Thicker than water - Lexie Coyngham

If I were to write a list of my favourite things in a book, you'd probably find history, murder mystery, well written and engaging characters. Thicker than water had all of these things, even more exciting, this is a brand new series for me. This is book ten, but now I'm planning on going back and reading all of the other books in the series.

Thicker than water

When young Walter finds a dead body along with the dead fish in his tutor’s fishpond, he knows he should tell his old master, Charles Murray of Letho. The dead man leaves a pretty wife and child and a broken string quartet, but someone must have profited by his death – could it be the avenger from his past as his widow fears, or is it someone from closer at hand? St. Andrews is once again the setting for a murder mystery, and a puzzle that Murray must solve before the murderer strikes again.

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My Review

I have to admit, when I started the book, I hadn't realised that this was a historical mystery novel. As you may know, this is one of my favourite genres, at least when it's done well. Thicker Than Water is very well written, so I had no concerns there. It perhaps took me a couple of chapters to get my head around the various characters, but that did not put me off at all. I do wonder if I would have felt that, had I read some of the earlier books in the series. 

Set in Scotland, in and around the university town of St Andrews, in the early 1800's. The book focuses on the murder of a young man. After he is found dead, seemingly drowned in the bottom of a pond. There are no shortage of people who seem to have motive for getting rid of him, or at least having argued and disagreed with him, but what really happened.

Charles Murray of Letho, our lead character and solver of the mystery, is a very likeable character. He manages to move through the pages with both a commanding style and being less obtrusive when needed. As often happens in series such as this, Murray is the type of person who always seems to be stumbling across dead bodies. He has managed to solve similar problems in the past, so the local police turn to him for help.

I like to try and solve mysteries as I read. I wasn't able to completely get to the bottom of this one, although I was right about one or two things. What really matters though, is how well the solution works when the big reveal comes. Thicker Than Water worked for me and the solution made sense. 

I really enjoyed this book. I was really excited to discover a new series, even though I've started with the newest book to be written, I'll be going back to read the rest of the series from the start now. I'd highly recommend this series.