Shauna Bickley

It was only when I plucked this from my TBR and quickly reminded myself what it's about that I realised this the second in a series. Any concerns I had about needing to read the first were soon dispelled. This is perfectly stand-alone.

Lexie Wyatt is what you could loosely describe as a modern-day Miss Marple. When her best friend's university pals have a ten-year reunion, Lexie is cornered by one of them, Eden, and asked for help in investigating the death of one of their number all those years ago. The suicide verdict didn't satisfy Eden. She's convinced it was murder. This, of course, puts Lexie in a tricky spot when she obviously has to look at each of the group, which includes her best friend and her husband. She discovers a web of deceit, secrets and lies.

I liked this author's style and she handles this slightly complicated plot with skill, making it flow well and easy to read. The characters are diverse, all of them engaging for different reasons and well portrayed. I was just a smidge irked by clichéd phrases such as 'she looked at him from beneath her lashes'. Phrases like that belong in Barbara Cartland/Woman's Weekly stories, not sophisticated novels like this one.

However, Bickley is an accomplished writer (with a less-accomplished editor…a fair few grammatical errors), who can execute a suspenseful and compelling thriller, and I'd really love to catch up with Lexie again.… (meer)

Lexie is quickly realizing being a full-time mother to three young girls is harder than working a demanding job, but her husband Nathan’s job has moved them from London to the small town Nettleford once she was restructured out of a job. With my mind challenged only by small children, she quickly finds friendship with an elderly lady whose son was possibly involved with the murder of his girlfriend. Until he ends up dead, as well. Lexie, with nothing but time on her hands, sets out to not only find out why he and his girlfriend were killed, but also find out more about her other, more tight-lipped neighbor. Before she knows it, she ends up in over her head, but there’s no stopping her even though danger abounds at every turn.

I really must thank the author for this opportunity. Initially, I read the second book in the Lexie Wyatt Murder Mystery series, The Worst Lie, at the author’s request. I had no idea it was the second book, but found it to be absolutely delightful. It made me very curious about the first book, so I was absolutely floored and honored when Shauna Bickley sent me en e-copy of Still Death with no expectation of a review. I don’t really know how to read books without reviewing them anymore, but, all the same, I was very happy to do this review, and even happier to have gotten to know Lexie and Nathan even better.

The Characters: Perfectly Proper and Charming
When I read, The Worst Lie, I knew nothing about Lexie and her family. Since part of it took place during a weekend away and so much was focused on a group of friends Lexie was introduced to, I was disappointed that Nathan had felt one-dimensional and their daughters weren’t seen much. I was so happy to get to know not just Nathan and the girls, but Lexie’s parents as well. I found them all to be perfectly charming, and Tilly to be surprisingly spunky for a young girl just starting school!

I had so much fun getting to know everyone. I really identified with Lexie as a mother myself. It’s hard to keep a mind that’s more attuned to working busy when now all you’re doing is caring for children, so it was a lot of fun to read about her getting mixed up in webs left and right. Clearly, she should not be left to her own devices too much! I loved how nosy she was, as many good amateur detectives are, and it really made sense that it manifested out of boredom. Similarly, I really enjoyed Nathan and the girls. I adored the relationship between Lexie and Nathan. They were clearly a pillar to each other, but were just like any other married couple. I must say, though, between this book and the next, Nathan has quite some interesting interests! The girls were also fun, though they weren’t seen too much as they were often in school. Still, there was enough to see how much of a handful they must be, as well as how delightful.

It was also fun to get to know Lexie’s parents. I was a little put off by how little Lexie knew of her own mother, but, after getting to know her and hearing her story, it made sense. I loved her dad. He was always there to support his wife and daughter and always knew just the right thing to do.

One thing I must say about Helen, Lexie’s new friend, is that I was actually very glad to have met her first in the second book. Looking back at my review, I saw I noted I wasn’t sure if I could trust her or not. If I had gotten to know their friendship in the first book, I wouldn’t have been so mixed up about her and it wouldn’t have scraped off a very interesting layer I really loved.

One thing I loved about the characters was that, whenever I thought I had them figured out, some new bit of information would be introduced that would make me question everything I knew about them. It was fascinating and kept me on my toes when it came to them. I loved wondering who to trust and what their motivations were. It was so much fun to get to know them through Lexie’s eyes and through the information they let slip.

The Setting: Quaint and Cozy
I adore cozy mysteries that take place in charming little towns. I love getting to know everyone and how they become mixed up with each other. There are usually so many secrets and hidden relationships that it’s almost mind boggling, yet make so much sense. This is one thing I absolutely loved about this book: the small town of Nettleford.

Nettleford just seemed so charming and quaint, yet with enough to sustain a small town and keep it feeling modern instead of out in the middle of nowhere. It also sounded very green with lots of trees and even some woods. I got to know Lexie and Nathan’s home in The Worst Lie, so it was really nice to see how and why they came to be in Nettleford. I also adored the property their house is on with plenty of green space. I was so happy to be able to spend more time there along with Lexie. Nettleford is just so achingly quaint that I wish I could go there.

The Plot: Never Let Some Women Have Too Much Time on Her Hands
I must admit the start of the story wasn’t as compelling as I had hoped it would be. It felt like the story was finding it’s feet, though it could also read as Lexie stumbling around and finding her feet as a freshly unemployed woman who had thrived on her work. Though, clearly, she should not be given so much time on her hands! It was so much fun to see her get herself so caught up in so much trouble. At one point, it felt like she was nosing her way through three different mysteries, but much of it was simply a case of “small world.” Oh, and maybe that small towns have a lot more to hide than big cities.

Most of the first half more or less introduced the cast of characters and set up mysterious occurrences and deaths to kick start the mysteries. While it was interesting, it did make it feel like it took a while for the mystery and intrigue to really start up. As nosy as Lexie was almost from the beginning, she really was just trying to settle in and not get into too much trouble.

The second half was when the story really started to heat up. I flew through those pages, wanting desperately to see how everything was tangled up together. For quite a while, it did feel like a giant messy ball of threads and I was dying to see how it would unravel. There were so many bits and pieces slipped in here and there that really kept me on my toes, so much suspense woven in. It felt like Lexie had finally hit her stride as an amateur detective. Oh, and I can’t forget the paranoia she developed. I felt it right alongside her and my heart seriously started pounding, wondering if this was when she was going to be caught or find herself in serious trouble.

I was so pleased that, as quaint as the whole town was, the same could not be said of the story. As charming as I found it, the mystery was no joke. It was all very serious with some seriously high stakes. It was messy and tangled, and absolutely delightful. As a whole, the story was a lot of fun. The first part was a little harder to get through, but the second part, when things started to heat up, was really stunning.

Overall: A Delightfully Serious Mystery
I love mysteries where the amateur detective falls into the mystery. This was absolutely the case here, but I also loved how nosy Lexie was. I couldn’t help but feel nosy right with her. I couldn’t wait for her to solve the mystery. The characters were all so much fun and the setting provided the perfect backdrop. The mystery was really the highlight of the book and more than impressed me with the sheer complexity of it. I loved feeling that, whenever I thought I had figured something out, something else was slipped in to turn it on it’s head. Overall, this was a fun mystery that felt both cozy and a little hardboiled. It was fun, suspenseful, and even a little scary. And I totally don’t blame Nathan for being wary of Lexie getting involved in another mystery in The Worst Lie!

Thank you to the author, Shauna Bickley, for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.… (meer)

Lexie’s friend Helen needs her help: Helen’s university friend Eden is coming to visit and wants the whole university group to spend a weekend together in Little Stillford, just as they had days before their friend Madelaine was found dead, something that brings great anxiety to Helen. Lexie is there to soothe her, and soon finds herself enlisted by Eden to find out who murdered Madelaine over a decade before. Before she knows it, Lexie and her husband Nathan become entangled in the group, who have more secrets than Lexie could have possibly known, and a cold case that holds a cloud over them.

When the author contacted me for a review, I had just been thinking I needed more mysteries in my life, so I knew I had to read this book. I hadn’t realized it’s the second book, but, while I would have liked to have read the first book first, I don’t think it was strictly necessary. Of course, now I probably will try to find time to read the first book because I really enjoyed Lexie and Nathan that much. And because this book did not disappoint!

The Characters: So Many Fun Personalities
I really enjoyed the characters. Most of them had very distinct personalities, so it was easy to see them mesh and clash. It was also a lot of fun to see the group of university friends together as it often brought out secrets and the worst in them. My one complaint about them was that Laurence was essentially no one in the story, though I can see how his presence was necessary, and Nathan felt very one note, though perhaps that’s because we didn’t get to see him much.

My favorite part of the characters was that there were flash backs to the friends’ university days. It was fun to see what they had been like and how they did or didn’t change. I especially liked that it often felt like things hadn’t changed once they’d gotten back together years later. It was so easy for them to slip back into old roles and relationships, and it created some really great tension and further swirls around the mystery.

As a whole, the characters meshed really well together. I was disappointed the children weren’t seen much, but what little was provided showed they had some really interesting and fun personalities. Overall, I loved the characters. They were fun and consistent. Their relationships were realistic, and so was the drama.

The Setting: The Very Lovely Modern Day England
Well, since I’m currently stuck at home and travel has basically come to a standstill, I couldn’t have read this book at a better time. It takes place in Dorset and Wiltshire in the England, and one of the locations is at a standing stones site! No, it isn’t Stonehenge, which I’m really glad of, but a smaller site that is more accessible to visitors. It was so much fun to be able to explore the stones and the village near it from the comfort and safety of my own home, though I can’t wait to be able to get back out there and actually go there one day.

I was so delighted by just how proper and British this book is, and the setting really did it credit. It was quaint and neat, and I found it to be perfectly delightful. Well, the mystery part with all the bodies wasn’t really neat, but, even then, I loved just how tidy it all was. I adored the feeling that I was stepping into England every time I turned on my Kindle, and was so sad when it was over because then I was suddenly back in the US. I still find my mind wandering back to the woods, the standing stones, the open land Lexie walks with her beautiful dog Max; it’s that atmospheric and well-described.

The Plot: A Cozy, Suspenseful Mystery
This was such a delightful mystery. It was cozy and suspenseful. I enjoyed the twists and turns and never knowing quite who to believe. I liked that extraneous information wasn’t strewn in and that there were enough characters to keep things interesting. There was so much going on, but it never felt overwhelming. Each piece led, step by step, to the end, which made excellent sense and for a really fantastic, unexpected end. I really loved that I put myself into knots wondering if Helen was involved or not.

There were so many layers to the mystery. Every so often it did feel like I was having a hard time catching up to Lexie, but then there would be that “ah ha” moment and everything would just start falling into place, until something shattered it. This wasn’t a simple mystery, and I loved the light touches of complexity thrown in. Overall, though, I really loved how cozy and utterly proper it felt. It’s a far cry from a gritty thriller, but perhaps that’s why I love this book so much. It’s fun and pleasant despite the deaths.

I found the story to be riveting and clear. Once in a while it felt like it was deviating, but it always proved to be perfectly placed and logical. I did fear it was going to become too heavy with layers and collapse on itself, but that never happened. Bickley clearly had a deft hand when crafting this mystery and it made complete sense. Overall, a delightful mystery!

Overall: One of the Best Mysteries I’ve Read
I don’t know if I made my message clear enough: I loved this book. From the characters to the setting to the perfect mystery, it was perfectly quaint and charming. Mystery and charming don’t usually go together, but I can’t think of any better way to describe it. I had a ton of fun reading it and was so often torn between wanting to finish it to find out who did it (I was wrong so many times!) and just wanting to stay in the book. If you’re looking for a pleasant, cozy mystery or just a book that can take your imagination somewhere, I highly recommend this one!

Thank you to the author, Shauna Bickley, for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.… (meer)

We as citizens of the World are obsessed with reality shows but how well do we know those who should be closest to us? Bickley presents us in "Lies of the Dead" with a heavily character driven novel. We are permitted a peek in the door at siblings who have long held feelings about their middle sibling. The agreed mother's favorite. Why would he slip into the English coastal town and take Tom's boat in order to kill himself? Is that he's self-centered or was there a larger scheme? Did Liam kill himself or was it convenient to make people think he had? Andi, the sister, isn't as interested as Tom and she has bigger fish to fry. She believes that her ex is trying to take custody of their 15-yea-old twins. Bickley paints ordinary people in extraordinary situations and does it well.

Many authors will set aside the daily life for the sake of the plot line. Bickley maintains a balance between the story-lines driven by Andi and Tom in a way that never feels muddled or awkward. Tom gets the bigger ah-ha moments but he has his feet to the ground and Andi's turn is no less interesting despite being more grounded in her everyday. Andi's twin daughters aren't in the business of making her life easier. The girls are not as concerned in a very realistic way as Andi about threats to their well-being. Their mom is old, out of date, blowing things out of proportion and essentially a pain in their butts.

"Lies of the Dead" is a very human mystery/thriller. I have no complaints. Loved every moment of this novel.… (meer)