Book Description
In a quiet little village, mourners gather for a church funeral. But some of the tears flowing are fake – and Beth Haldane suspects foul play…
On a rainy afternoon, Beth Haldane accompanies her elderly mother Wendy to the funeral of her boyfriend and local councillor Len. But as they gather in the church, Beth can’t help but notice how many women are there who look just like her mother.
As the service begins it soon becomes clear that all of the women thought they were Len’s special someone – and one of them even claims to be his distraught wife. Wendy suspects foul play and immediately asks Beth to investigate.
As Beth begins to speak to the women she has to ask, was one of Len’s many disgruntled girlfriends out for revenge? Why was Len borrowing money from the ladies he romanced? And why did his work for the local council seem so suspicious?
Then, Len’s secretary Bella is found dead amongst the dahlias in a planter. Beth starts to suspect Len was involved in something far more dangerous than she’d assumed but what did Bella know about his business that led to her unfortunate end?
With the village rumour mill in full swing, fingers start to point at Wendy. After all, distraught Wendy is telling everyone who lends her an ear that Len was murdered – and she saw Len the very evening he was found dead. The clock is ticking for Beth to clear her mother’s name before it’s too late!
A deliciously cozy and gripping murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and The Thursday Murder Club.
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BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Murder Affair' by Alice Castle.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Alice Castle, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication Date 18th May 2023.
This is the second book I have read by this author. I have previously read the first book in this series 'The Murder Mystery' which I highly recommend. It is also the ninth book in the 'Beth Haldane Mystery' series but can be read as a standalone.
I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching beautiful cover and intriguing as well as intriguing sounding synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A deliciously cozy and gripping murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and The Thursday Murder Club' I am a huge fan of The Thursday Murder Club so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Alice and of this is half as good as the first book in this series The Murder Mystery it is guaranteed to be a page turne!!! 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 46 chapters. The chapters are short in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in Dulwich, 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.
This book is written in third person perspective with the main protagonist being Beth Haldane. The benefits of third person perspective 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!!! Absolutely LOVED this cozy murder mystery and looks like I've gone and found myself a new favourite author!!!
This book is extremely well written. It is just so easy to read and the descriptions were absolutely gorgeous and vivid. The way Alice describes everything in her writing completely sets the scene for readers ensuring they are can see everything around them in depth and detail.
Yet another brilliant addition to a fantastic series!! I cannot wait to go back and get sucked in to the previous books and cannot wait for the rest of the books in this brilliant series to come out!! The storyline is fast paced and grips the reader straight in from the first page to the very last. Beth has been roped in to going to her mother's boyfriend's (Len) funeral but there's more drama at the funeral than on the soaps when arguments about whose Len's beloved really was!! Unfortunately for Beth's mum it turned out that there were many of them and then begins to think that he must have been murdered so begs Beth to find out the truth. Beth agrees and starts digging into Len which leads to half of the village becoming suspects!!! Will Beth discover who really killed Len and why? Can she find out before there is another death in Dulwich? Well ladies and gentlemen, if you want to find out the answers just grab your copy now!! I promise you won't regret it but you may just end up as addicted as I was and buying all the previous books in this brilliant series!!! I was completely invested in the storyline which completely sucked me in from beginning to end. This truly is a page turner and I felt myself walking around with my kindle in my hand every chance I could get and if I couldn't use my kindle then it was the kindle app on my phone. The atmosphere is perfectly suited for the plot and with the fantastic descriptions throughout I felt myself investigating alongside Beth throughout. It actually made me want to visit Dulwich regardless of the fact that there was a murder. Alice's writing style completely captures the readers imagination and this is just the type of book that can be read in the sun on a beach or on a rainy day curled up by the fire in your living room. I enjoyed the fact that although this is a cozy mystery there wasn't any unnecessary violence involved making it a nice "soft" crime. There doesn't seem to be many of these available which is a shame as many of my friends ask for crime recommendations but do not want anything with too much violence so I will definitely be recommending this to them along with other readers! There is so much going on in this book to keep the reader absolutely absorbed in the pages. One of the other things I admire about this book is that although it is filled with suspense, murder, mystery and twists there is also plenty of humour to lighten the story up ,breaking up the bad with some good. This book kept me guessing throughout and was filled with unexpected twits. I never did guess who the murderer was so a HUGE WELL done to Alice. It is getting harder to shock me but you managed it perfectly!!!
Although this is the ninth book in the series I had absolutely no problems reading it without the others. Any details or events that have previously happened are mentioned in just the right amount of detail to let a new reader know what has happened and yet not too much to bore a previous reader.
The characters were all well developed and realistic. I was completely invested in Beth and found that I related to her in the fact that we are both mothers of boys and both know the fun that comes with it!! Beth is just a likeable and friendly character that makes the reader want her to succeed. She is a down to earth single mum who just wants the best for her son in a village filled with mums with partners and many of whom are snobby. Beth struggles to fit in with the typical crowd and this was another thing I could relate to her with. I enjoyed watching the relationship between herself and the other characters continue to develop and watching her meeting new people. There was a great mix of characters in this story and I loved meeting many of them, some who made me laugh, some I found annoying and others who were just strange. I always seem to love books with strong heroine protagonists and this book doesn't fail there!!! Katie is another female character thay I really liked and I really enjoyed meeting her and several other characters again, along with meeting new ones. This book contains an absolutely fantastic eclectic group of characters who work together to make this addictive storyline come together and Alice does an absolutely fantastic job of bringing each and every one of them to life ensuring they leap out of the pages at the reader. I am looking forward to meeting Beth again and seeing what adventures and mystery she gets wrapped up in next!!!
A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Alice on an absolutely perfect addition to an addictive new series!! I cannot wait to get sucked into your previous and future books!! This is exactly why you are om my favourite 5 cosy crime authors list !!! Here's to your next success 🥂
Overall a perfect and page turning addition to an addictive series with an absolutely fabulous, funny, lovable and memorable main protagonist!
Genres covered in this novel include Cozy Mystery, Thriller, Women Sleuths, Humourous Fiction, Cozy Animal Mystery, Literature And Fiction, Murder Suspense, Amateur Sleuths, Police Procedural, Crime Thriller, Contemporary Fiction, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Women Sleuths, Murder and Noir Fiction amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin, Verity Bright, T.E Kinsey, Helena Dixon, The Thursday Murder Club and anyone looking for the perfect cozy murder mystery series to sink your teeth into.
290 pages
This book is just £2.99 to purchase on kindle, free with kindle unlimited and £8.99 in paperback via Amazon 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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Author Bio
Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Alice is an avid reader of crime fiction, her favourite stories are cozy crimes with a strong sense of place. When she couldn’t find a series about her beloved south London, she decided to write her own – and single mum amateur sleuth Beth Haldane was born. Alice also writes twisty psychological thrillers for HQ Digital under the name A.M. Castle. The Perfect Widow was a top selling audiobook in 2019 and The Invitation hit the top 50 on Amazon UK in 2021. Alice lives with her two children and two cats and, if she isn’t writing or reading a whodunit, she’ll be watching one on telly.
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Amazon: https://geni.us/B0BZYYRSPZsocial
