November 2024 Reads

A bit below my monthly average, but I thoroughly enjoyed the books I read during November. For some reason it completely escaped my attention that I read both the first and the latest book in the Lady Eleanor Swift series by Verity Bright. It's hard to believe we're getting close to Christmas and the end of the year. Before I do a reading round-up for the year, I've got a few more books to read first. If I posted longer or related reviews, the links can be found below.

A VERY ENGLISH MURDER (Lady Eleanor Swift #1) by Verity Bright (4*)

A fun, somewhat over the top but overall, very amusing and easy to read vanishing-corpse mystery. I’m looking forward to spending more time in early 20^th century England solving mysteries with Lady Eleanor, her butler Clifford, and her English bulldog Gladstone.

 

AGATHA CHRISTIE: A MYSTERIOUS LIFE by Laura Thompson NF (4.5*)

This was more than ‘just’ a description of Christie’s life. This biography also deep dives into her books, her writing, her storytelling powers, as well as the puzzles she created and solved. The author takes links and hints about Agatha’s life from her (mostly Mary Westmacott’s) fiction. All of it sounds plausible but none of it can be taken as fact since they are conclusions drawn by Laura Thompson and not biographical details provided by Christie herself. It is noteworthy that the author uses the word ‘elusive’ with regard to Agatha Christie given that Lucy Worsley titled her biography Agatha Christie: an Elusive Woman. This has been a most enjoyable bedtime read. Sure, at about eight pages per evening it took a looooong time read, but I wasn’t in a hurry. I’m going to miss my nighttime encounters with Agatha Christie.

 

LIAR’S ISLAND (CSI Ally Dymond #3) by T. Orr Munro (3.5*)

Two CSI investigators find themselves stranded on a small island with a tiny group of inhabitants, one of whom may well be a murderer. I enjoyed Liar’s Island and I’d call it a well-plotted and easy-to-read mystery that for me personally could have done with a little more tension and a little less personal backstory. My full review can be found here:  https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2024/11/liars-island-by-t-orr-munro.html

 

A MIDWINTER MURDER (Lady Eleanor Swift #20) by Verity Bright (4+*)

A delightful new instalment in the Lady Eleanor Swift series. The setting combined with the reclusive Earl who lives there create a wonderful contrast with the charming Christmas atmosphere Eleanor’s staff create in the gamekeeper’s cottage. Just as the mystery is wonderfully balances with the developing romance between Ellie and her Chief Inspector fiancé. My full review can be found here: https://helenasheat.blogspot.com/2024/11/a-midwinter-murder-by-verity-bright.html

 

OUT OF SIGHT (Second Sight #3) by K.C. Wells 4*

Detective Gary Mitchell and psychic Dan Porter tackle their third baffling case while their relationship continues to flourish. What should have been a cold-case investigation almost immediately turns active and takes them far out of their comfort zones in more ways than one. In the background runs the continuing unsolved mystery of Gary’s brother’s murder. Because this story arc stretches over all the books in this series, they should be read in order.

 

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE (Ernest Cunningham #1) by Benjamin Stevenson 4.5*

Gripping, well-plotted, and at times funny mystery in which the first-person narrator strictly follows the Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction as established during the Golden Age of Crime Writing. More than once I feared the story was trying to be too clever only for the ending of the story to prove that the plot was indeed that clever. I’m sorry now that I already read Everyone on This Train is a Suspect and Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret earlier this year. Not because they spoiled this book for me but because I’d love to be able to look forward to reading them.

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 Invitation by Verity Bright

 

A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #15

363 pages

Publisher: Bookouture

Release Date: September 27, 2023

Netgalley

 

Blurb

Lady Swift has been cordially invited to a huge royal celebration in Little Buckford to toast the King’s birthday… but wait, is that a body in the village hall?

Lady Eleanor Swift and her loyal butler Clifford are busy lending a hand with preparations for the big day. The grand dining room at Henley Hall is overflowing with home-sewn flags, paint and royal rosettes. Even Gladstone the bulldog and his new friend Tomkins the ginger cat are invited!

But just days before the event Mr Prestwick-Peterson, the chairman of the celebrations committee, is found dead in the village strangled with handmade red, white and royal blue bunting.

With the village hall in total disarray and a key part of the decorations missing, Eleanor wonders if someone dastardly is sabotaging the King’s birthday celebrations? Teaming up with her handsome beau Detective Hugh Seldon to question the local butcher, baker, and pub landlord it becomes clear that the meddlesome busybody Mr Prestwick-Peterson was not universally liked in charming Little Buckford. Indeed, the only mystery is why he wasn’t murdered before…

Searching Mr Prestwick-Peterson’s pristinely organised rooms, Eleanor is surprised to find a faded photograph of a beautiful young woman hidden within the pages of a novel. Could this be the key to untangling this very village murder? And can Eleanor catch the killer before the party is over for her, too?

 

Review

I have to start this review with a disclaimer: I did not read the 14 preceding Lady Eleanor Swift mysteries. Fortunately, I can also state that this did not leave me confused and that it didn’t affect my enjoyment of this story at all.

Quite the opposite in fact. There’s a lot to enjoy in this charming story. The characters and the interactions between them are vivid, interesting, and at times chuckle-worthy. The exchanges between Lady Eleanor and Clifford, her butler, are especially delightful. Just as those between Eleanor and her fiancé Detective Hugh Seldon often made me smile. Overall, I can honestly say there wasn’t a boring or superfluous character in this story, and that includes Gladstone the bulldog and Tomkins, the cat.

The mystery in this book was intriguing and well-plotted. The murder of a man universally disliked is always a great set-up and the fact that every possible suspect had the same, impossible to disprove, alibi, added greatly to the intrigue. When a second murder victim is discovered, the urgency of the investigation increases, especially since it is only days until the festivities to celebrate the King’s birthday are to take place. The solution surprised me, although I realised after I had it all spelled out for me that the clues I needed to figure it out for myself were all there. 😊

The one thing I found less charming was the thriller aspect near the end of the story. I don’t object to it being there, it just felt a bit (too) long in what was otherwise a delightful cozy mystery. Having said that, I can’t say it bothered me enough to put me off Lady Eleanor and I can definitely see myself reading other books in this series in the future.

To summarize: Murder by Invitation is a smoothly written, captivating cozy mystery featuring delightful characters and a well-plotted mystery.