Second set of books read March to June

 The next lot - in no particular order:

Linzi Day, Midlife in Gretna Green: This is one of those books where a woman at a crossroads in her life discovers she has inherited magic powers from a female relative. It’s a tight little genre, but certainly this is well done, complete with talking cat who reminds our heroine of Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey, and lots of laughs. Four percent in and I already wanted to kill Janet. Fortunately, she’s the main character’s boss, not the main character, and she’s clearly meant to be unpopular. The narrative cracks along smartly and Niki is very sympathetic. Forty percent in and I was itching to know (1) how she would deal with her new assistants and (2) what happened her husband. The house is a great character in itself, and the whole book forms a firm basis to start the series.

Mamie Philp, Mr. Murdoch is Dead: The main character, the narrator and investigator, is fairly sympathetic here and the plot jogs along well – a well-liked teacher at her old school is found dead, while one of the pupils is stabbed around the same time. I’d have liked a bit more actual conversation rather than ‘We agreed he was lying’ sort of statements – there’s a huge quantity of reported conversation which doesn’t portray the characters quite so well to me. The main character comes across instead as someone who principally communicates by the notes in her police notebook, but perhaps this was what the author intended. Still, aside from that this is very well written in an assured style, and the plot worked well.

Carmen Radtke, Blackmail and Broomsticks: Another lovely comfortable mystery in Willowmere and neighbouring town, with our witch, her familiar and her coven – and all the right food. I’m starting to come away from these books feeling hungry! Bex makes some serious progress in her personal life while starting to settle down in her professional role, while others around her have some revelations that I think might have an effect on the next book. Lots of fun – and now I need to go and have a snack.

Simon Brett, The Body on the Beach: Carole meets Jude in this, the first of the Fethering series, and is appalled and fascinated by her new neighbour with whom she plunges into investigating the murder of an elusive body on the beach. This gives us plenty of insights into the dreadful nature of Fethering society in its various layers and sensitivities, very amusingly portrayed as Carole and Jude gradually become friends.

Simon Brett, Death on the Downs: Carole happens on some bones in a ruined barn and becomes involved in the complex politics of a small village, in which Jude, as it happens, is also a player. I enjoyed Carole’s attempts to wield her feminine charms (probably more successfully than I would have) as she tries to sort out exactly who might know more about the bones, as the local policeman is far too closely connected with all that’s going on.

Simon Brett, The Torso in the Town: More social observation and delicate negotiation here in the third in the series. The police scarcely feature in this one while the ladies manage everything on their own in a town where everyone seems very willing to tell them everything – just not, quite, the everything Carole and Jude need to solve the case.

Simon Brett, Murder in the Museum: Carole has become a trustee at the museum in question, the carefully preserved family home of a fairly notable writer. His descendants are also on the board of trustees, which is blessed with the usual tricky characters and conflicting needs. When a body, which might date from the time of the writer, is found in the grounds, it’s time for Carole and her neighbour Jules to step in again and solve the mystery, while balancing the various demands of the possessive trustees. Though this has some nice insights into working in the heritage ‘industry’, it’s also another look at the relationship between Carole and Jules, made more awkward by the reappearance of an old flame of Jules’ who also involves himself in the case.

Simon Brett, The Hanging in the Hotel: A posh hotel run by an ex-model and old friend of Jude’s is the setting for two deaths, both solicitors, a supposed suicide and a supposed accident, but of course our ladies aren’t having any of that nonsense and persist in investigating, even when members of the Pillars of Sussex start queuing up to give them alibis.

Simon Brett, The Witness at the Wedding: Carole’s meeting with her son’s soon-to-be in-laws is complicated by the sudden murder of Gaby’s father. The family is not all they seem, and though there is a Sussex connexion there is more action in Essex and France in this book, and we find out a bit more about the mysterious Jude, too.

Margery Allingham, The Tiger in the Smoke: I’d never read this classic, nor anything else by Allingham. It’s more of a thriller than a whodunnit, and I’d like to go back now and read one of her earlier works. Set mostly in London in a dense fog, it is tremendously atmospheric and the characters are very richly drawn, if occasionally a bit overdone. My main gripe early on is that I found it hard to work out who was related to whom and how, but I think it might just be that I came late to the series. The plot wound together beautifully so that the coincidences seemed credible, even inevitable.

Just one more tranche!