Synopsis: in a quite Cotswold village, all hell is about to break loose!
Monica Noble is throwing a party to welcome the village’s new residents. The guests include Margaret and her cheating husband Sean, a celebrity chef, an Oxford university professor, a 40-something divorcee, and the owner of a chain of gyms. Then as the drinks are flowing, a shotgun blast rings out. One of the guests is found dead. DCI Dury and Sergeant Jim Greer are soon on the scene and discover that the victim had many enemies. Almost all the guests harbour secrets and motives for murder. Even Monica’s daughter comes under suspicion. When another villager is strangled to death nearly a week later, the stakes are raised.
In a cross between Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple", MC Beaton's "Agatha Raisin", and Caroline Graham's "Midsomer Murders", comes the first in a new British cosy mystery series featuring Monica Noble, wife of the local vicar of Heyford Bassett, where "... crime was practically unknown .."
After discovering one of her garden party guests is quite dead, we follow the investigation into the murder mostly through the eyes of Monica. Whilst Monica herself does a bit of sleuthing, it is mainly up to DCI Jason Dury and Sergeant Jim Greer to solve the murder.
I really enjoyed this - the story flowed along, there was enough tension as the police slowly work their way through the suspects - all of whom are hiding secrets of their own.
As mentioned, Monica is not quite prominent as a sleuth in this outing, quite possibly, having gotten a taste for murder, she will step out into the limelight in the following stories. I am looking forward to reading more and see how the character of Monica develops.
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