From a stack of remainder books I bought my mom during the shutdown. I was prepared for a mediocre cozy and was pleased it was a fairly well written, solid narrative. Enjoyed the publishing bits, actually. ( )

Flanders writes a great mystery, whose main character has a dry wit that I enjoy.

Howl of Wolves is centred around a theatre production, which isn't one of my favourite settings, but it worked. I enjoyed watching Sam put facts and observations together without wedging herself in where she didn't belong, or going around the backs of the police. The murderer might have been several people but wasn't obvious enough to ruin the surprise.

I'd like to hope that there will be a fifth book, but it's been awhile since this one was published. No more Sam and Jake adventures would be a disappointment. ( )

This is a British novel, so their ways of thinking are always different than Americans. I enjoyed the "Sleuth" behind this book editor. ( )

About the only disagreeable thing I have to say about A Howl of Wolves is that the mystery took a while to get going, but then I didn't particularly care. This is a series in which I love the main character, and I love the way the author writes so I can forgive some things that other readers cannot.

Samantha Clair is basically a good person who's worked in a self-absorbed business for years... so that self-absorption rubs off from time to time. I adore her sense of humor, and I think I could live very happily inside her head (even though her paragon of a mother, Helena, would rapidly drive me around the bend). One of the perks of this series, I believe, is all the inside information readers glean, and this time A Howl of Wolves delivers twofold. Not only do we learn more about Sam's world of publishing, we're taken behind the scenes in the world of theatre.

This insider information helps to carry one of the themes that runs throughout the book: how society views the place of older women in the world. As Flanders expounded on her theme, I found myself with blood boiling one second and wanting to laugh and cheer the next.

Sam proves to be so good in digging up the dirt on the dead that I got caught up in the flow of the story and forgot to wear my deerstalker cap, so the killer's identity came as a bit of a surprise. (See what happens when one doesn't pay attention?) Now that I've devoured A Howl of Wolves, I find myself in a familiar position: waiting patiently for Samantha Clair to put down her editing pen and start investigating murders once more. ( )

A Howl of Wolves by Judith Flanders is the fourth installment in A Sam Clair Mystery series. Sam Clair and Jake Field are attending the opening night of The Spanish Tragedy in a West End theater. Their neighbor, Kay and her son, Bim are in the production. It is a macabre play with thirteen "deaths" and a lot of blood. In the beginning of the second half, the curtain pulls back to reveal the tenth faux body, and everyone is shocked when it is not the dummy. Someone has replaced the dummy with the play's director, Campbell Davison. Jake, as a detective with Scotland Yard, is on the case. But we all know that Sam cannot stay out of a mystery. The more Sam digs into Campbell Davison's life, the more secrets she discovers. He was not well liked by the cast and crew which adds to the suspect list. Sam must work through the clues to catch the evildoer especially after he ups the game by taking an innocent. Who is behind the murder of Campbell Davison? Can Sam and Jake catch the culprit before he takes another life?

A Howl of Wolves is written in the first person, so we experience the story through Sam's eyes. It was interesting to find out more about the life of a book editor. There is more to the job than reading manuscripts (wouldn't that be a dream job) and, like with many jobs, there are politics at play. I enjoyed the setting of London which gives this cozy a unique feel. I would recommend reading A Murder of Magpies before embarking on A Howl of Wolves. The author does not provide the necessary backstory on Sam. I like that Sam is a smart, generous woman with a natural curiosity. A Howl of Wolves is hard to get into (slow starter) and the pace does not improve. Judith Flanders is good at misdirection. She does send readers down a rabbit hole. Unfortunately, the misdirection only works if the reader has not solved the mystery first. I knew the who and why before I was a quarter of the way through the book (glaring clues). The investigation was not active. It involved more research than questioning. There are pages devoted to Sam's thoughts on the case and speculation (which I started skimming through). Bim was a cute character and the neighbors are lucky that Sam is a willing babysitter (not sure why, but she is). I am giving A Howl of Wolves 3 out of 5 stars. I am not the right audience for A Sam Clair Mystery series. I suggest you obtain a sample to see if it is the book for you (we all have different preferences). ( )