Category: Cosy crime

Recent Reads: Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson

Posted on by Pam

My review:⭐⭐⭐⭐

Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson is set in World War II, and is book 10 in the Josephine Tey series.  I didn’t find that I was missing a lot even though I haven’t read the previous books in the series.

This is a cosy crime book, and I found this to be very evocative of the time.  It also has main characters who are LGBTQ+ and living together in a village and hiding their relationship.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Faber and Faber.

Recent Reads: The Festival Murders by Mark McCrum

Posted on by Pam

My review:⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Festival Murders by Mark McCrum is set at a literary festival, and gives a behind the scenes look!

This isn’t the first book in the series, but I didn’t find that I felt that I was missing too much!

It’s a cosy crime book, and I found it to be quite entertaining.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Black Thorn.

Recent Reads: Phone for the Fish Knives by Daisy Waugh

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Phone for the Fish Knives by Daisy Waugh has Hollywood coming to call at Tode Hall – it’s being used for a film adaptation of a book, and so everywhere is overrun with crew, cast and trailers!  And, of course, egos!

The normal residents and employees of Tode Hall are still around, though India and Egbery plan to jet off for most of the filming.  But not before they have a grand dinner with selected people from the cast, crew and the daughter of the author of the book.

It’s all going as well as you’d expect when murder happens, and everyone is a suspect!

This is set in the modern age, but feels like it’s set in the time of Jeeves and Wooster crossed with Agatha Christie for the comedy and for the murder.

Phone for the Fish Knives was published on 17th June 2021, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

The first book in this series is In the Crypt with a Candlestick, and you can read my review here.

You can follow Daisy Waugh on Twitter and through her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Little, Brown Book Group.

Recent Reads: Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 18)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye by M.C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 18) has James Lacey and Agatha who argued in the last book, and Agatha didn’t fall in line with what James wanted for the first time, and this has made him more interested in her!

Agatha on the other hand, has doubts that she is in love with him any more.

Agatha wants a perfect Christmas dinner.  She’s had a disaster before, but this time is going to be great, and she’ll kiss James under the mistletoe, and everything will be well!  Best laid plans and all that!

Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye was published in 2007 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

My review of the previous book in the Agatha Raisin series are below:

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (book 1)

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (book 2)

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (book 3)

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (book 4)

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (book 5)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (book 6)

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (book 7)

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (book 8)

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (book 9)

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam (book 10)

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (book 11)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (book 12)

Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (book 13)

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House (book 14)

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance (book 15)

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon (book 16)

Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor (book 17)

Recent Reads: Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor by M.C Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 17)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor by M.C Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 17) has James Lacey reappearing on the scene at the end of the last book! He’s become a travel writer, and asks Agatha to go on holiday with him!  Agatha is very excited, and is dreaming of the hot sands, lovely outfits and that she and James will naturally fall together!

Of course, things don’t happen as Agatha expects, and when a murder happens, Agatha and James are suspected, and so Agatha’s agency swings into action!  Another good book in the series!

Agatha Raisin and Love, Lies and Liquor was published on 19th September 2006 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

My review of the previous book in the Agatha Raisin series are below:

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (book 1)

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (book 2)

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (book 3)

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (book 4)

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (book 5)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (book 6)

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (book 7)

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (book 8)

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (book 9)

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam (book 10)

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (book 11)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (book 12)

Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (book 13)

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House (book 14)

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance (book 15)

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon (book 16)

Recent Reads: Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon by M.C Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 16)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon by M.C Beaton has Agatha being hired by a man who thinks his wife is having an affaire.  His wife is very respected in the community, and everyone loves her, but Agatha’s agency takes the job anyway!

As always, with an Agatha Raisin book, there is death, and Agatha investigates! 

This series has been pretty consistent, and has been updating as time passed, so that mobile phones start appearing.

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon was published in 2005, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

My review of the previous book in the Agatha Raisin series are below:

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (book 1)

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (book 2)

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (book 3)

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (book 4)

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (book 5)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (book 6)

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (book 7)

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (book 8)

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (book 9)

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam (book 10)

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (book 11)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (book 12)

Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (book 13)

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House (book 14)

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance (book 15)

Recent Reads: Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance by M. C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 15)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance has Agatha starting her own detective agency, finally!  She has been talking about it for a couple of books, but now she finally does it!  Next door has been bought by a woman, Emma, who is a widow.

Charles is back on the scene.  He got married in a previous book, but it didn’t work out – she was using him as she was pregnant with twins.  This felt a little confusing to me as I would have sworn that it turned out that she wasn’t actually pregnant, but anyway!  There is a floating mention of the twins, and that’s about it!  All a little odd as though the author has written him out but has decided to keep him around now!

Agatha’s detective agency is hired to protect Catherine Legget-Brown’s daughter as she’s had a death threat.  As you would expect by now, there is a murder, and Agatha gets to investigate!

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance was published in 2004, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

My review of the previous book in the Agatha Raisin series are below:

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (book 1)

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (book 2)

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (book 3)

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (book 4)

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (book 5)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (book 6)

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (book 7)

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (book 8)

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (book 9)

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam (book 10)

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (book 11)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (book 12)

Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (book 13)

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House (book 14)

Recent Reads: Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House by M. C. Beaton (Agatha Raisin book 14)

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House has Agatha hurt after finding out at the end of the last book that James didn’t go back to the monastery after selling his house, and divorcing her!

She has a new neighbour, Paul, an IT consultant, whose wife is in Spain with her family, and comes back for a bit, then returns to Spain.

Paul and Agatha both become interested in a local house which is said to be haunted, and so they stay the night there.  When the old lady who lives there is later found to have died, Agatha and Paul investigate!

The rotating men next door to Agatha felt a little unlikely, and I couldn’t decide if the author was trying out new characters for a bit to see if she could replace James with another man for Agatha to investigate with, or what was happening!  Other than that, this was a good book in the series!

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House was published in August 2003 and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

My review of the previous book in the Agatha Raisin series are below:

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (book 1)

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (book 2)

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (book 3)

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (book 4)

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (book 5)

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (book 6)

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (book 7)

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (book 8)

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (book 9)

Agatha Raisin and the fairies of Fryfam (book 10)

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (book 11)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (book 12)

Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (book 13)

Recent Reads: The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont; Narrated by Lucy Scott

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont; Narrated by Lucy Scott is written about the time that Agatha Christie famously disappeared for 11 days, and this is an imagining of the whole event told from the point of view of Christie’s husband’s mistress!

This is an entertaining mystery with a murder along the way!

I though this was a good story, and was one that tries to make sense of the events that occurred, and how Agatha Christie’s life changed so much.

I enjoyed the narrator, and felt that Lucy Scott did a good job, and added to the story.

The Christie Affair was released as an audiobook on 20th January 2022, and is available from Amazon/ Audible.

You can follow Nina de Gramont on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

You can follow Lucy Scott on Twitter.

I was given access to this audiobook in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Macmillan UK Audio.

Recent Reads: Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto

Posted on by Pam

My review:🌟🌟🌟🌟

Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto is the second book in the series, and you really need to have read the first one in order to properly enjoy this one!

This is a book that made me cringe and laugh.  Meddy is getting married to Nathan! In Oxford! And her mother and aunts are ready to get into the swing of England!

There is a slight issue on the wedding day, which involves Meddy, her mother and aunts acting like they’re from a comedy of errors.

I really enjoyed this book from it’s culture clash between both sets of parents, to the outfits Meddy’s family wears,a nd of course the wedding day itself!

This is written with humour, and as the author says herself at the beginning, out of first hand experience, which just adds to the feel of it!

It’s a comedy crime book, and I’ll be happy if there’s more in the series!

Four Aunties and a Wedding was published on 29th March 2022, and is available from Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

You can read the start of the story in Dial A for Aunties.

You can follow Jess Sutanto on Facebook, Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to HQ.