Murder at a Christmas Market - Fliss Chester

 

It’s winter in Cornwall and Maddie Penrose amateur sleuth extraordinaire – is baking up a storm for the village Christmas fair. All is merry and bright… until there’s a murder!

Maddie Penrose has been head-to-toe in tinsel, organising a delightfully cozy Christmas market. She’s just whipped up a fresh batch of mince pies and is serving them at the opening when stallholder Steve Granger pops one in his mouth… and instantly drops dead.

Determined to clear her name, Maddie must find out who poisoned the pies. It quickly becomes clear that many stallholders at the market had a motive to kill. Could it be grouchy Ruby, whose tea blends Steve mercilessly copied and sold as his own? What about Daisy from the dairy – she isn’t pleased Steve was selling Cornish cheese to rival hers. And local butcher Connor Davis has an axe to grind too… has he been plotting to handle more than just Christmas turkeys?

But who would go as far as poisoning a mince pie? Maddie is starting to get closer to the truth when there’s another murder, this time in the village bakery. Can she unravel the clues before the killer strikes again? Or is she next on their list…?

If you love amateur sleuths and cozy festive mysteries then you will adore Fliss Chester’s totally gripping novel, perfect for fans of Fiona Leitch, Faith Martin and Agatha Christie!

My Review

Although this series is quite different to Fliss Chester's other murder mysteries, having a contemporary setting, rather than historical. That doesn't make them any less entertaining, though. This might only be the third book in the series, but I'm already really enjoying these books. 

I did get a bit confused towards the beginning of the book, as it seemed that I'd missed something since the last one. That wasn't the case; things had simply moved on a bit since we last saw Maddie and the other cast of characters that make up these books. It soon became clear what had happened and aside from a fear that I might have missed a book, it didn't impact on my enjoyment of the story.

This time around, I had solved it really early on, while Maddie was left trying to piece it all together. I'm not sure if it was obvious, or this time I'd just latched on to the way that it was unfolding. It was still really enjoyable. I love Maddie, her grandmother, and of course 'her' policeman, Tom.

This was slightly festive, but didn't have an overkill of Christmas, so I think you could enjoy it any time of the year. I'm certainly not in the Christmas spirit just yet!

I'm looking forward to what's next for Maddie and her friends.