Murder at the Cornish Book Club - Fliss Chester

 Join Maddie Penrose, scone baker, book lover and amateur sleuth, in her new home by the Cornish seaside. A member of her local book club has been murdered, and she’s on the case!

Maddie Penrose is settling into Cornish life with her fun and feisty grandmother, Nor. She throws herself into getting to know the locals, helping out at the village book club and enjoying the occasional G&T in the pub with handsome police officer DI Tom Trevelyan. But one sunny morning, her newfound peace is shattered when she spots Quentin, a member of the book club… dead, with a knife in his back.

To Maddie’s surprise, it transpires that almost all the other members of the book club have a motive to murder Quentin. Quentin’s own wife, a fellow reader, seems to be hiding something. The local romance author isn’t all sweetness and light, and another writer is keeping secrets. But is one of the book lovers in the sleepy seaside village really responsible for Quentin’s untimely death?

No sooner has the ink dried on the page of the first killing, another takes place – and the second victim is also a member of the book club! As Maddie frantically scrambles to get her clues down in black and white, she unearths a discovery connected to Nor. Is her gran the next victim on the list?

Can Maddie rescue Nor before her story ends in murder too? Or will the killer have the last word?

My Review

This may only be the second in the Maddie Penrose series, but I already feel as though we know Maddie, her gran and 'her' policeman quite well. This is a great series, set in beautiful Cornwall. Maddie herself is both intuitive and chaotic, and that adds to her charm and likability.

This time, Maddie finds herself thrown into another murder investigation after the discovery of a body at a dawn swim. It seems that many people have reason to want the dead man out of the way, but it's not immediately obvious if any of them would want it enough to actually commit murder.

I love Maddie's less-than-perfect approach to trying to figure out what happened. She scribbles notes in her grandmother's recipe books in a way that I'm sure only she might be able to make sense of them.

This is a great series, and I'm looking forward to finding out what might be next for this cook and amateur sleuth.

Murder in a Cornish Teashop - Fliss Chester

A Cornish clifftop, a sunny afternoon, a quaint little teashop… but wait a minute. Is that jam, or blood? Maddie Penrose is determined to find out!

Maddie Penrose is staying with her beloved grandmother, Nor, at her gorgeously idyllic Cornish farm. She’s looking forward to days helping out in Nor’s little teashop and evenings wandering down the cliff path to watch the sunset. But before Maddie has even finished serving up scones on her first morning, a man bursts through the door: Nor’s neighbour Clive has found a body in the field behind the teashop…

Maddie is straight to the scene, fancying herself as a bit of an Agatha Christie. But solving this mystery is far from a piece of cake. Her list of suspects is jam-packed with locals, with some a little too close to home: the newcomer renting out one of Nor’s barns is acting suspiciously, the victim’s boyfriend has disappeared without trace, and Clive isn’t really Maddie’s cup of tea either…

But the proof is in the pudding when there’s another murder – her prime suspect is dead. And when Maddie finds a backpack belonging to the first murder victim, her diligent notetaking and quick thinking leads her to discover that the killer will act again, and soon. Maddie is horrified to discover that it looks like she is their next target…

Can Maddie and Nor work as a team to piece together the puzzle? Or will murdering Maddie be the icing on the cake for the killer?

A totally addictive, witty and warm cozy mystery that will keep you reading late into the night, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright.

My Review

There is always a bit of trepidation when it comes to starting a new series by an author whose previous books you've loved. Will it be as good? Are you ready to move on from previous characters and start something new and different? Do I really just want more of the same?

I've already read all of the Cressida Fawcett and Fen Churche books by Fliss Chester and really loved them, so I was both excited and slightly nervous about giving this new series a go. Of course, I shouldn't have been concerned. I was drawn quickly into the unfolding mystery and loved this new setting. Unlike previous series, this isn't a historical murder mystery, but it was still really good. We've got a great cast of supporting characters. I particularly liked both Maddie's Gran and the two cats who seem to get the blame for anything that goes wrong around the farm. Most of all, though, I enjoyed the interactions between Maddy and 'her policeman', and I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops in future books.

I had more or less solved the mystery before Maddy, although there were some twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I liked the way it all fit into the small community that Maddy has come to live in with her grandmother.

I'm really looking forward to more in this series, although I still hope we might get more of Cressida and Fen in the future, as I've really enjoyed both of those series so far, too.