Halfway through the first performance of Penstowan's Christmas pantomime, one of the cast is murdered. Luckily, Jodie 'Nosey' Parker and her husband, DCI Nathan Withers, are in the audience and immediately start investigating.
The Cornish Christmas Pantomime Murder is book 9 in the Nosey Parker series by Fiona Leitch. I've really enjoyed following the characters over the series of books, watching relationships develop, such as the one between Jodie and Nathan, and characters grow, particularly young Daisy.
As always, Jodie is in the thick of things. It helps that she's in the audience when the crime is committed, even if she wasn't, she'd find some way of inveigling her way into the investigation as Nathan is the local detective. With the murder taking place during the interval, the list of suspects is confined to cast and crew, but everyone seems to have an alibi. Combined with this is a complete lack of motive. A fleeting glimpse of a member of the cast initially puts the pantomime dame at the top of the suspect list; however, the process of deduction shows that it must have been someone using the costume as a disguise.
With Christmas rapidly approaching, Jodie finds her preparations for the big day taking a back seat as she becomes preoccupied with the case. Thankfully, Jodie lives up to her nickname and, through gossip and luck, manages to pick up clues that point in the direction of possible suspects, and we discover that some residents of the quaint Cornish town hide dark secrets, secrets that could be worth killing for.
There is a cast of engaging characters, some slightly larger than life as befits a cosy crime novel. The well-established characters make you feel as if you are visiting friends, and new ones add to the sense of mystery. The humor is subtle, and there are enough red herrings to keep you turning the pages. I'm always a little saddened when I reach the conclusion of one of the author's books; it feels as if you've spent an enjoyable holiday with close friends, but now have to return to normal life. Thankfully, the good news is that book 10 will be available in 2026.
The Cornish Christmas Pantomime Murder by Fiona Leitch will be published on 31st October 2025 in ebook and audio format, and the paperback will be published on 6th November 2025. My thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter for a review copy.
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.
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