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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Murder by Candlelight is a murder mystery set in 1920's rural England and it beautifully blends the worlds of "Queen of Crime" Agatha Christie with "Comic Genius" P.G.Wodehouse.
A locked room, a despicable murder and a recently changed will all add up to a finely plotted mystery with plenty of suspects and the obligatory red herrings to keep you guessing
The characters are fun, the dialog is perfect for the era and the main sleuth evokes fond memories of Bertie Wooster.
I loved everything about this whodunit and stayed up to the wee hours in order to finish it.
Top Hole! A spiffing read
A locked room, a despicable murder and a recently changed will all add up to a finely plotted mystery with plenty of suspects and the obligatory red herrings to keep you guessing
The characters are fun, the dialog is perfect for the era and the main sleuth evokes fond memories of Bertie Wooster.
I loved everything about this whodunit and stayed up to the wee hours in order to finish it.
Top Hole! A spiffing read
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a light-hearted murder mystery, echoing the style and era of the Jeeves & Wooster stories - so if you like a bit of what ho, old bean! then it will be right up your street. I found it slow to start, and I didn't really like the main characters. But Arbie grew on me, and once there's actually a murder things speed up.
I did question the mentions of Agatha Christie & Poirot - they're used in a way that obviously people now would say, but at the time the book is set, there was only, I think, 1 Poirot story published, and certainly not reams of Christie novels with poisonings.
The locked room murder was interesting, but I wasn't completely convinced, and I didn't really buy into the whodunnit because they were clearly an outlier in the options so it felt like a cheat.
But I did enjoy this overall as a nice, easy read.
Thanks to Net Galley for my copy.
I did question the mentions of Agatha Christie & Poirot - they're used in a way that obviously people now would say, but at the time the book is set, there was only, I think, 1 Poirot story published, and certainly not reams of Christie novels with poisonings.
The locked room murder was interesting, but I wasn't completely convinced, and I didn't really buy into the whodunnit because they were clearly an outlier in the options so it felt like a cheat.
But I did enjoy this overall as a nice, easy read.
Thanks to Net Galley for my copy.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin is a cosy mystery set in the style of Agatha Christie in the Summer of 1924 in Cotswolds.
Best selling author, Arbuthnot Swift or Arbie as he is better known wrote ‘The gentleman’s guide to ghost hunting. He thought it would be a laugh to write it. He has not seen a ghost himself. When the elderly owner of the ‘Old Forge’ Amy Phelps, asks him for help. As she thinks that there is a ghost at the Old Forge he agrees. He brings his colleague Val with him to investigate what is going on at the manor.
But the next morning whilst staying at the manor. They find that their host is missing. Further investigation finds that when the room is locked. They break in to find that Amy Phelps is dead. Was it suicide or was it murder? Who wants to harm Amy Phelps and why?
Thank you, HQ, for a copy of Murder by Candlelight. This is the first book that I have read from this author. I really wanted to like this locked room mystery and I thought it started well. But for me I started losing interest in the middle and it really got interesting towards the end. 3 stars from me.
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
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
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher
After writing a book about ghosts and hauntings young Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Swift is now considered an expert on the subject, even thought he's never seen a ghost and he wrote the book on a bet, so it's no surprise that people wish to consult him about the supernatural. When Miss Amy Phelps, a serious woman and a pillar of the community, asks for his help with a supposedly troubled spirit of an ancestor he's surprised and suspects that something else might be afoot, only to be proven right when Miss Phelps dies under suspicious circumstances in a closed room. Who could have done this? Everyone had a motive, but not really opportunity. Now, Arbie must find the connection between this murder and the ghost, before someone else pays the price.
This was a nice cozy mystery. It had all the elements you could possibly want: A little town, a murder most foul, a locked room, rich people fighting over inheritance, memorable suspects, and red herrings galore. I liked the characters and specially enjoyed the way this was written. The use of period appropriate terms and slang in an effortless manner helped keep me immersed in the story. It was charming and a little funny, campy even.
I did find it a bit slow. The murder doesn't occur until 40% or so and it picks up quite slow. The book also jumps between multiple POVs all the time in a way I found messy. While I liked the murder I think it wasn't that hard to solve and I did feel a tiny bit cheated with some of the clues being more of an off stage thing.
After writing a book about ghosts and hauntings young Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Swift is now considered an expert on the subject, even thought he's never seen a ghost and he wrote the book on a bet, so it's no surprise that people wish to consult him about the supernatural. When Miss Amy Phelps, a serious woman and a pillar of the community, asks for his help with a supposedly troubled spirit of an ancestor he's surprised and suspects that something else might be afoot, only to be proven right when Miss Phelps dies under suspicious circumstances in a closed room. Who could have done this? Everyone had a motive, but not really opportunity. Now, Arbie must find the connection between this murder and the ghost, before someone else pays the price.
This was a nice cozy mystery. It had all the elements you could possibly want: A little town, a murder most foul, a locked room, rich people fighting over inheritance, memorable suspects, and red herrings galore. I liked the characters and specially enjoyed the way this was written. The use of period appropriate terms and slang in an effortless manner helped keep me immersed in the story. It was charming and a little funny, campy even.
I did find it a bit slow. The murder doesn't occur until 40% or so and it picks up quite slow. The book also jumps between multiple POVs all the time in a way I found messy. While I liked the murder I think it wasn't that hard to solve and I did feel a tiny bit cheated with some of the clues being more of an off stage thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes