#mystery – Page 9 – Avonna Loves Genres

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Murder at Midnight by Katharine Schellman

Murder at Midnight

by Katharine Schellman

September 18 – October 13, 2023 Virtual Book Tour

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for MURDER AT MIDNIGHT (Lilly Adler Mystery Book #4) by Katharine Schellman on this Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Enjoy!

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Book Description

When a body is found shot to death after an unexpected snowstorm, Lily Adler quickly realizes that some people will stop at nothing to bury their secrets.

Regency widow Lily Adler is looking forward to a quiet Christmastide away from the schemes and secrets she witnessed daily in London. Not only will she be visiting the family of her late husband; she will be reunited with Captain Jack Hartley, her friend and confidante, finally returned after a long voyage at sea.

But secrets aren’t only found in London. Jack’s younger sister, Amelia, is the center of neighborhood scandal and gossip. She refuses to tell anyone what really happened, even when an unexpected snowstorm strands the neighborhood families together after a Christmas ball. Stuck until the snow stops, the Adlers, Hartleys, and their neighbors settle in for the night, only to be awakened in the morning by the scream of a maid who has just discovered a dead body.

The victim was the well-to-do son of a local gentleman–the same man whose name has become so scandalously linked to Amelia’s.

With the snow still falling and no way to come or go, it’s clear that someone in the house was responsible for the young man’s death. When suspicion instantly falls on Jack’s sister, he and Lily must unmask the true culprit before Amelia is convicted of a crime she didn’t commit.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75257471-murder-at-midnight?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=D44aHYQhaq&rank=5

Murder At Midnight

Genre: Historical mystery
Published by: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: September 2023
Number of Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781639104321 (ISBN10: 1639104321)
Series: A Lily Adler Mystery, 4

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

MURDER AT MIDNIGHT (Lily Adler Mystery Book #4) by Katharine Schellman is another delightfully engaging addition to the Lily Adler Mystery series. This Regency historical mystery series features an independent young widow amateur sleuth who is once again called upon to assist in solving a murder. All the books in this series can easily be read as standalone mysteries.

Lily Adler is happy to be in Hertfordshire for the holiday season visiting with her late husband’s family. When they attend a country ball, Lily is happy to see her friend Captain Jack Hartley and his younger sister Amelia, but there is an undercurrent of side looks and gossip surrounding Amelia and a handsome gentleman also at the ball. She refuses to confide in her family, and hopes everything will blow over, until the gentleman in question is found dead in the snow outside the rear door shot in the head.

With the guests trapped by a snowstorm, Lily offers to help her magistrate brother-in-law investigate the murder. She believes in Amelia’s innocence, but she also knows she is hiding secrets and she is not the only one. Will Lily be able to discover the murderer from among the stranded group of guests, or will she find herself buried deep in the snow?

I really enjoy the independent Lily, her interesting personal life since coming out of mourning, and her inquisitive nature that is irrepressible. All the secondary characters are fully developed. The mysteries are paced perfectly between the discovery of the crime and the always exciting climax as well as being full of twists and red herrings that keep me guessing. The research is evident in the description of clothes and the depiction of etiquette and mores. I look forward to each new book in this series.

I highly recommend this captivating Regency historical mystery and all the previous books in this series.

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Excerpt

Lily sat bolt upright. Where had the sound come from? It hadn’t been loud . . . another part of the house? For a moment, in the pressing silence, she wondered if she had drifted back to sleep without realizing it and imagined the whole thing.

But a moment later, the sounds of a commotion rose just outside her window. Lily dashed to the window, throwing it open with some effort and peering out into the swirl of snow and early- morning light.

The guest room she had been given was one of the smaller ones—the better to quickly heat rooms that hadn’t been prepared in advance—and as was typical for such rooms, it lacked a pretty view. Hers looked over what she realized after a moment must be the poultry yard. Darkly clad figures who she could guess were servants stumbled through the thick layer of snow that had fallen, trying to reach the two people in the middle of the yard.

One Lily could see from her vantage only as a still, upright figure, hand outstretched and pointing toward the second person, who lay sprawled on the ground. The one on the ground was half covered by the ice and snow, unmoving.

Lily grabbed the dressing gown from the chair, pulled on her shoes, and ran from the room. In the hallway, a few guests were poking their heads out of their doors, hair tousled and faces creased with sleep, inquiring grumpily if anyone had heard an odd noise.

Lily didn’t stop to consider propriety or worry about what anyone else might think before she yelled “Jack!” as loudly as she could. She didn’t know which room he had been given, but a moment later, a door past the stairs was flung open and the navy captain’s head appeared.

“What is it?” he demanded. He was already dressed and wearing his driving coat over his clothing. That was odd at such an early hour, but Lily didn’t have time to be surprised.

“Downstairs.” In spite of the months they had spent apart, Lily knew she could depend on him to understand and act quickly. “Something happened. We have to help.”

And in spite of those months apart, he didn’t stop to ask questions. More guests were emerging, summoned by Lily’s shout, and questions were beginning to fly back and forth as she dashed down the stairs, Jack on her heels.

They didn’t need to wonder where to go; on the floor below, Mrs. Grantham was following a stately-looking woman who might have been the housekeeper or another upper servant. Their pace was just barely too dignified to be a run, but they couldn’t hide their worry as they disappeared down the steps to the kitchen. Lily and Jack hurried after them.

The servants’ staircase was narrow and cold. At the bottom, servants clustered in the kitchen, talking in shrill, anxious voices as the cook tried to keep some order. The underservants glanced uneasily at Lily and Jack as they came into the kitchen, but no one seemed to know what to do or say. The door to the yard had been left wide open, and the wind blew in gusts of snow and icy morning light. Outside, more servants were gathered, though they parted like a wave as the housekeeper led Mrs. Grantham out to see what had happened.

As Lily and Jack tried to follow, they were stopped by the frail but determined body of the butler, who interposed himself between them and the open door. “Madam, sir, perhaps you would care to return to your rooms? Breakfast will be ready shortly.”

Jack drew himself up, clearly prepared to use his rank to push his way past the aging servant. Before he could say anything, though, and before Lily could think how to reply, Mrs. Grantham turned sharply.

“What is . . .” She trailed off, eyeing Lily and Jack with trepidation. She looked ready to send them on their way with some commonplace assurance. But half a dozen emotions chased their way across her face in that moment, and she instead asked, “Mrs. Adler, how many of the rumors about you are true?”

“That depends on the rumors,” Lily replied calmly, though her heart was pounding. Behind Mrs. Grantham, she could see the limbs of the eerie, still figure sticking out of the snowbank. “Though if you refer only to the ones that are most relevant at this moment . . .” She turned her gaze pointedly toward the body in the snow. “There is indeed some truth to them.”

Mrs. Grantham hesitated, then seemed to make up her mind in a rush. She stepped aside, pulling the confused housekeeper with her. There were boots for the servants lined up next to the door, crusted with mud from repeated use. Lily pulled off her delicate evening slippers, slid her bare feet into the pair that looked closest to her size, and followed as she and Jack were ushered into the yard, their eyes fixed on what awaited them there.

A man dressed in borrowed clothes, his skin white with cold, his hair thick with clumps of ice and snow. He could have fallen, hit his head, been caught in the storm and frozen. He could still be alive, in need of help. He could have had an innocent reason for being out in the storm.

He could have. But this close, Lily could see the snow that had been kicked aside and trampled by half a dozen feet in the servants’ frantic attempts to clear it away. The icy powder was too thick on the ground for her to see the mud of the yard. But it was still stained with red and brown from where the man’s life had leaked away in the night.

The once-snowy linen of his shirt was stained the same color, jagged and torn from the bullet that had ended his life. The gun that had fired it had been unearthed beside him, as snow-logged as his own body. The man’s frozen eyes and mouth were wide open, as though he had not believed until the last moment that whoever had faced him in that yard could be capable of the shot that had ended his life.

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Author Bio

Katharine Schellman is a former actor and one-time political consultant. These days, she writes the Lily Adler Mysteries and the Nightingale Mysteries. Her books, which reviewers have praised as “worthy of Agatha Christie or Rex Stout” (Library Journal, starred review), have received multiple accolades, including being named a Library Journal Best Crime Fiction of 2022, a Suspense Magazine Best Book of 2020, and a New York Times editor’s pick in June 2022. Katharine lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, children, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering.

Social Media Links

www.KatharineSchellman.com
Goodreads
BookBub – @KatharineSchellman
Instagram – @katharinewrites
Facebook – @katharineschellman

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | Penguin Random House

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KINGSUMO GIVEAWAY

https://kingsumo.com/g/lzwu7x/murder-at-midnight-by-katharine-schellman-bookshoporg-gift-card

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah

Book Description

The latest installment in Darci Hannah’s delicious Beacon Bakeshop Mystery series set in small-town Beacon Harbor, Michigan, featuring a baker heroine who lives in the local lighthouse with her beloved Newfoundland dog, Wellington.

Lindsey prefers to keep her bakeshop’s Halloween decor light and autumnal, rather than gruesome and ghoulish. But everyone knows her lighthouse home is haunted. Some intrepid teens have even tried to break in to witness the resident ghost themselves. Dreading Halloween night, Lindsey reluctantly allows her influencer and podcaster best friend, Kennedy, to host a live ghost hunting investigation in the lighthouse, conducted by a professional team. Protective of her ghost, Lyndsey is understandably nervous about what they might uncover . . .

The segment is uneventful—until things take a terrifying turn. The team freaks out. As Kennedy joins the mad dash outside, she bumps into what looks like the prankster teens’ creepy clown costume hanging from a tree. But when Lindsey’s dog, Wellington, begins to whine, they make a grim discovery: the clown is no dummy. It’s a corpse.

Now Lindsey and company will need to keep their cool if they want a ghost of a chance to solve the murder—and see another Halloween . . .

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Elise’s Thoughts

Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant by Darci Hannah is a good book for the Halloween season since many are already decorating their houses. This Halloween atmosphere has ghosts, goblins, pranksters, costumes, pirates, clowns, and dogs in costume along with professional ghost hunters.

The plot has the main character, Lindsey, renovating an old lighthouse, for her home and bakery. In the story the Halloween festivities include Lindsey having in her bakery a lot of pumpkin-flavored treats. Lindsey has also reluctantly agreed to let her best friend, Kennedy, do her live podcast from the lighthouse with professional ghost hunters. But things go sideways after they all stumble upon a fresh corpse in Lindsey’s yard. First, they thought it was teens doing a prank, a clown as a dummy, but it’s a corpse. With the help of her friends and her resident ghost they strive to find the murderer.

The mystery has many tricks and treats that include twists and turns. The action leaps from the pages. One of the treats the author gives her readers is the delicious seasonal recipes included at the back of the book.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?

Darci Hannah: This is the fourth book I have written in the series. I have the setting in Michigan. I love to bake, and my youngest brother bought a bakery, so I incorporated a bakery and lighthouse into the series. I wanted to be a paranormal writer, so I slip some of this into my writing. When I started this series, I thought of a haunted lighthouse tale within a cozy mystery. I always visit a lot of lighthouses. I came to realize a lot of lighthouses have a history and a story about lingering lightkeepers. In this series the lighthouse has a history and a ghost story. Lindsey, the protagonist lives in the haunted lighthouse and has developed a working relationship with this lighthouse ghost.

EC: Was any of this real?

DH: A lot of the techniques of the ghosts I use are from real lighthouses here in Michigan. People see eerie green lights which I incorporated in this story. There are a lot of shipwrecks here. Because I did dive on shipwrecks, I included it in the story.

EC: What is the role of Halloween?

DH: It was great fun to write a Halloween theme. The idea came from my publisher. There are pirates, the Wizard of Oz comes into it with the costume of a straw headed person. The “Pumpkin Pageant” had people dressed in costume along with their pets. Everyone in the bakery owned by the protagonist dressed in a theme costume. There is also a pumpkin carving contest.

EC: Was Wellington, Lindsey’s dog based on a real dog?

DH: Yes, I love dogs so there are a lot of dogs in my story. Wellington is Lindsey’s dog. He is a Newfoundland because I had a dog of that breed. He is the perfect dog for a lighthouse because they are big water dogs. He has freedom and space now. He also loves to fish.

EC: How would you describe Lindsey?

DH: She has a financial background. She is practical, wants to make people happy, is pretty, and caring. She is from New York City and has moved to a Michigan small town. She has her mother’s looks and her father’s brain. She is not a social media person, more private.

EC: How would you describe her boyfriend, Rory?

DH: He is an ex-Navy SEAL who is a conglomerate of some of my friends. He is a woodsy outdoorsman. The whole state shuts down in November during deer season. I wanted to put this cultural piece of Michigan into Rory’s character. He is very protective, kind, funny, intense, and a good diver. Together they are an item and are attracted to each other. She sees him as intriguing. They respect each other a lot.

EC: The next book?

DH: The next book in the series continues the holiday theme. It is titled Murder at the Blarney Bash, a St. Patrick’s Day book, but coming out in January. The plot has a new Irish import store being opened by Rory’s uncle and cousin. There will be a Leprechaun in the story.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Feature Post and Book Review: The Auschwitz Detective by Jonathan Dunsky

Book Description

The boy was murdered in Auschwitz. The killer isn’t a Nazi.

Poland, 1944: Adam Lapid used to be a police detective. Now he’s a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz.

Reduced to a slave after losing his family in the gas chambers, Adam struggles to find a reason to carry on living.

But when a boy is found murdered inside the camp, Adam is given the chance to be a detective again.

Ordered to discover the identity of the killer, Adam must employ all his wits to solve the mystery while surviving the perils of Auschwitz.

And he’d better catch the killer soon because the punishment for failure is death.

Readers of murder mysteries and historical fiction will be thrilled by The Auschwitz Detective.

The Auschwitz Detective is a prequel and can be read before the other books in the Adam Lapid series.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55290283-the-auschwitz-detective?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=GJZuI1MA9u&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE AUSCHWITZ DETECTIVE (Adam Lapid Mysteries Book #6) by Johnathan Dunsky is a historical fiction/crime mystery set in 1944 in Auschwitz. The mystery features former Hungarian police detective Adam Lapid while he is in the death camp and coerced into solving the murder of a young inmate. There are five previous books in this series, but this one is a prequel to his life as a P.I. in Israel after the war and is very raw and candid in its depiction of life in Auschwitz. This book is easily read as a standalone story.

Transported to Auschwitz in 1944, Hungarian police detective Adam Lapid loses his entire family to the gas chambers and is struggling to find a reason to go on. When a young man is found murdered, not by the guards in the camp, Adam is ordered to find the killer in three days or lose his own life.

This book is such a difficult book to read with the descriptive depravity laid bare that is usually somewhat glossed over in other WWII stories when they discuss life in the death camps. That said, there are small depictions of humanity and friendship intertwined throughout the story as well as an engrossing murder mystery. The research involved and carried over to the writing of this story is evident.

After reading this story, I am going to move on to book one in the series from here. I believe this book will give me a greater understanding of Adam Lapid’s character in 1950’s Israel.

I highly recommend this historical fiction/crime mystery for a more in-depth though fictional look at life in Auschwitz.

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About the Author

Jonathan Dunsky is the author of the Adam Lapid historical mysteries series. The first five books take place in the early days of the State of Israel and feature private investigator Adam Lapid, a Holocaust survivor and former Nazi hunter. The sixth novel, The Auschwitz Detective, is a prequel that takes place in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the summer of 1944.

Dunsky has also written a standalone crime thriller called The Payback Girl, in addition to publishing a number of short stories, in various genres.

He resides in Israel with his wife and two sons.

You can download one of his short stories for free at http://jonathandunsky.com/free/

Social Media Links

Website: https://jonathandunsky.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JonathanDunskyBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JonathanDunsky

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jonathan-dunsky

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Robert B. Parker’s Bad Influence by Alison Gaylin

Book Description

Boston PI Sunny Randall investigates the dark side of social media in this exciting new thriller in the bestselling series.

Sunny Randall’s newest client, Blake, seems to have it all: he is an Instagram influencer, with all the perks the lifestyle entails—a beautiful girlfriend, wealth, and adoring fans. But one of those fans has turned ugly, and Sunny is brought on board by Blake’s manager, Bethany, to protect him and to uncover who is out to kill him. In doing so, she investigates a glamorous world rife with lies and schemes…and ties to a dangerous criminal scene.

When Bethany goes missing and the threats against Blake escalate, Sunny realizes that in order to solve this case, she has to find out exactly who Blake and Bethany are, behind the Instagram filters. While digging into their pasts, she is also forced to confront her own, as old friends—and ex-husbands—reappear. With a combination of old-school crime-solving skills and modern internet savvy, Sunny will stop at nothing to catch a killer.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Robert B. Parker’s Bad Influence by Alison Gaylin brings to life his character Sunny Randall. Those who have read Gaylin in the past know she loves to have twisted endings that are very intense. This story is not any different as she takes readers on a roller coaster ride.

In this story Gaylin includes many of Sunny’s supporting characters and attempts to bring her into the modern world. Bethany Rose hires Sunny to protect one of the most popular influencer couples. She offers the services of her influencer couple, Blake James, and Alena Jade, to help Sunny’s BFF Spike gain new customers for his bar and restaurant. Bethany is willing to do it on gratis if Sunny finds out who is sending threatening messages to the couple.

Sunny must come to terms with social media as she tries to figure out who is the stalker. The problem is she must get up to speed because she did not use any online forums. Now she uses it as a tool to research her clients. She is trying to understand how people can base their entire careers on letting strangers into their personal lives.

She can be stubborn at times and is trying to figure out where she stands emotionally.

This mystery/thriller is riveting, and the readers also can learn about the world of influencers, which makes the story even more fascinating.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why write a Parker character?

Alison Gaylin: I have been a longtime fan of the Robert B. Parker books, although I did not read any of the Sunny books. I was offered to write twenty pages and thought this is a terrific opportunity. I had this idea regarding influencers. A month later I heard I got the job and will be writing a second book.

EC: Did you change anything regarding style?

AG: I tried to stay as loyal to Parker as I best I could. His style is different than my style with more dialogue, shorter chapters, and I have a little more internal dialogue. I did try to make it as “Parkeresque” as I could. All the supporting characters of his was like being given a toolbox to make some furniture. There is her good friend Spike, her father, her ex-husband Ritchie, his mob dad, and her dog Rosie. Parker books had more humor than I usually put but I wrote more intensity, especially at the end.

EC: Did you make any imprint on the Sunny character?

AG: It will always be a little different when a woman writes the character. It is a pleasure to be the first woman to write Sunny. I think the way women move through the world and relate to other women is different. In a lot of his books, she called in for help, but in this book during the climactic scene I had her do it on her own.

EC: How would you describe Sunny?

AG: Funny, tough, smart, strong, loyal, but vulnerable. She never let’s go of relationships. She had this dog Rosie who passed away and she got the same kind of dog and named it the same. She does not love change very much. She has been divorced from her ex-husband for years but still has feelings for him and they still maintain a relationship. Sunny is a solid person. In her profession as a private investigator, she is reckless, observant, and calm. She is in her late thirties. She is very good with a gun.

EC: Jesse Stone, another character of Parkers’ is mentioned on the page but does not appear?

AG: Sunny dated him for a while when Mike Lupica was writing this series. But in the last book, Revenge Tour, he broke them up. I decided they probably did not have a lot of contact now. He is still writing the Jesse Stone books and he has Jesse involved with someone else so I cannot write an alternative reality.

EC: What was the role of Rosie?

AG: She is a great companion for Sunny. I love dogs so Rosie will be in a lot of the stories. In this book Rosie is the go between for Sunny and her client, Blake, who she is guarding. His attitude towards Rosie showed a side to Blake readers would not otherwise see, caring and vulnerable. He was deprived of owning a dog during his childhood.

EC: Blake, Athena, and Bethany represent what?

AG: They are involved with the influencing world, and I wanted to show how things are not as they appear to be on social media and Instagram. As the book progresses there is more of a filter that will change people’s perception of them.

EC: Why influencers?

AG: I find them fascinating because I see them as a con. Everything is filtered and photoshopped. They have created a character of who they hope to be, not who they are. The goal is to be aspirational, not real. There is an element of artificiality. I thought how Sunny as a single woman in her late thirties she would have a social media imprint. But she does not, and I wondered why. Although she does find it fascinating. I think she wonders if followers have a mind of their own and maybe thinks of influencers as the modern-day commercials/advertisements. The influencers are getting paid with a lot of free products. Commercials have lost their power because people fast-forward them, so influencers have taken their place. They have a whole different level of fame.

EC: Idea for the mystery?

AG: I saw a Netflix documentary on con artists. This inspired me for the book, the different layers to the characters. The essence of the book is that these people were someone who they did not appear to be.

EC: Where are you going with the Sunny/Ritchie relationship?

AG: I put it to the test by having him move to New Jersey, six hours away. It has been on again/off again. Will absence make the heart grow fonder or will she decide to be on her own and independent? She relied a lot on his family. I put more change on her.

EC: Next books?

AG: The next Sunny book should come out this time next year. There is no title. It might involve the Energy Drink king who goes missing and Sunny is hired by his father.

For my next book, the tentative title is We Are Watching, out next summer. A normal family is targeted by a cult like group of conspiracy theorists.

THANK YOU!!

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Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Beach Hut Murders by Peter Boland

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE BEACH HUT MURDERS (The Charity Shop Detective Agency Book #2) by Peter Boland on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Book Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

It’s almost summer in Southbourne and the ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency are ready for another season of sun, sea and . . . murder.

Amongst the rows of charming brightly painted cabins, an elderly man’s beach hut is set on fire in the middle of the night — while he slept inside.

By day, Fiona, Sue and Daisy volunteer at the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop. But, by night, they investigate crimes. And they’re determined to get to the bottom of this murder.

Malcolm Crainey was a bit of an eccentric, but he was harmless really. Who would want to kill him?

The ladies soon uncover a long list of possible suspects. Neighbours who hated Malcolm for refusing to swap huts. Members of the snobby beach hut association who took umbrage with Malcom’s quirky beachcombed cabin decorations.

Then another hut is burned down in the dead of night. Thankfully there was no one asleep inside this time. But the pressure is on — can Fiona, Sue and Daisy find the culprit before the beach hut murderer strikes again?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/181440983-the-beach-hut-murders?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=3grkwlQ1SM&rank=1

BOOKS BY PETER BOLAND

THE CHARITY SHOP DETECTIVE AGENCY MYSTERIES SERIES:

THE CHARITY SHOP DETECTIVE AGENCY
THE BEACH HUT MURDERS

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE BEACH HUT MURDERS (The Charity Shop Detective Agency Book #2) by Peter Boland is an engaging amateur sleuth cozy mystery and the second book in The Charity Shop Detective Agency series. This series features three senior volunteers at the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop who also work together to solve murders in the small English town of Southbourne. This book, even though it is the second in the series, is easily read as a standalone.

Summertime in Southbourne has residents looking to cool down on Mudeford Spit. People day trip in to use the beach and there are also several beach huts for those who can afford them. One night a beach hut burns to the ground and the resident is saved, but later dies of smoke inhalation. The Spit’s liaison officer hires the Charity Shop Detectives to find out who committed the arson that led to the death.

As the ladies investigate, there are many leads, but they all lead to dead ends and the CCTV is no help either. When another hut is burned, they are happy to find their new friend was not home, but they are still stuck with no hard evidence. When a third hut burns and almost kills a couple with their two children, the ladies are desperate for a breakthrough and take desperate measures which could end their sideline as detectives.

I enjoyed this outing of the Charity Shop Detectives more than the first. Fiona, Sue, and Daisy are all delightfully quirky and individually unique with just the right skillset when they come together to investigate clues and solve their cases. The secondary characters are just as fun, and the dialogue is witty. I feel the plot is intriguing and well-paced, the red herrings and twists are well placed and kept me guessing throughout. I was surprised by the conclusion and by the epilogue even more so.

I recommend this cozy mystery for an engaging amateur sleuth cozy mystery read.

***

Author Bio

After studying to be an architect, Pete realised he wasn’t very good at it. He liked designing buildings, he just couldn’t make them stand up — a big handicap in an industry that’s partial to keeping things upright. So he became an advertising copywriter, the highlight of which was creating an ad featuring Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. He then tried his hand at writing his own stories and quickly realised there’s no magic formula. You just have to put one word in front of the other (and keep doing that for about six months). It also helps if you can resist the lure of surfing and drinking beer in a garden chair.

Social Media Links

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Fatal Legacy by Lindsey Davis

Book Description

An unpaid bar bill leads Flavia Albia to her most bitter and complex case yet.

Decades earlier Appius Tranquillus Surus wrote his will: it freed his slaves and bequeathed his businesses to them. He left an orchard to the Prisci, a family he was friendly with, on the condition that his freedmen could still take its harvest.

The convoluted arrangement has led to a feud between the two families, each of which has its own internal strife. Endless claims and counterclaims lead to violence and even death. Lawyers have given up in exasperation as the case limps on. The original will has disappeared, along with a falsified codicil – and might there be another one?

But is there a solution? Two youngsters from each side of the divide, Gaius Venuleius and Cosca Sabatina, have fallen in love, which could unite the feuding families. There is only one problem: were Sabatina’s grandmother and father really liberated in the Surus will? If not, the stigma of slavery will stop the marriage and the dispute will rage on forever.

Reconciliation seems impossible, but Albia will try. Her investigation must cut through decades of secrets, arguments, lies and violence to reach a startling truth.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Fatal Legacy by Lindsey Davis is the 11^th book in the Flavia Albia series. It takes place during the First Century in Rome.

The plot has Flavia Albia, the daughter of Marcus Didius Falco, taking over her father’s business as a private informer. She only has two hard and fast rules – avoid political and family cases because nothing good comes of either of them. Unfortunately, since Albia isn’t good at avoiding either, it’s really more of a guideline. So, when her Aunt Junia demands Albia track down a couple of deadbeats who owe her money, it’s an offer Albia can’t refuse.

It turns out to be a relatively easy job, requiring only some half-hearted blackmail, and it leads to some new work – tracking down some essential paperwork for the debtor family. But nothing is truly easy in Rome – if Albia doesn’t find the paperwork that proves that family’s ancestor was a properly freed slave, the family could lose everything. The more she digs, the more skeletons she finds in their closet, until murder in the past leads to murder in the present. Now, it’s serious, even deadly, and Albia has precious little time to uncover the truth.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?

Lindsey Davis: After writing twenty books in my much-loved Falco Roman detective series, I fought to be allowed a new direction. ‘Master and God’ examined the reign of the paranoid emperor Domitian, which I then used as a new, darker background to extend my Roman detective idea – only this time using a female protagonist. After twenty years, I felt that readers were more familiar with Rome than when I started, so I could now face them with a woman’s life in the Golden City. I thought this would be a refreshing nuance, good for me as a writer too.

EC: How did you get the idea for the character Flavia Albia?

LD: She was originally seen in a Falco story that was set in Roman Britain; I made her a tragic survivor of the Boudiccan Rebellion. Falco and his wife rescued her and brought her to Rome, adopting her as a daughter. Then I realized that I had created an interesting, very feisty character. In the Falco series I had great fun showing her as a troubled adolescent, but very perceptive about the new society she has joined.

EC: How did you get the idea for this story?

LD: It starts with a small everyday event, when two people fail to pay their bill for lunch. Albia is called in to chase them down and retrieve the money – so first, I had to work out how she might do that as a debt collector. She is hired to find some family documents. Slowly, lives are explored, leading into an extraordinarily complex family saga, covering several generations, and every kind of trouble that might afflict warring relatives. It’s a kind of mad soap opera plot, where eventually everything is found to lock together. Behind the events we laugh at, however, is a poignant discussion of ancient slavery: how it worked in a domestic situation, the vital importance of acquiring freedom, then the terrible consequences if someone who believed they were free could not prove it, or were they mistaken. I knew that if Albia could not provide a happy legal solution, she would have to obtain justice for the victims.

EC: Can you please describe Flavia?

LD: she is smart, determined, cynical. And a London Street urchin, but she is also the beneficiary of a good Roman education. She gives us a new perspective from that of the true Roman. Falco: sees Rome as a woman, an outsider, and someone who must fight hard to be accepted. She has a wild courage. And although no longer a scavenger herself, she never forgets how it felt, which gives her profound sympathy for others who are suffering or under threat of losing everything. Privilege will not spoil her. She has been slow to trust her new security, but I think she’s got there.

EC: Why the Roman Empire for the setting in the 1^st Century?

LD: Because my first Roman novel was about the Emperor Vespasian and his mistress, Antonia Caenis (The Course of Honor). I came to know that period, then Vespasian’s accession after the madness of the Julio-Claudians made a suitable background for Falco, also striving to impose some order on the world he lives in. There is surviving Latin literature from this period, and of course the time capsule of the Vesuvius eruption. And I use archaeology as my starting point; there has been lots of good information discovered during my lifetime. That is still continuing, which keeps up the interest.

EC: How did Flavia grow since the first book in the series?

LD: She found mature true love, primarily. She stabilized, and accepted domesticity, where she takes responsibility for others and ruefully sees herself, with Tiberius, as the sensible center of a household and a family business. It makes her even angrier about anything that threatens the peace of people’s domestic environment and their right to personal ambitions. After a bad start in life and the tragic end of her youthful first marriage, she now accepts that even she may be allowed happiness.

EC: What role did women play in the Roman Empire?

LD: Much, much more than men have always said! Never mind the small aristocracy, who were as different and peculiar then as they are now (though not always: Vespasian was heavily influenced by his grandmother, mother, and obviously Caenis). It is evident from tombstones and inscriptions that in most of Roman society, women, especially as part of a domestic couple, were equal partners in the basic family unit. They were not supposed to go to law (but could do so) yet they could hold their own property, run businesses, and their influence is greater than the old established view. I am having fun exploring how females could fight what was supposed to be a patriarchal system. Sadly, the one profession that doesn’t seem to have been open to them is my own: we know of no successful female novelists!

EC: Did you intentionally make this story not as gruesome as the last?

LD: Yes. Absolutely. ‘Desperate Undertaking’ was based on known examples of horrible events on the Roman stage; some readers loved it, but I know some felt squeamish. I’m none too keen on live deaths in theatre myself. So next, I set out to write a story where it might appear nobody had died by foul play at all; I even make a running joke about the lack of a body. Of course, in the end it turns out that this is not the case, because in a crime novel there has to be murder. In fact, there are two killings, but one was a long time ago and the other happens very quickly!

EC: Why did most characters lie in the story?

LD: Because they are bad people! Or, you could say, normal people with secrets.

EC: What about the next book?

LD: Death on the Tiber published in April 2024 UK; July 2024 USA.

The plot has a group of well-heeled tourists arrive in Rome; when they leave, one is no longer with them. The body of a drowned woman is dredged from the Tiber, clearly the victim of foul play. It is believed she came to Rome from Britain. Rome is descending into serious gang warfare. A key mobster figure has died and will have a spectacular funeral; all the city crime lords – and their indomitable women – will be jostling for power in the aftermath. As Albia reluctantly investigates, she comments on the complex organization Rome uses to defeat the criminal underworld. She herself has allies, but they may be no help when she must confront an old enemy. She then faces a hard personal decision. Will she be consumed by the need for revenge, jeopardizing her new-found happiness?

THANK YOU!!

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