe that all of it really happened.

Shot With Crimson starts with a prologue set in an English country house during WWI. The house is used as a hospital for wounded soldiers, and we are witness to a six-year-old Daphne du Maurier undertaking but not completing a task set by James, a medical orderly there.

Fast forward to the start of WWII and James is now a special effects artist working on Rebecca for Alfred Hitchcock. He is back at the estate where he worked two decades ago and discoveries about what happened then lead to him lashing out in the worst possible way.

When we meet James again, he is on his way back to America on the same boat as Josephine Tey who is on her way to visit her lover Martha in Hollywood. He is obviously distressed, and Josephine reaches out in the hope of calming him.

Meanwhile, back in England Josephine’s friend DCI Archie Penrose is sent to the country house to investigate the murder of a woman there.

Finding themselves on different sides of the Atlantic, Archie and Josephine are unaware that they are both dealing with the same case and, as they both dig deeper, the issue only becomes more complicated until it leads to its final, rather sad, conclusion.

For a long time, I thought this was the kind of story where the writer might have revealed too much information at the start of the book. Since I had read books by Nicola Upson before, I should have known better. Layer upon layer of secrets still waited to be exposed and absolutely nothing was quite as it seemed at first. In other words, this is a very cleverly plotted mystery.

Apart from Alfred Hitchcock, his wife Alma, and his daughter Pat, quite a few other famous people feature in this story: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, producer David O. Selznick, and du Maurier herself also make brief appearances. For film buffs, there was also quite a bit of detailed information about the making of a film in Hollywood in the late 1930s.

I loved the parallels between Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and the mystery. They added to the sense of realism and were all too plausible. As I said before, I had to remind myself occasionally that what I was reading was fiction.

Overall, I loved this book. The plot fascinated me, the writing was smooth, the conversations flowed naturally, and the mystery was intriguing, leaving me truly baffled before providing a very satisfying, be it devasting solution.

My final thought is less related to the book than the times we live in. Given how long it takes to write a book, edit it, and get it published, there is no way Nicola Upson could have known how shockingly appropriate the quote below would be for the times and events we live through right now.

 We think we’ve learnt our lessons from the past, but we never really get beyond an eye for an eye.

 

Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night by Sophie Hannah

 

New Hercule Poirot Mysteries #5

348 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release date: October 26, 2023

Netgalley

 

Blurb

 CAN HERCULE POIROT SOLVE A BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS?

It’s 19 December 1931. Hercule Poirot and Inspector Edward Catchpool are called to investigate the murder of a man in the apparent safe haven of a Norfolk hospital ward. Catchpool’s mother, the irrepressible Cynthia, insists that Poirot stays in a crumbling mansion by the coast, so that they can all be together for the festive period while Poirot solves the case. Cynthia’s friend Arnold is soon to be admitted to that same hospital and his wife is convinced he will be the killer’s next victim, though she refuses to explain why.

Poirot has less than a week to solve the crime and prevent more murders, if he is to escape from this nightmare scenario and get home in time for Christmas. Meanwhile, someone else – someone utterly ruthless – also has ideas about what ought to happen to Hercule Poirot . . .

 

Review

For decades, a Christie for Christmas was a given and something readers looked forward to. How delightful that this year we are once again given a seasonal Poirot mystery. Strictly speaking, this title isn’t a Christie, of course. But it is safe to say that without Christie, this book wouldn’t be available to us, so I’ll happily take it.

This is the fifth Hercule Poirot book by Sophie Hannah and it is as good and captivating as the prequels. What I like best about these new Poirot stories is that while Hercule Poirot is his irritatingly charming self, just as Christie created him, and the mysteries are as mystifying as Agatha’s were, Sophie Hannah didn’t attempt to copy or reproduce what has gone before. The most obvious sign of this is Poirot’s new sidekick, Edward Catchpool. I don’t know if he was created to be a combination of Inspector Japp and Captain Hastings, but that is certainly how he comes across to me, and it adds to the sense of continuation I get when I read these stories.

As for this story, the set-up was rather inspired and even after finishing the book I’m still not sure whether Catchpool’s mother asked Poirot to investigate a crime she was only marginally involved with because she wanted it solved for her friend’s sake or because she wanted to spend Christmas with her son. Unsurprisingly, we are faced with what appears to be an impossible murder which, to add to the confusion, is followed by a rather illogical reaction to it.

Reluctantly Poirot and Catchpool travel to the doomed mansion, determined to solve the crime as quickly as possible so that they may return to London in time for their planned Christmas celebrations. Once they arrive at their destination, our two investigators encounter a rather unusual household set-up, as well as an apparently motiveless murder.

I’m not convinced that Sophie Hannah plays as fairly with her readers as Agatha Christie herself did. Whereas with Christie, I often find myself slapping my forehead once the solution is explained, wondering how I could possibly have missed the clues given how (retrospectively) obvious they were, that didn’t really happen while reading Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night. While the guilty party could definitely be determined based on the information shared with the reader, the motive was (mostly) opaque (to me?).

I had one other minor quibble with something that was mentioned in this story. Google, unfortunately, wasn’t able to tell me how aware people in 1931 were of genetics in connection to longevity, but I would have thought ideas like that didn’t become common knowledge until a few decades later. I stand to be corrected.

Quibbles aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. I loved the interactions between Poirot and Catchpool. The behaviour and conversations of the other characters were delightfully weird and over the top, with Catchpool’s mother being in a league of her own when it comes to the lengths she’s willing to go to to get her way. Captivating from start to finish, this story kept me on my toes and provided me with two days of pure reading enjoyment.

When exactly can I have the next New Hercule Poirot mystery?

 

 

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman

 

 

288 pages

Publisher: Raven Books

Publishing Date: October 24, 2023

Netgalley

 

Blurb

'Any respectable practitioner must follow the rules in making the truth - however skilfully camouflaged by lies - accessible to all'

It's the Fourth of July weekend at the prestigious West Heart country club. Gathered for cocktails on the first evening are just some of the guests: the club president, the treasurer and his pregnant wife, the snooping school boy, the bereaved father, the taciturn caretaker, the prospective member, the private detective...

And there will also be a body.

And a fiendish mystery to solve.

But everything else is to play for.

And you are about to find out that you have a role to play in this mystery too..

West Heart Kill is an outrageously original and imaginative murder mystery that is both a love letter to the greats of classic crime fiction and a brilliant puzzle the likes of which you will never have read before.

 

Review

When a blurb states that the mystery in the book is ‘a brilliant puzzle the likes of which you will never have read before’ it is hard not to see that statement as a challenge. Therefore: challenge accepted. 😊

Brace yourself for a review filled with vagaries. So much of the plot depends on the things that make this story unique and surprising, and I wouldn’t want to ruin those discoveries for others. I do have a few things I want to say about the fascinating, original, surprising, and thought-provoking reading experience I just had, though.

The book starts with the narrator/author comparing West Heart Kill to all other murder mysteries. In fact, the book starts as if it hasn’t started yet, with the narrator describing what is happening, or going to happen, as if this is not the actual story yet but rather a description of what is to come. I’m going to stop relaying how the story is told soon, but I do want to add that the list of ‘dramatis personae’ has some parts of the description of individual characters blacked out. The text implies that the missing information would either tell the reader a lie or reveal too much.

I have to say a bit more about how this story is narrated after all because the second chapter is told from a first-person perspective, the third section shifts to the “we” of the first-person plural, and the book finishes as a play. Interspersed between the sections of murder mystery are apparently random theoretical facts about and opinions on murder mysteries and their authors. Except that nothing in this story turns out to be random. With one possible exception, although I can’t go into that. Which is probably just as well since I haven’t figured out how I feel about that yet.

If all of the above gives the impression that this book is anything but a mystery, allow me to reassure you. The components you’d expect in any whodunnit are all present here. We’ve got a private detective, deaths that need explaining, a locked room, and a closed circle of suspects, to mention a few familiar tropes.

But those are the bare bones. There is so much more going on. As an avid reader of the genre, I knew that everything on the page had to be in some way relevant to the mystery plot. And while a lot of what I read had me stretching my head in the moment, it all made a wonderful sort of sense when I reached the end of the book. If all you want from your mysteries is the traditional set-up of murder, followed by investigation, and denouement, this book may be too much for you. If, on the other hand, you enjoy discovering something new and being taken by surprise, you are going to love this story.

All too often the claim that the book a reader is about to start is unlike anything they’ve ever read before turns out to be a disappointing overstatement. Not this time. This time I fully agree with the last line of the blurb. West Heart Kill is indeed an

outrageously original and imaginative murder mystery that is both a love letter to the greats of classic crime fiction and a brilliant puzzle the likes of which you will never have read before.

All I know is that if ever a book deserved a re-read, this is it. I’m already anticipating how much fun I will have starting the story again but this time armed with the knowledge I’ll need to figure out exactly how immensely clever this work is. Because I’m sure I haven’t recognised the half of it.

 

 

 

 

 

Supper for Six by Fiona Sherlock

 

295 pages

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release Date: October 19, 2023

Netgalley

 

Blurb

When Lady Anderson invites five guests to her apartment in Bruton Square, Mayfair, none of the guests know why they have been summoned. And it isn't long before dinner turns DEADLY.

Supper for Six . . . but murder is on the menu

London, 1977: Agapanthus and Francois Langford, Jeremy Crowley, Elizabeth Chalice and Chrissy Crowley have very little in common - except for the fact they have all been summoned at fairly short notice to attend a dinner party hosted by Lady Sybil Anderson, in her rather charming and opulent apartment in Bruton Square, Mayfair.

Except each guests believes they are having a private dinner party with their host - so the other visitors are quite a surprise.

Once the awkward introductions are out of the way, a powercut sends shockwaves through the group - and when the lights come back on, Jeremy is discovered dead.

Elizabeth Chalice - the only private investigator in the group - becomes detective, witness and suspect all at once . . . Is Jeremy's death an accident - or is it the very reason they've all been called here at once?

A murderous Abigail's Party - Fiona Sherlock's Supper for Six is immersive and incredibly entertaining. Join Elizabeth Chalice on her quest to get to the bottom of this rather deadly dinner party . . .

 

Review

To say I’m conflicted about this book would be a gross understatement. I’ll try to explain why that is the case.

But, first things first… What the blurb doesn’t mention is that this case is presented in the form of a podcast, hosted by Felix Caerphilly, an investigative journalist who started looking into the case as a teenager in 1978 but doesn’t make his findings public until the present day.

The podcast format means that the whole set-up is rather high-octane. I get it, with a podcast you need to keep your listeners on edge so that they return for the next episode. While the same is true for chapters in a book—you want to write them in such a way that your reader keeps on turning the pages— the need for cliffhangers is bigger with a podcast, simply because the listeners have no option but to wait for the next episode to be launched.

But…there is such a thing as too much and too fast. A breather, a moment to reflect, every now and again would have been nice. As it was, this story felt chaotic. It went back and forth, repeating itself more than once while also suddenly springing new information on the reader, as if out of nowhere. It had a bit of an ‘everything bar the kitchen sink’ feel to it. One suggested solution seemed to be in the story only to make a (political) point rather than because it had any real relevance to the mystery in question. And finally, I had to suspend my disbelief a bit too far on one or two occasions. For obvious, spoiler related, reasons I can’t actually go into the details of exactly what didn’t feel right to me.

Having said all that, I can’t deny that I read the book in under 24 hours without ever feeling the urge to put it aside because of any of the ‘issues’ I mentioned above. It is definitely a story that keeps you racing through the pages as you try to keep up with the various revelations and possible outcomes. Every single character in this story has secrets they want to keep hidden and reasons to be less than truthful, which raises the stakes and therefore keeps the reader engrossed.

Maybe this is not the book for those who feel strongly about the level of realism they expect to find in their mysteries. However, if you’re in the mood for a fast-paced (turbo-charged) story that will hook you and keep you captivated until the very end, you’ll almost certainly be entertained by this book.

The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead

 

Joseph Spector #2

253 pages

Publisher: Head of Zeus

Release Date: October 12, 2023

Netgalley

 

Blurb

Illusionist turned sleuth Joseph Spector investigates a sinister conundrum at a 1930s theatre in this thrilling new mystery novel from Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror, one of Publishers Weekly's Mysteries of the Year 2022.

1938, London. Young lawyer Edmund Ibbs has a new client: a woman accused of shooting her husband in the already infamous 'Ferris Wheel Murder' case.

The case proves to be a web of conspiracy, and Ibbs himself is accused when a second suspicious death occurs, during a magic act at the crowded Pomegranate Theatre.

Also present at the theatre is Joseph Spector, illusionist turned highly respected sleuth. Spector begins to investigate the mystery, but when another body is discovered later that same night, all evidence points to Ibbs being guilty.

With time against him, and a host of hangers-on all having something to hide, can Spector uncover the guilty party, or will he and Inspector Flint of Scotland Yard conclude that Ibbs is the culprit after all?

 

Review

Earlier this year I read Death and the Conjurer (click for my review) and found myself eagerly anticipating the release of the second mystery featuring Joseph Spector. Well, the wait is over, and I have to say The Murder Wheel more than lived up to my very high expectations.

If you follow my reviews, you may have noticed I love mysteries. And if there is a hierarchy to my appreciation of mysteries, impossible/closed-room murders are at the top of my list. So, imagine my delight when I discovered that The Murder Wheel contains not one, nor two, but three such dilemmas. It is delightful when what appears to be impossible not only turns out to be feasible but also logical and so easy to understand after explanation that I want to slap my forehead for not having figured it out for myself. Better still, during the denouement, the author very kindly indicates what the clues were and where in the story they could (should) have been found.

I’m growing quite fond of the regular characters in these stories. Joseph Spector is a bit of an enigma. A retired stage magician, he now appears to spend most of his time in a pub which he treats more or less like his office. He appears to be an einzelgänger but does have a keen interest in people and there is very little he doesn’t notice and store away for future reference. Of course, making the main character and investigator of this series a retired magician is a stroke of genius. Who could be better equipped to see beyond the sleight of hand and recognise the ways in which the seemingly impossible can be pulled off?

Scotland Yard Inspector George Flint is the official investigator in these books and while it can certainly be said that Joseph Spector out-investigates him, he isn’t your stereotypical blundering yet arrogant policeman, far from it. He’s well aware of his limitations when it comes to these impossible crimes and what’s more, he is really invested in solving the cases which means he not only embraces but also seeks Spector’s assistance. He makes for a refreshing move away from a somewhat tired stereotype in mystery fiction.

This book offered a second refreshing aspect in Edmund Ibbs, a young lawyer and amateur magician. Most of the story is narrated from his perspective which means we get to observe Spector from more than one perspective. What’s more, his presence also means that we don’t get to see Spector as uniquely qualified to solve cases since Ibbs manages to solve at least one of the three cases on his own.

I really can’t praise this book and series enough. Well written, exquisitely plotted, and smoothly told, these Spector mysteries are a joy to read and come with satisfying and plausible—be it (almost) impossible to guess—solutions. Nothing short of spectacular!

I will be awaiting the publication of Joseph Spector #3 with a great deal of impatience and am delighted to discover that Tom Mead is already plotting the fourth instalment. 😊