The Cornish Campsite Murder by Fiona Leitch

 

Jodie 'Nosey' Parker, ex-police officer, is persuaded to run a friend's food truck at a music festival in Cornwall. When the lead singer of an old rock group is found dead Jodie can't help but get involved in the investigation.

The Cornish Campsite Murder is the seventh book in the Nosey Parker cozy crime series by author Fiona Leitch. I've long been a fan of this series and feel as if the characters have become friends, having seen them evolve over the series.

Jodie is astounded to discover that a recent dinner she catered was hosted by Caz Harper, the bassist of a rock group she idolised as a teen. Caz, along with some of the other members of the band, have decided to perform at the local music festival. The group are unable to use their original name or much of their old material following an acrimonious split with the band's lead singer, Lee Roskill.

When Roskill's body is discovered the following morning the remaining members of the group immediately become suspects. Each of them has an alibi but as the police, well Jodie and her fiance DCI Nathan Withers, investigate, the alibi's begin to crumble. Having worked as a consultant for the local police in the previous book, Jodie had decided it really didn't work, particularly with her boss also being her fiance. As we learn as the story progresses, Jodie finds it impossible not to get involved with the investigation. Nathan is just as bad as he's supposed to be on holiday.

Initially, it is assumed that the motive for murder is the fall-out of the band members. The investigation points to other possible motives, motives which have been festering for years and still put the other band members at the top of the suspect list. By chipping away at each person's alibi, and a tense stand-off, the murderer is apprehended. I'm now looking forward to the next installment of this cozy crime series.

One of my few criticisms of the previous book in the series was that we didn't see enough of the supporting characters. This time around they all have a part to play in the investigation, although Debbie's usual effervescent self isn't used fully. The supporting character that shines the most this time around is Germaine, the dog.

The Cornish Campsite Murder by Fiona Leitch will be published as an ebook on 28th June 2024, with the paperback available on 4th July 2024. My thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for a review copy.

Author Details

Fiona Leitch is a writer with a chequered past. She’s written for football and motoring magazines, DJ’ed at illegal raves and is a stalwart of the low budget TV commercial, even appearing as the Australasian face of a cleaning product called ‘Sod Off’. After living in London and Cornwall she’s finally settled in sunny New Zealand, where she enjoys scaring her cats by trying out dialogue on them. She spends her days dreaming of retiring to a crumbling Venetian palazzo, walking on the windswept beaches of West Auckland, and writing funny, flawed but awesome female characters.

Her debut novel ‘Dead in Venice’ was published by Audible in 2018 as one of their Crime Grant finalists. Fiona also writes screenplays and was a finalist in the Athena Film Festival Writers Lab, co-run by Meryl Streep’s IRIS company.