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Murder In Steeple Martin (2012)

by Lesley Cookman(Favorite Author)

3.38 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

190826280X (ISBN13: 9781908262806)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Accent Press (UK)

series

Libby Sarjeant

review 1: Where to start?Having enjoyed other books from Accent press I took a chance on this one when it was offered free on Amazon.It became clear early on that this was a gentle read. I don't mind 'gentle', I found Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazelet Chronicles hugely enjoyable (yes, even the much-derided fifth book) but this takes gentle to a new level.It is slow. Painfully slow. The characters are so stereotypical it hurts (the two gay men say 'dearheart' and make Alan Carr look like a cage fighter, the lead Libby is painfully one-dimensional, forever fretting about her love life and always flinging on her cape and characters flop into overstuffed chairs (can one buy overstuffed chairs anywhere? It must be possible as they are in no end of books).The story is (yet) another murder c... morease which has echoes of another from the past and the narrative switches between present day and the past in order to relay this. The prose is well-written and well-edited but the problem lies with the story which is not interesting enough to keep the pages turning and the characters who are not really terribly likeable.I persevered to the end, despite realising I was not really the target audience, hoping for a payoff in the big reveal but upon finding out the identity of the killer I felt massively let down. Some reviewers here have said they guessed the killer fairly early on. I don't know how they did as there were almost no clues in amongst the easily avoidable red herrings.This is the first in a series and I will be giving the rest a wide berth.
review 2: This was a well-written, light cozy mystery set in England with typical dry British humour and quirky expressions. One such expression was "old trout", an euphuism that was no doubt meant to be affectionate but was not, in my opinion, exactly flattering! :)Although there were many different characters introduced and complex familial ties to keep straight, they were engaging and compelling, especially the main character Libby--a middle-aged, down-to-earth and likeable woman with flaws and eccentricities she was not afraid to admit to. Despite stating emphatically that she did not want to be "Miss Marple", she nevertheless reluctantly found herself drawn into the murder mystery in order to protect and defend those she considered her family.Though the book was a little plodding and slow in places, the mystery itself was quite well-done with a few red herrings and interesting twists thrown in to keep the reader on his or her toes.I will definitely read the next book in the series. This one introduced another intriguing character, Fran Castle, who seems destined to play a bigger role in the future adventures of Libby, so I'm looking forward to it. less

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