Anna Legat

Barbara’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Series: Shires Mysteries #1
Publication Date: 8/26/21
Period: England, Bishops Well, Contemporary
Number of Pages: 207

Bishops Well is a quaint market town populated by some eccentric citizens. The author does an excellent job of painting a picture of Bishops Well for us, as well as fleshing out each of the citizens as they are introduced. Several of those citizens are directly involved in our murder investigation, and, of course, we learn a whole lot more about them. Actually, we have two murders to solve – are they related?

Our main characters are Maggie Kaye and Samuel (Sam) Dee who became neighbors a few months ago when Maggie divided her grandparent’s large home in two and sold one half of it to Sam who was moving to Bishops Well from London. Both characters are middle-aged and generally pretty staid. Maggie is a spinster; a busybody; a part-time school teacher; a bit larger and jigglier than she’d like; an avid gardener; and perhaps, an alcoholic given the amount of alcohol she consumes in this story. Sam is a recent widower who is still in deep mourning for his wife. He decided to retire from his law practice and move from London because he needed to be someplace where he wasn’t constantly reminded of his wife, Alice. Oh – by the way – did I mention Maggie sees dead people? Well, she does. They don’t communicate with each other in any way, but she sees them nonetheless. She even sees Sam’s dead wife.

One of the residents of Bishops Well is the famed movie director Richard Ruta and his current (third) wife Penny. Richard and Sam have been friends for a great many years, so it is nice to have a friend within the town. Sam still isn’t really ready for socializing, but Richard insists that Sam attend his sixty-eighth birthday party. Since Richard also insists on him bringing a plus-one, Sam invites his neighbor to attend with him. Little do they know that Richard will be dead before the night is over – and right before their eyes.

Maggie and Sam (particularly Maggie) can’t seem to keep their curiosity under control and are constantly butting in and asking questions. Then, there is a second murder. Someone in their village must be a murderer – or is it someone from the village?

I liked that the characters in this book were older, but, overall, it just wasn’t an exciting read, nor was it fast-paced. There were lots of red herrings and lots of people with motives for wanting to commit the murders, so you could be guessing until the end – but it isn’t likely. You’ll probably figure out who it was very early on, but you won’t know the full why of it until the end when it is revealed. I wasn’t particularly enamored with nor excited about either of the lead characters. I will probably read the next title in the series, At Death’s Door, and see where things go from there.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.… (meer)

DI Gillian Marsh takes on the case of Bradley Watson, found dead on the grouncds of prestigious private (in English parlance, "public") school, Whalehurst. He's the son of the groundskeeper, and for that last year and a half has been working as the groundskeeper's assistant. He also has a history of drug dealing, for which he has served time. Yet in the last couple of years, he's either gone straight, or become much more careful.

He also has a memory card in his pocket, with very stalkerish pictures of Rachel Snyder, a Whalehurst student who has diseappeared. The autopsy soon confirms that Watson died either the night she disappeared, or very early the next morning.

At Whalehurst, no one wants to talk. The headmaster, Dr. Featherstone, who might be expected to want to get to the bottom of this mystery to protect his charges, even attempts to bar the police from the grounds. What's going on?

Rachel's best friend, Rhiannon, insists they were never that close, and anyway had recently drifted apart. The boy she had introduced to her parents as her boyfriend, Josh, says much the same thing. What's "recently"? About three months ago. Rachel's parents agree that her behavior changed about three months ago. They thought it might be just normal teenage angst, but feared it might be drugs. Was she using? Was she dealing?

Meanwhile, Gillian's own grown daughter, Tara, and Tara's boyfriend, Charlie, are moving out of Gillian's house into Gillian's parents' house. Her mother has recently had a stroke; her father is in the early stages of dementia, and they are stridently refusing to accept help. So Tara approached them with the idea that they'd be doing her a real favor if she and Charlie could move in, since it's closer to the school where Tara teaches--Whalehurst. But Gillian has barely settled into having her house to herself, her cat Fritz, and her dog Corky, when DS Webber turns up on her doorstep, having been kicked out by his wife too late in the evening to get a room anywhere.

More directly relevant to the two probably-related cases, her boss, Detective Superintendent Scarfe, is adamant she can't investigate anything drug-related on this case because there's a higher-level drug gangs investigation going on and she'll interfere with it.

It's complex and chaotic, and she and her team are working hard to find the right threads to pull on, impose some order on the confusing evidence they have, and find out where Rachel is, and who killed Bradley Watson.

Its' an interestingly complex story, with good character development, and a nicely nuanced portrayal of police trying to solve a serious crime while making it clear that police, and police institutions, are as human and flawed as any other people and organizations.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.… (meer)

The second outing for Anna Legat's DI Gillian Marsh is even better than the first. The crime field is a crowded one, but this novel stands out. First, it is not a conventional murder mystery - instead DI Marsh must investigate a car crash with multiple fatalities. The intricately structured plot moves with a satisfying clockwork precision as the relationships between the victims slowly become apparent. Second, the grimly utilitarian prose we often find in thrillers is wholly absent here; Legat's authorial voice is barbed, often humorous, and reading it is as much of a pleasure as unravelling the plot. I am looking forward to more adventures with waspish but also vulnerable DI Marsh.… (meer)