When librarian Wendy is found dead at home, the local book group is convinced it was murder and sets out to uncover the culprit.
The Book Club Murders by Maggie Allswell is cosy crime that will appeal to fans of the crime & thriller genre in general. The book group that does the investigating is called The Serial Killer Book Group and are fans of all aspects of the genre.
Judy is the main protagonist in the story, and she's the person who is convinced that Wendy must have been murdered; the way in which Wendy was discovered just doesn't add up. The rest of her book group agrees and decides to put into action all of the skills they've honed through their reading. It was funny to hear the different members of the group reference procedures they'd read in thrillers, both from the perspective of the investigators and the killers.
As you would expect from cosy crime, the tone is very light and firmly tongue-in-cheek. The narration from Jilly Bond certainly adds to the overall tone and enjoyment. There are some truly funny moments, but for me, the part that really stood out was Judy's text messages. I couldn't decide if all the mistakes were a result of autocorrect, fat fingers, or simply being poor at texting.
Convinced they've identified the murderer, the group then has a moral dilemma: contact the police, or deal with the perpetrator themselves. It's a very personal matter for the group, and once again leads to some funny scenes.
I certainly enjoyed the ending. The slightly ambiguous conclusion makes you wonder if a trap has been evaded, only for a shocking revelation to be disclosed. I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series.
The Book Club Murders by Maggie Allswell is available in paperback, ebook, and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a review copy.
Author Details
Maggie Allswell never dreamt that she would write a murder
mystery series! Having spent the last twenty years writing bestselling romcom
novels as Tracy Bloom, she turned fifty and suddenly found that murder was on
her mind! She has had the most fun dreaming up a cast of book club pseudo
sleuths who find themselves trying to fathom the unprecedented rise in murders
in the quaint Derbyshire town of Matlock. She lives with her husband and two
children not far from Matlock who say that they haven't noticed much change in
her personality since she started killing people off on paper however they do
worry when the subject of 'easiest way to murder a difficult relative' gets
raised at the dinner table.
When not writing, Maggie, loves a walk with her dog Connie,
a slow Parkrun, a good dance and and a seriously good crime drama on the TV.
Maggie Allswell has written fourteen novels as Tracy Bloom including the No 1 bestseller NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON A TUESDAY.
No comments:
Post a Comment