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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
This second book in the DS Harbinder Kaur series is completely different to the first in the series, The Stranger Diaries, which was one of my top listens of 2019. This is much more of a cosy crime than TSD, which was quite gothic in tone. In fact it is so different that you really don't need to read that to enjoy this one.
The book, set in Shoreham-by-Sea, begins with the death of 90 year old Peggy, who, we soon find out, is a murder consultant. I think that could be my dream job
The book, set in Shoreham-by-Sea, begins with the death of 90 year old Peggy, who, we soon find out, is a murder consultant. I think that could be my dream job
Elly Griffiths certainly works magic with words!
Peggy, 90 years old, likes to watch and analyze people she sees from her seaside window, the perfect vantage point. When carer Natalka discovers her dead, she is surprised and horrified, especially when she finds mysterious book dedications inside books by various authors to Peggy. Surely there is something unnatural about it. Natalka and friends Edwin and Bernie enlist the help of Detective Kaur and find themselves enmeshed in a plethora of puzzles and adventures. This unlikely team of four combine their unique skills and personalities, sometimes getting on each other's nerves, to navigate quirky crimes.
This book is good. Really good. My favourite aspects were the murder consultant idea, wit, people-watching notes, writing and publishing information, band of friends' sleuthing and unique unpredictable crimes/resolutions.
Expect the unexpected by this author, a great place to be as a mystery reader. Hunker down!
My sincere thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this delightful book. Much appreciated.
Peggy, 90 years old, likes to watch and analyze people she sees from her seaside window, the perfect vantage point. When carer Natalka discovers her dead, she is surprised and horrified, especially when she finds mysterious book dedications inside books by various authors to Peggy. Surely there is something unnatural about it. Natalka and friends Edwin and Bernie enlist the help of Detective Kaur and find themselves enmeshed in a plethora of puzzles and adventures. This unlikely team of four combine their unique skills and personalities, sometimes getting on each other's nerves, to navigate quirky crimes.
This book is good. Really good. My favourite aspects were the murder consultant idea, wit, people-watching notes, writing and publishing information, band of friends' sleuthing and unique unpredictable crimes/resolutions.
Expect the unexpected by this author, a great place to be as a mystery reader. Hunker down!
My sincere thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this delightful book. Much appreciated.
Elly Griffiths certainly works magic with words!
Peggy, 90 years old, likes to watch and analyze people she sees from her seaside window, the perfect vantage point. When carer Natalka discovers her dead, she is surprised and horrified, especially when she finds mysterious book dedications inside books by various authors to Peggy. Surely there is something unnatural about it. Natalka and friends Edwin and Bernie enlist the help of Detective Kaur and find themselves enmeshed in a plethora of puzzles and adventures. This unlikely team of four combine their unique skills and personalities, sometimes getting on each other's nerves, to navigate quirky crimes.
This book is good. Really good. My favourite aspects were the murder consultant idea, wit, people-watching notes, writing and publishing information, band of friends' sleuthing and unique unpredictable crimes/resolutions.
Expect the unexpected by this author, a great place to be as a mystery reader. Hunker down!
My sincere thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this delightful book. Much appreciated.
Peggy, 90 years old, likes to watch and analyze people she sees from her seaside window, the perfect vantage point. When carer Natalka discovers her dead, she is surprised and horrified, especially when she finds mysterious book dedications inside books by various authors to Peggy. Surely there is something unnatural about it. Natalka and friends Edwin and Bernie enlist the help of Detective Kaur and find themselves enmeshed in a plethora of puzzles and adventures. This unlikely team of four combine their unique skills and personalities, sometimes getting on each other's nerves, to navigate quirky crimes.
This book is good. Really good. My favourite aspects were the murder consultant idea, wit, people-watching notes, writing and publishing information, band of friends' sleuthing and unique unpredictable crimes/resolutions.
Expect the unexpected by this author, a great place to be as a mystery reader. Hunker down!
My sincere thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this delightful book. Much appreciated.
The author is mostly known for her Ruth Galloway series.
This is the second one in her series featuring Skih DS Harbinder Kaur.
It is a cozy murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie.
There is murder and mayhem set in the world of a crime writers community, literary agents, murder consultants and publishers.
Griffiths excels in the creation and development of quirky characters in her crime novels, and Natalka, Edwin and Benny make for a wonderfully interesting bunch, each bringing their own specific qualities as they dig deep to get to the truth.
This is the second one in her series featuring Skih DS Harbinder Kaur.
It is a cozy murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie.
There is murder and mayhem set in the world of a crime writers community, literary agents, murder consultants and publishers.
Griffiths excels in the creation and development of quirky characters in her crime novels, and Natalka, Edwin and Benny make for a wonderfully interesting bunch, each bringing their own specific qualities as they dig deep to get to the truth.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After reading a few books in the Ruth Galloway series I decided to try this. There's something that doesn't quite click with me about the writing. Some part of it is that I don't get invested in the sense of place and don't enjoy descriptors about it since it won't have any lasting bearing. I find myself bored at anything that isn't dialogue, and I don't find the dialogue to be very enlightening, it seems like idle chatter, and from characters that rarely seem to have much depth. That means I have to rely solely on the mystery of it all, and they haven't risen to beyond just ok to me yet. This was fine, though I felt my attention veering at times, and would have been fine not really knowing what happened. I want to like these books, I want to have a prolific author I can count on, but I'm not sure this is the author for me. I don't hate the books, I finish them, but I always end up wanting more.
Found this one better to read than the Stranger Diaries. For one, i mostly liked the characters, and hardly wished any of them would be murdered. The flow was better and the intricate plot kept it moving.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Shades of Agatha…
When Peggy Smith dies in her flat, nothing could seem more natural, since Peggy was a 90-year-old woman with a heart condition. But something doesn’t feel right to her young Ukrainian carer. Natalka had visited her earlier in the day and she had seemed in good health and spirits. However, the official verdict is natural causes and although Natalka and two other friends of Peggy express their doubts to the police, Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur sees no reason to think otherwise. Until, that is, the appearance of a mysterious man with a gun, who breaks into Peggy’s flat and steals a book…
In the first book in this series, [b:The Stranger Diaries|40796097|The Stranger Diaries (Harbinder Kaur, #1)|Elly Griffiths|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532738769l/40796097._SY75_.jpg|58794499], Griffiths paid homage to the ghost story writers of the Edwardian era and produced an excellently spooky Gothic story. Here she is riffing on the mysteries of the Golden Age and does just as good a job, though as a result the tone of this book is very different to the first. This one has a proper mystery with clues, a group of suspects, a trio of likeable amateur ‘tecs, and a touch or two of romance. Partly set in Shoreham, a small seaside town on the South coast of England, and with a fun road trip culminating in a visit to a book festival in Aberdeen, the tone is light, with lots of humour and plenty of warmth. It wasn’t what I was expecting after the first novel, but I loved it! There’s lots of hat-tipping to the Golden Agers, and indeed it is a Golden Age novel that is stolen from Peggy’s flat. But why?
Peggy is dead before the book begins so we don’t meet her in person. But we get to know a lot about her life as the story progresses, and she’s a woman with a past! Not only that, she had a wide acquaintanceship among contemporary mystery novelists, having become a ‘murder consultant’ – she could be relied upon by novelists stuck for an idea to come up with interesting methods to bump off their victims.
While Harbinder sets up a conventional police investigation, Peggy’s friends take the vintage route of amateur investigation. There’s Natalka, who also has a past of her own that we’ll gradually learn about. Edwin is an elderly neighbour who had become friends with Peggy, often doing crosswords together, or taking short walks with her to the nearby Coffee Shack on the seafront. And there’s Benedict, ex-monk now looking for love and the owner of the Coffee Shack. Natalka, Edwin and Benedict are an unlikely detective trio, but Griffiths makes it work – the warmth and friendship among them makes this a lovely, heart-warming read, despite all the murders. Because, yes, of course there will be other murders – what Golden Age novel stops at one? The trio decide to talk to the various authors who used Peggy as a consultant, hence the road trip to Aberdeen.
The plot is intricate and well done, so I don’t want to say any more about it for fear of spoilers. But it maintains its Golden Age feel all the way through, although all of the characters are modern people in a modern setting. Harbinder herself is as likeable as she was in the first book, still living at home with her ageing parents, and still not having summoned up the courage to tell them she’s gay. I’m so late reading this one that there’s another book in the series due out at the end of this month and the blurb makes me feel Griffiths may have changed the style again for it – can’t wait to read it and find out, and also to see how Harbinder’s life develops! Yet another hugely enjoyable series from Griffiths’ ultra-prolific pen – I wonder if she has a whole team of murder consultants at her command, or just a great imagination…
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When Peggy Smith dies in her flat, nothing could seem more natural, since Peggy was a 90-year-old woman with a heart condition. But something doesn’t feel right to her young Ukrainian carer. Natalka had visited her earlier in the day and she had seemed in good health and spirits. However, the official verdict is natural causes and although Natalka and two other friends of Peggy express their doubts to the police, Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur sees no reason to think otherwise. Until, that is, the appearance of a mysterious man with a gun, who breaks into Peggy’s flat and steals a book…
In the first book in this series, [b:The Stranger Diaries|40796097|The Stranger Diaries (Harbinder Kaur, #1)|Elly Griffiths|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532738769l/40796097._SY75_.jpg|58794499], Griffiths paid homage to the ghost story writers of the Edwardian era and produced an excellently spooky Gothic story. Here she is riffing on the mysteries of the Golden Age and does just as good a job, though as a result the tone of this book is very different to the first. This one has a proper mystery with clues, a group of suspects, a trio of likeable amateur ‘tecs, and a touch or two of romance. Partly set in Shoreham, a small seaside town on the South coast of England, and with a fun road trip culminating in a visit to a book festival in Aberdeen, the tone is light, with lots of humour and plenty of warmth. It wasn’t what I was expecting after the first novel, but I loved it! There’s lots of hat-tipping to the Golden Agers, and indeed it is a Golden Age novel that is stolen from Peggy’s flat. But why?
Peggy is dead before the book begins so we don’t meet her in person. But we get to know a lot about her life as the story progresses, and she’s a woman with a past! Not only that, she had a wide acquaintanceship among contemporary mystery novelists, having become a ‘murder consultant’ – she could be relied upon by novelists stuck for an idea to come up with interesting methods to bump off their victims.
While Harbinder sets up a conventional police investigation, Peggy’s friends take the vintage route of amateur investigation. There’s Natalka, who also has a past of her own that we’ll gradually learn about. Edwin is an elderly neighbour who had become friends with Peggy, often doing crosswords together, or taking short walks with her to the nearby Coffee Shack on the seafront. And there’s Benedict, ex-monk now looking for love and the owner of the Coffee Shack. Natalka, Edwin and Benedict are an unlikely detective trio, but Griffiths makes it work – the warmth and friendship among them makes this a lovely, heart-warming read, despite all the murders. Because, yes, of course there will be other murders – what Golden Age novel stops at one? The trio decide to talk to the various authors who used Peggy as a consultant, hence the road trip to Aberdeen.
The plot is intricate and well done, so I don’t want to say any more about it for fear of spoilers. But it maintains its Golden Age feel all the way through, although all of the characters are modern people in a modern setting. Harbinder herself is as likeable as she was in the first book, still living at home with her ageing parents, and still not having summoned up the courage to tell them she’s gay. I’m so late reading this one that there’s another book in the series due out at the end of this month and the blurb makes me feel Griffiths may have changed the style again for it – can’t wait to read it and find out, and also to see how Harbinder’s life develops! Yet another hugely enjoyable series from Griffiths’ ultra-prolific pen – I wonder if she has a whole team of murder consultants at her command, or just a great imagination…
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com