Book: Death in Disguise
Author: Emma Davies
Pub Day: Feb 9th 2022
About the Book:
Francesca Eve thought she was prepared for anything at the events she caters for in her pretty little Shropshire village. Missing canapes? No problem. Burnt brownies? A piece of cake… But a dead body? Now that’s a recipe for disaster.
Francesca is nervous about catering her first ever murder mystery party, but it’s clear from the clink of champagne flutes and piles of empty plates that the evening is a roaring success. The guests look spectacular in their disguises, whispering and giggling as they try to identify who killed beautiful young Becky. But days later the game takes a sinister turn when Becky is found poisoned, and all the signs point to the culprit being a party guest.
From the woman having an affair to the guest hiding her true identity, everyone had a secret – and it turns out that Becky knew them all. As Fran finds herself centre-stage in a real-life murder mystery, the finger of suspicion points at each guest in turn. And Fran starts to wonder, were any of these secrets dangerous enough to kill for?
Then the body of a second guest is found, and it becomes clear a deranged killer is going off-script. It seems anyone who was involved in the game that night is in their sights, even Fran. Can she unmask the murderer before the final curtain falls?
A page-turning cozy mystery packed with twists. If you love Clare Chase, M.C. Beaton and The Thursday Murder Club you’ll absolutely adore this unputdownable whodunnit.
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'Death In Disguise' by Emma Davies.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 9th February 2022.
This is the fifth book I have read by this author. It is also the first book in her 'Adam And Eve Mystery Series'. I have previously read 'A Year At Appleyard Farm', 'The Little Island Secret', 'My Husband's Lie' and 'After The Crash' and would recommend them all!!
I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis. I am a huge fan of Emma and if this book is half as good as 'A Year At Appleyard Farm', 'The Little Island Secret', 'My Husband's Lie' or 'After The Crash' it is bound to be an epic read!! The synopsis stated that 'If you love Clare Chase, M.C. Beaton and The Thursday Murder Club you’ll absolutely adore this unputdownable whodunnit.' I am a huge fan of Clare Chase so am interested to see if it will live up to this statement. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of 28 chapters. The chapters are medium to long in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in Shropshire, England 🏴 , UK 🇬🇧. The bonus for me of books that are partly or fully based in the UK is that I live in the UK and have sometimes visited places mentioned in the book which makes it easier to picture. I have actually visited and stayed in Shropshire so am looking forward to seeing if I recognise any places mentioned in the book.
This book is written in third person perspective with the main protagonists being Francesca Eve and Adam Smith. The benefits of third person perspective with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.
WOW!!! JUST WOW!!! EMMA YOU ARE JUST FULL OF SURPRISES AREN'T YOU? YOU CAN JUMP FROM GENRE TO GENRE ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY AND WHETHER IT IS A ROMANCE OR WOMEN'S FICTION YOU SLAM DUNK IT EVERY TIME AND THIS BOOK IS NO EXCEPTION!!!
Another huge success by Emma Davies!!! This book is beautifully written and filled with vivid descriptions to the point where I can hear the sea crashing and smell the beach while curled up on the sofa reading. The cover and synopsis suit the storyline perfectly.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT!!! BEST COSY MYSTERY EVER!!!!
I must admit that I had no idea what to expect when I started reading this but I will start by repeating that you Emma are a lady of many talents!!! The first book of yours that I fell in love with was 'My Husband's Lie' which was a psychological fiction filled with mystery and suspense, I then read 'A year at Applewood farm' which was filled with romance, I moved onto 'The Little Island Secret ' which was a gorgeous romantic holiday fiction and the last book I read by you was 'After The Crash' which was a romantic mystery. Yet here we have a cosy mystery and yet again you have outshone yourself!! Does your talent have no boundaries? This not just being a typical cosy mystery but one that had me laughing with tears on several occasions by Fran!!! Not many people can jump from one genre to another and even less do it well but you have done an absolutely fantastic job Emma!!!! Congratulations and I am looking forward to your next successful surprise!!
The storyline is absolutely addictive starting off with the perfect atmosphere for a cosy mystery being a murder mystery party!! A unique and perfectly fitting start for an actual murder mystery!! This is most definitely the best cosy mystery I have ever read!!! It was filled with murder, suspense, mystery, humour and rammed full of red herrings!! What more could you ever ask for in a cosy mystery? This book is perfect to read curled up by a fire or relaxing on a beach. There were so many different red herrings and different leads that Emma took me down and I enjoyed solving the puzzle along with Fran and Adam. I would never have worked out who the killer was so a MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to Emma for managing to surprise me. I have read several books by authors who have only ever written mysteries and yet have worked out the whodunit by 50% in some which is a pet hate for me. However, you normally write romance novelsz and amazing ones at that, and yet managed to completely shock me!!! I also loved how everything was explained and tied up as another pet hate of mine is when a piece of the puzzle is mentioned then seemingly forgotten and never spoken of again. Emma, I absolutely LOVED this book which is an absolutely, perfectly explosive start to what certainly promises to be an absolutely epic new series!!! I would LOVE to see this book turned into a movie which is sure to be a huge hit. Keep up the amazing work and I cannot wait for your next success whether it's another romance or the second part in this fantastic series!!
Well, I must say I think that is the quickest that I have ever bonded with a character!! I absolutely love Fran!!! When it started and I realised that she was a 50 year old caterer I did not know what to expect but straight away her personality lit up like a lighthouse. She made me laugh until I had tears streaming down my face. I can't remember the last time a character made me laugh so much! The fact that this was a cosy murder mystery was even better as she definitely made it lighter than most I have read. She is such a larger than life and bubbly character who says it as it is, doesn't take any crud and has the most gorgeous personality. She is friendly, knows what to says who to trust and the fact that she swears now and again makes her my perfect cup of tea!! Fran is definitely the type of woman I would want by my side whether I wanted to laugh, cry or have a 5 course meal. The fact that she just walked into Nick's home, a stranger she had never met, and just started cleaning his kitchen and arranging his food was brilliant!!! I immediately clicked with her after the first few pages. I am happy to say that the same went with Adam who was nervous, funny and minced his words. They are complete opposites who made the perfect team. Again, neither knew each other previously yet they hit it off straight away and their second meeting was just perfect. When Fran answers the door to him after previously having just a ten minute conversation with him weeks before and goes on to shoving a spoon in his face to try food, it just couldn't have been more perfect!!! These two complete opposites couldn't have made a more perfect pairing and I cannot wait to meet them both again. They are most certainly the type of characters whose personalities stay with you for a long time and I've already started missing them... Hint hint Emma 😉
DO NOT PICK THIS BOOK UP UNLESS YOU HAVE CLEARED YOUR SCHEDULES AS YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ⚠!!
Yet one more HUGE CONGRATULATIONS Emma on the best cosy mystery I have ever read and I am impatiently waiting for the next success in this series!!
Overall an absolutely addictive, hilarious, fun, light hearted cosy mystery which will keep you up until 2am turning the pages
Genres covered in this novel include Murder mystery, Cozy Mystery and Crime Fiction amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as FANS of Agatha Christie, Clare Chase, Helena Dixon and anyone who loves an amazing cosy mystery and especially you reading this!! .
326 pages.
This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle via Amazon or free on kindle unlimited (at time of review) which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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@EmmaDavies @Bookouture @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86
Author Bio
After a varied career, Emma Davies once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun and humorous (and not necessarily true) anecdote for their website. She wrote the following: 'I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three.' Well the job in the design studio didn't work out but she's now a forty something mother of three and is happy to report the rest of her dream came true.
After many years as a finance manager she now writes full time, and is far happier playing with words than numbers. She lives with her husband, three children, and two guinea pigs in rural Shropshire where she writes in all the gaps in between real life. It's a county she adores, her love of its beautiful people and landscapes providing endless inspiration for her books, and in fact the only thing that would make Shropshire more idyllic is if it were by the sea.
Pop over to her website www.emmadaviesauthor.com where, amongst other things, you can read about her passion for Pringles and singing loudly in the car. You can also wave to her on twitter @EmDaviesAuthor or find her on Facebook (a little too often than is good for her).
Social Media
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