What Judy’s book club doesn’t know about murder mysteries isn’t worth writing about. Nothing beats cracking a fictional case over some wine and salt and vinegar crisps. But can they put their puzzle-solving skills to the test when the local librarian dies in a real-life murder?
For widower Judy, her murder book club is the highlight of the month: she gets to hear all the local gossip and even discuss a good fictitious poisoning or two. But when local librarian Wendy disappears, Judy follows in the footsteps of her fictional detective heroes only to find her dead in her home, clasping a copy of Romeo and Juliet…
The police rule it a tragic accident, but Judy knows that her friend hated Shakespeare, and suspects foul play. Gathering her fellow book lovers together, soon they discover that several townspeople had motive to want Wendy dead. Was it Nigel from the tavern, who may have been Wendy’s secret boyfriend? Or could it be Bryan, the local bookshop owner, tangled in a bitter rivalry with the library?
The plot thickens at a charity murder mystery night held at Nigel’s tavern. Suddenly more murders come to light, both real and very badly staged. And when Nigel makes an astonishing revelation, the book club agree it’s a plot twist no-one saw coming. Can Judy and her book club solve the mystery before they too fall victim to a killer plot?
An utterly addictive and hilarious new cozy mystery series, perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood and Faith Martin.
Tracy started writing when her cruel, heartless husband ripped her away from her dream job – shopping for rollercoasters for the UK’s leading theme parks – to live in America with a brand new baby and no mates. In a cunning plan to avoid domestic duties and people who didn’t understand her Derbyshire accent, she wrote NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY.
It went on to become a No 1 bestseller and publishing phenomenon. So now Tracy has a new dream job, making people laugh and sometimes cry through her writing and has had many more novels published successfully around the world. She now lives back in Derbyshire with her now wonderful husband and two children!
Maggie Allswell is a pen name.
My thoughts: This was a fun new entry in the crimes solved by non-detectives genre (I refuse to call it cosy, crime isn’t cosy).
The Serial Killers Book Club are suspicious when their favourite librarian Wendy dies, police rule it suicide, but the messy crime scene and the copy of Romeo & Juliet make funeral director and book club member Judy suspicious.
She asks her fellow readers to help her solve the crime. Then her daughter introduces the gang to her new boyfriend – Frank. He’s a widower twice over and that sets off alarm bells all round. Could he be a killer?
The book club members are great fun, with a wide range of skills and knowledge between them – there’s even time for a bake off between two of them. And there’s a dog, which is always a bonus, as you may know I love a pet detective (usually canine or feline, although parrots are quite intelligent and might be good at crime solving, who knows?)
I look forward to the book club’s next case and seeing what they’ve been reading, I think I read a lot of the same books!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 