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| Welcome to my Blog! Wander through worlds real and fictional, meet interesting people, visit exciting places and find good books to enjoy along the way! |
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| About the Book |
Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs, its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is, until the murder…
Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer.
She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.
But before they have a chance, the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the village’s famous river. His lover is in the frame, but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret… One that relates to Phoebe’s own past and Juno’s present.
Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury, as they soon discover, living one’s best midlife can be murder.
Purchase
Link - https://mybook.to/TheArtofMurdersocial
About the Author –
Fiona Walker is the million copy bestselling author of joyously funny romantic comedies. Most recently published by Head of Zeus, she will be turning to cozy crime for Boldwood. The first in her new Village Detectives series, The Art of Murder, will be published in May 2024.
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| my thoughts |
The two main characters, approaching an 'older age', are interesting people with intriguing background stories: Phoebe Fredericks, a previous well known journalist, is now a reclusive murder mystery writer who prefers her own company, while resenting her celebrity film star husband who is all too often away (and probably up to no good with pretty, film crew young assistants).
Widowed Juno Mulligan was once a stand-up comedienne, who is relocating from America back to her native England where her mother lives in a quaintly charming English village and is becoming romantically involved with someone whom Juno believes to be a wife-murderer. Juno talks a lot - much more than she listens - so frequently steamrollers others into doing what she wants without much opportunity to protest or back out of her unwelcome plans.
I must admit, I didn't like Juno much, I initially found her irritating although I did warm to her by the end, and I did struggle a little with a rather slow pace in places. The main plot was good, although Juno's mother, as a sub-plot, also irritated and the similarity of names caused some confusion for me sometimes, (especially on a Kindle where it isn't easy to look back at previous scenes.) By contrast, I did like Phoebe... a lot!
I didn't guess 'who did it' but were there enough clues along the way to set a clear path to the eventual reveal? I'm not sure there were, but this is the first of a new series so maybe my concentration was taken up by getting to know the characters rather than anything else?
I'll certainly try the second in the series when it is published as it'll be interesting to see how the author develops life (and murder) in the village.
**** 4 stars
next
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