Isabelle Goddard

When Flora and Jack are invited to watch the final rehearsal of a re-enactment society’s battle at a ruined castle, they think it will be a pleasant diversion; unfortunately, one of the actors suddenly falls to his death during the rehearsal. Everyone, including the police, considers this to be a tragic accident, except for the man’s best friend who is convinced that the man was pushed. Flora and Jack reluctantly agree to investigate, and they soon discover that although they are told that the man had been universally liked, there are some people who might have held a grudge. When a second member of the re-enactment society is killed and both Flora and Jack are menaced in separate incidents, they realize that they must take their investigation far more seriously…. This is the tenth book in this cozy series, set in an English village in the late 1950s. Bookshop owner Flora and her husband Jack, a writer, are engaging characters and the secondary villagers are also well-drawn. I had trouble with a few anachronisms here (for example, a person about to be evicted is looking for a new place to rent, but discovers that rents are “way too expensive” for her to afford; in 1959 rural England, if the topic was raised at all surely the speaker would have expressed herself with something along the lines of “much too dear” for her); these kinds of things tend to drive me nuts, but I persevered and ended up enjoying the story once again. This is a series that really requires one to start at the beginning (“The Bookshop Murder”) as all the relationships evolve from book to book; with that caveat, recommended.… (more)

bookseller, professor, reenactors, 1950s, cozy-mystery, local-law-enforcement, Sussex, suspense, friendship, family, local-gossip, relationship-issues, relationships, relatives, writers, wry-humor, amateur-sleuth, historical-novel, historical-research, college, suspicion, rural, attempted-murder, twisty, investigation, murders, murder-investigation, overbearing****

Flora Steele the bookshop and her husband Jack Carrington is the writer in residence at Cleve College.
While attending a reenactment at the local castle they witness one of the participants fall to his death. Did he fall or was he pushed? That's what they are moved to find out. Jack thinks not until an attempt has been made on his own life after a difficult inquiry into a possibility. Good read.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected advance review copy from Bookouture via NetGalley.
Avail Nov 20, 2024
#MurderInAnEnglishCastle #NetGalley #FloraSteeleMysteriesBk10 #Bookouture #Merryn Allingham… (more)

Flora Steele and Jack Carrington are finally married, and Jack is settling in at his new job as a lecturer at Cleve College, although travel to the small town in which it is located is a bit of a strain. When they stumble upon a corpse while out walking, at first they believe the case is a simple hit-and-run accident, but a little bit of sleuthing indicates that the deceased had a connection to Jack’s college and especially to a caretaker there and the previous occupant of Jack’s position, a writer who drowned, an apparent suicide. While the police are content with treating the deaths as not suspicious, Flora and Jack keep probing, and their interference is bound to stir up something threatening…. This is the ninth Flora Steele novel, set in a small English village in 1958. As with the other books in the series, what is enticing about this series is Flora herself, a very independent and determined young woman who has an eye for investigation, and her now-husband Jack, a crime novelist who loves Flora just as she is and who is just as determined to solve the crimes they stumble across. It is also one of those series where the reader begins to wonder why so many small English villages have such high rates of murder! But that’s the fun of cozies, of course, and this is a good example of the genre. One doesn’t need to have read each of the earlier books before enjoying this one, but of course the experience is always richer if one has done so; recommended.… (more)

1950s, amateur-sleuth, bookseller, college, cozy-mystery, England, famous-author, friends, friendship, historical-novel, historical-research, investigation, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, murders, orphans, professor, read, relationships, rural, suspense, suspicion, Sussex, twisty, village, wedding, writers, wry-humor*****

Flora Steele and Jack Carrington are now married and he has moved in with her to be close to the bookshop while he has a commute to the college where he is the writer in residence. Then they find an
unknown man's body in a ditch and the mystery becomes a real puzzle. I love seeing the way each has their own method and perspectives and the way they can work together without any sort of rivalry. Another good addition to a stellar series!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Bookouture via NetGalley. Thank you!
#FloraSteeleMysteriesBk9… (more)