‘A Body at Boot Camp’ by Ellie Alexander

Published by Storm Publishing,
25 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-83700158-8 (PB)

Book four in the Meg Reed series finds our intrepid magazine reporter in Fort Vancouver’s Historic Old Army Barracks. The place is very creepy, and Meg is certain that it is haunted. She is currently limping through damp grass with blisters on her heels and wishing she was somewhere else. Why, oh! why did she sign up for a brutal fitness boot camp. Eventually, she reached the barracks, with only one thing on her mind, a hot shower. At that moment, someone barrelled through the door and knocked her off her feet, although he raced away, she was pretty sure that it was Tim Baxter, she recognised his bulk and black, hooded sweatshirt but what was he doing in the locker room? Eventually she found the cedar steam room door, which was wide open, and she sank onto a warm bench. Just what she needed. Then she realised that Billy was there. If she could just get her contact lenses cleared, she might be able to see him and apologise for cutting out early. She raised her foot to show him her injury. But Billy didn’t reply so, she walked over to find why he wasn’t responding. There was a bandana knotted around his neck. Someone had strangled him, Billy was dead!   

Meg worked for Northwest Extreme. Her boss Greg encouraged his staff to head outside for a lunchtime run on the waterfront path or mountain bike in Forest Park. Meg had had, quite a crush on Greg when she first worked there, but her friend Matt said he didn’t trust him, so, if Matt had reservations about Greg, she felt they were probably well-founded.   

The news that a Japanese company were interested in buying out the magazine was huge shock to the staff. Greg continues that nothing has yet been decided. And asks for ideas for the next issue. The room was silent, the staff most likely digesting the news that they may be taken over and out of a job. Meg felt bad for him and suggested that she sign up with ‘Mind Over Mudder’. Greg was delighted.  And what does Meg do, Find a dead body. 

Meg sets out to investigate and discovers that the gruelling workouts and scaling ten-foot walls maybe not be the main danger, but the people running bedside her maybe!  

A good mystery with many twists and turns, that will keep you turning the pages.  Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Ellie Alexander is the bestselling author of more than forty cozy mystery novels. Her books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Japanese, reaching readers worldwide. She is the founder of the annual Ashland Mystery Festival and a frequent guest at library programs and author events throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond, including the popular Northwest Authors series and independent bookshops across the region. A proud Pacific Northwest native, Alexander now lives in Sunnyvale, California.

‘A Thousand Silent Cries’ by Karen Millie-James

Published by Vinci Books,
22 October 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-03673338-4

Ten years ago, Flis Carrington’s four-year-old daughter died.  She was, and still is, devastated.  Flis finds some solace in her work as a clinical psychologist, but over the years she has lost touch with many friends and her relationship with husband James seems fractured beyond repair.  James is a ferociously ambitious barrister, and Fliss is respected as an expert witness within the legal profession.  They seem to be the perfect high-flying couple.  Sadly, whilst they are still living together, they lead increasingly separate lives, and the façade is about to crumble. 

As the book opens Flis is preparing food for a small dinner party that James has arranged hoping to forge links with an influential high court judge Anthony Beaumont.  The discord between husband and wife begins when James gets home to be told that Flis has extended the invitation to include her old friend Cydney Granger.  Anthony and his wife Dora, also a high court judge, arrive just before Cydney and her partner; both women pick up on the tension between their hosts and empathise with Flis’s still raw feelings of loss.  Dora is the first to reach out to the grieving mother, then Cydney arrives and senses that something even more troubling and profound is unsettling the Carringtons’ world.  Thus begins a tragic, complex and absorbing story.

 

Cydney is a renowned corporate forensic investigator, and it is she who drives the narrative.  Her day job involves exposing, analysing and providing evidence to employers who suspect misconduct from criminals working either within or from outside their organisations.  Such detective skills, of course, also equip her to discover other illicit activities and an instinctive ability to know when someone or something is disturbed.  But that’s not all, she also has a paranormal spirit guide.  These mystical abilities set Cydney apart from other characters in the narrative, whilst never distancing her from the reader – quite a feat.

 

As chilling events from the past reach unexpectedly into the present, carefully curated back stories are exposed and several of the characters find themselves confronted by memories and villains they thought were long gone.  Cydney is determined to help Flis and expose the lies that threaten to cause emotional, psychological and physical harm to good people.  It is a dangerous pursuit.  Her spirit guide is just that, a guide; his input tantalizes without telling all, and as his observations tease Cydney, an ever-increasing sense of tension and jeopardy develops.  

 

A Thousand Silent Cries is the third novel to feature Cydney Granger; it works perfectly well as a stand-alone.  Karen Millie-James writes beautifully as she weaves together detective fiction, romance and paranormal fantasy to create a thrilling read.  

 

A gripping novel of intrigue, violence, love and highly recommended.

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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Karen Millie-James was born in North London to a father who had escaped Germany with the kindertransport in 1939 and a mother who was a talented window dresser and designer in London's West End. Inspired to do well, Karen studied business and languages at the University of Westminster which led to her joining the legal department of Levi Strauss, quickly being promoted to European Group Company Secretary where she remained until the company closed down its UK headquarters. Karen never intended to write a book but what started as a hobby in her spare time away from the office, working in the evenings until late into the night and at weekends, has now become a new and exciting part of her life. Karen now lives in the Buckinghamshire countryside with her husband. 

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.  

‘The Body at the Windmill’ by Kate Hardy

Published by Storm Publishing,
7 January 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83700274-0 (PB)

When Georgina’s cleaner Jodie receives a call from her son Harry’s school, saying that he is unwell, Georgina offers to drive her to Great Wenborough Windmill to collect Harry who was on a school trip doing Victorian studies. In this instance how grain used to be milled in the old days and turned into flour. 

When they arrive at the five-storey windmill, it is not just Harry who is ill but most of the class and teachers. They assume it is nasty bug, but it is eventually traced to chicken sausage rolls provided to the children. Suspicion eventually falls on the mill owner Louise Wilkins, who had spent a year restoring it. Then Georgie’s Springer spaniel Bert also goes down with poisoning after eating a sausage roll.

The added news from Jodie the following morning that the teacher Miss Hurst had died last night prompts Georgie to get to the bottom of these poisonings. 

When later talking to her friend Sybbie she learns that a dead rat was found in the grain.  Is someone trying to frame Louise and cause difficulties for her new business?  Doing some research, Georgina discovered that in the early 1800’s there were more than 400 windmills across the country, most of them demolished or derelict. Further information from Cesca, Sybbie’s daughter is that Louise has been experiencing problems over the last few months when people have been spreading rumours. Silly stuff, about odd happenings and an old story about a mad miller who murdered someone years ago. 

While no nonsense DI Colin Bradshaw, Georgina other half follows up on the poisonings. Georgina decides to contact her friend, Doris, the ghost of an eighteen-year-old girl who had died after a fall down the stairs at Rockery Farm more than half a century ago and is now Georgina’s home, and who might have some insight into the matter. Delving into the mill’s dark history she uncovers a chilling parallel.  Over a century earlier, the miller’s daughter Margaret Chorley was accused of poisoning a local family with arsenic-laced flour and was hanged in 1845. Could someone for reasons unknown be following the Victorian case as a blueprint for a modern-day murder?  Or has someone got it in for Louise Wilkins? 

As the poisoning continues, can Georgina solve the mystery of the current day poisoner? 

A tantalising mystery and intriguing mystery. Recommended.
-------
Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Kate Hardy has written for as long as she can remember; it started with stories about ponies and dogs, moved into ghosts and history, and then into local history and romance. She's won three Romantic Novelists' Association awards for her romantic fiction - and is thoroughly enjoying her new life of crime! She lives in Norwich with her husband, two grown-up children, two spaniels and too many books to count. When she's not writing or researching, she'll be out at a gig or the theatre, at ballet class, doing cross-stitch, taking photographs of the sunrise while persuading the spaniels to stay still for one second, fossicking around on a beach or in archives, or exploring ancient buildings. She loves learning new things, which is why you'll always discover something different in a Kate Hardy book. Oh - and, like her heroine Georgina Drake, Kate's deaf but doesn't let it hold her back in any way. 

The Macavity Awards 2026

 (for works published in 2025)

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. Congratulations to all.

 Want to be a member/subscriber, go here. 
Mystery Readers Journal themes for 2026: Fairs, Fetes, and Festivals; Mysteries set in France; Cross-Genre Mysteries; and Mysteries set in India. 

Macavity Winners 2026
(for works published in 2025)

 Best Mystery Novel

*Crooks by Lou Berney
(William Morrow)

 Also nominated:

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

Clown Town by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

River of Lies by James L'Etoile (Oceanview Publishing)

The White Crow by Michael Robotham (Scribner)

All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur Books)

 
Best First Mystery 

*History Lessons by Zoe B. Wallbrook
(Soho Press)

Also nominated:

Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku
(Minotaur Books)

Dead Money by Jakob Kerr
(Bantam Books)

Voices of the Elysian Fields by Michael Rigg
(Level Best Books)

Stillwater by Tanya Scott
(Grove Atlantic)

Best Mystery Nonfiction

*Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover's Travel Guide to New England by Dawn M. Barclay
 (Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation by Michael Cannell
(Minotaur Books)

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press)

V Is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death by Kathryn Harkup
 (Bloomsbury Sigma)

Edgar Allan Poe: A Life by Richard Kopley
(University of Virginia Press)

Cooler than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard by C.M. Kushins
 (Mariner Books)

Best Mystery Short Story

“Six-Armed Robbery” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (in Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, and Michael Bracken, Wildside Press)

Also Nominated

“Hollywood Prometheus” by Christa Faust (in Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West, Bywater Books)

“Finding Jimmy Baldwin” by Cheryl Head (in Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West, Bywater Books)

“The Devil Himself” by Vaseem Khan (in Double Crossing Van Dine, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor, Crippen & Landru Publishers)

“The Skies Are Red” by Richie Narvaez (in On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito, Rock and a Hard Place Press)

“Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2025)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery

*Bye Bye Blackbird by Elizabeth Crowens
(Level Best Books)

Also nominated:

A Daughter's Guide to Mothers and Murder by Dianne Freeman
(Kensington Books)

City Lights by Claire M. Johnson
(Level Best Books)

The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver
(Boldwood Books)

The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler
(Kensington Books)

No. 10 Doyers Street by Radha Vatsal
 (Level Best Books)

 Many back issues of Mystery Readers Journal
are available as single copies in hardcopy or PDF.
 

Murder Takes a Holiday: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Historical Mysteries I: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Private Eyes I & Private Eyes II : Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

 Environmental Mysteries: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Irish Mysteries: Available as PDF and Hardcopy.

 Senior Sleuths: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

Legal Mysteries: Available as PDF or Hardcopy.

 Mysteries set in France: Available as PDF

BLOGS
Mystery Fanfare
Dying for Chocolate

Janet Rudolph on Facebook
janet@mysteryreaders.org

‘Murder at the Loch’ by Dee MacDonald

Published by Bookouture,
26 February 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-83525508-7 (PB)

Ally McKinley now age sixty-eight is taking a break from running her little guest house, The Auld Malthouse and sitting gazing at Loch Soular’s, calm water surrounded by mountains and heather clad foothills reflecting on her good fortune in moving from Edinburgh to one of the most beautiful spots in the Western Highlands of Scotland.  Looking across the water, she spotted something yellow floating in the water. A sack or something and wondered what kind of person would dump something in such a beautiful spot. 

She was just beginning to relax when the Earl of Locharran’s muddy Land Rover drew up a few yards away. Ally watched him approach, still a handsome man always with a twinkle in his eye. He plonked himself down on a nearby boulder and said, ‘I need to have a wee chat with you’. As he issues her an invitation for drinks to meet his new fiancé, Elena, Ally draws his attention to the yellow shape in the water. Could be a sheep or a young deer said Hamish dismissively. As it drifted closer, Hamish pulled out his binoculars and looked steadily for a couple of minutes, then said, ‘call the police, we are looking at a body’.

Detective Inspector Bob Rigby hails from Birmingham, but his Scottish wife has persuaded him to move to the Western Highlands as nothing much happens there except an occasional brawl at closing time. Oops! 

When Ally finally retunes home, she sits down beside the log burner, but all she can see is the pale lifeless woman with her starring eyes and white-blonde hair. Realising she is shaking Ally pours herself a small whisky. Although a walk to Ross’s house, Ally sets of to see him.  Ross is a calm patient man, and they have grown very fond of each other. 

Although it was quickly established that the dead woman was not from Locharran, Ivan the barman from the Craigmonie Hotel Bar had been expecting his fiancée Kristina from Inverness the previous day, when he couldn’t pick her up, she told him a nice lady was giving her a lift!  But she hadn’t arrived. When he learned of her death, Ivan wept. According to Murdo McConnachie, the post man, a font of all knowledge, Ivan was a heavy drinker who commenced a two-day drinking binge to assuage his grief and was later found unconscious in his room. 

Before she knows it, Ally finds herself wading into the middle of an investigation. Who was the mystery woman and why was she killed? Her enquiries take her all over the village: from the corner shop, run by Queenie and Bessie McDougall, who were well into their seventies, to Mrs Fraser and Mrs Jamieson from the castle, home of local earl Hamish Sinclair where preparations are underway for his upcoming – and much gossiped about – wedding.

Then matters take a really bad turn the morning after the wedding, when Elena is found poisoned.  Is there a killer on the loose in the Scottish Highlands?   

A tantalising mystery, that keeps you guessing. Recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Dee MacDonald left Scotland and headed for London at the beginning of the swinging sixties. After typing her way round the West End, she became an air stewardess on long haul routes with BA (then BOAC) for eight years. After that she did market research at Heathrow for both the government statistics and for BA, she became a sales rep. and was the receptionist at the Thames Television Studios in Teddington when they had the franchise. She then ran a small B&B for ten years in Cornwall, where she lives with her husband. Dee has one son and two grandsons who live locally. She has now written twelve novels. Here first series featured Kate Palmer. Her most recent series features Ally McKinleye. 

‘The Corpse on the Bristol Train’ by Edward Marston

Published by Allison & Busby,
22 October 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903306-4 (HB)

In 1868 the railways have expanded to connect the cities of Britain and unite much of the kingdom. When the last train of the day from Paddington to Bristol finishes its journey, a railway policeman checks the train and discovers a beautiful young woman sitting in a first-class carriage, eyes closed, looking very serene. For a moment he thinks she is asleep but then he realises that she is dead. The route is part of the Great Western Railway, which has a reputation to maintain and exercises a great deal of influence, this means that when they demand that the case is handled by Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck, his superior, Superintendent Tallis, orders him and his sergeant to head to Bristol without delay. Colbeck is popularly known as the Railway Detective because his most successful and famous cases have been linked to the railways. Colbeck loves the railways and is very knowledgeable about them, unlike his assistant, Detective Sergeant Leeming, who enjoys working with Colbeck but very much dislikes the amount of rail travel this entails. 

Colbeck has dealt with many violent and complex crimes connected with the railways, but it is soon evident that this investigation could be one of his most challenging, mainly because there is no means of identifying the young woman. Her appearance and clothing indicate that she had elegant tastes and was able to afford good quality clothes, but a postmortem examination reveals that despite her outstanding beauty she had been very ill and would have died within the next few months. The doctors examining her body believe she had been poisoned but struggle to identify the substance. Soon witnesses come forward who inform the investigators that the young woman had been travelling with a man, who was well-dressed and appeared respectable, and was many years older than the dead woman. One witness gained the impression that the man was the young woman’s father, another insisted that they appeared to be husband and wife, but both accounts agree that he treated her with respect and tenderness, and she seemed to be happy in his company. This presents the detectives with another conundrum: now they must discover not only the dead woman’s identity and why she was travelling to Bristol, but also the means of her death and why the man who was escorting her had abandoned her corpse on the train and calmly walked away, so composed that he even raised his hat to the stationmaster as he left the station. 

In the meantime, back in London, Colbeck’s wife, Madeleine, misses her husband while he is away investigating crime, but she has a full and happy life of her own. As well as devoting time to her young daughter and dealing with visits from her opinionated father, Madeleine is an artist who specialises in painting pictures of trains. This is an unusual subject for a Victorian female artist, but she had learned to love trains from her father who had spent most of his working life as a train driver. In fact, Madeleine first met Colbeck when he investigated a railway crime in which her father was attacked. Colbeck and Madeleine share a passion for railways, and he encourages her to develop her artistic talent. Now Madeleine has been offered the most exciting commission of her artistic life. A wealthy and cultured man asks her to paint a picture of Euston Station in the evening when it is quiet and full of shadows, and she is excited by the challenge. 

Life is not going as well for Superintendent Edward Tallis: after dedicating a lifetime to service in the army and the police force, Tallis’ health is failing and he is finding it hard to concentrate and stay awake. He has to confront the dreary prospect of retirement, but he is determined to carry on until he has participated in the successful conclusion of the final case of his career. Although Tallis can sometimes be more of a burden than a help when he tries to take over investigations, Colbeck respects the Superintendent and will do everything he can to enable him to be the arresting officer, so that they can gain justice for the beautiful young woman whose corpse was abandoned on the Bristol Train. 

The Corpse on the Bristol Train is the twenty-fifth full length novel that features the Railway Detective. It is also the culmination of this bestselling series. The central characters are all very human and their flaws and challenges make them relatable and engaging. The plot is cleverly crafted and forms a satisfying conclusion to an outstanding series that I wholeheartedly recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron 

Edward Marston (A pseudonym used by Keith Miles) was born and brought up in South Wales. A full-time writer for over thirty years, he has worked in radio, film, television and the theatre and is a former chairman of the Crime Writers' Association. Prolific and highly successful, he is equally at home writing children's books or literary criticism, plays or biographies.

www.edwardmarston.com 

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. Her most recent books is The Apples of Sodom. 

www.carolwestron.com 

‘The Body at the Roman Baths’ by Kate Hardy

Published by Storm Publishing,
5 February 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-80508754-0 (PB)

Georgina Drake is delighted when her friend Sybbie and her husband Bernard ask her to photograph the Roman ruins which have been discovered at Little Wenborough Hall, their home. They had no idea that buried near their house is a Roman bath house with stunning Mosaic floors. They headed around the back of the house where trenches had been drawn and students in hoodies and jeans were kneeling on mats, carefully scraping away earth with trowels.  One of the areas had a tarpaulin over it which Georgina surmised was the Mosaic floor. Trish – Dr Melton, second in command to Simon Butterfield, the lead archaeologist was phoning Simon who was supposed to be meeting them.  Having no reply Trisha outlines the layout of the Roman baths, built nearly 2000 years ago. 

Having received no response from Simon, Trish with Bernard’s help hauls the tarpaulin away. Lying in the middle of the mosaic is a man with blood surrounding his head. Georgina halts Trish from moving towards the body and carefully checks that there is no sign of life. 

Whilst waiting for her partner DI Colin Bradshaw, his sergeant, Mo Tesfaye and constable Larissa Foulkes, Georgina comforts the other distressed archaeologists. 

As Georgina moves away from the body, a familiar voice sounds in her hearing aids. Georgie, we need to talk.

‘Do you know anything about the body?’ Doris asks Georgina quietly. No, said Doris, but Timothy Marsden was one of the archaeologists who uncovered the bath house in 1865.  Can you remember where he died? ‘Where he’s buried?  Georgina asked. ‘It’s a bit of a trickly one’ Doris said. In all of the cold cases they had worked together Doris had always known where a body was buried and encouraged Geogina’s dog Bert to help find it. But not this time.   

Using her method of tracing back documents Georgina starts her investigation. Soon discovering connections between past and present. This isn’t the first time tragedy has struck this site. Over a century ago, a young Victorian scholar vanished without trace during the original dig, leaving behind a devastated fiancée and a trail of unanswered questions. 

Just to muddy the water, when interviewed Helena, one of the students said that they had, had a visit from the Nighthawks.  Metal detectorists who come at night and dig where they think they might find something to sell on the black market. We always know, as next morning when we arrive at the site there are random holes everywhere. Simon said there wasn’t any point in reporting it to the police! 

Slowly as Georgina delves into both mysteries, she uncovers blackmail and betrayal. But is unaware that someone in the village wants the secrets to stay buried.  Will Georgina uncover the secrets and stay alive?
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Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett

Kate Hardy has written for as long as she can remember; it started with stories about ponies and dogs, moved into ghosts and history, and then into local history and romance. She's won three Romantic Novelists' Association awards for her romantic fiction - and is thoroughly enjoying her new life of crime! She lives in Norwich with her husband, two grown-up children, two spaniels and too many books to count. When she's not writing or researching, she'll be out at a gig or the theatre, at ballet class, doing cross-stitch, taking photographs of the sunrise while persuading the spaniels to stay still for one second, fossicking around on a beach or in archives, or exploring ancient buildings. She loves learning new things, which is why you'll always discover something different in a Kate Hardy book. Oh - and, like her heroine Georgina Drake, Kate's deaf but doesn't let it hold her back in any way.

‘Mystery at the Lantern Theatre’ by Clare Chase

Published by Bookouture,
12 October 2026. 
ISBN: 978-1-80722070-2 (PB)

Eve Mallow loves her life in Saxford St. Peter because it allows her to combine her profession as a journalist, who specialises in obituaries, with helping her best friend, Viv, by working at her cafe and trying to organise the chaos that Viv creates. Eve is a very controlled person but at the start of the story she is feeling very much out of her comfort zone because she and Viv have been persuaded to help out the local theatre group, the Saxford Players, when illness means they are short-handed and need volunteers to fill some minor roles. The pressure is high because they are currently on tour, performing Cinderella, at a nationwide competition. The performance is taking place at the Lantern Theatre and some of the actors are staying at the hotel, which is part of the same building. Soon things start to occur that override Eve’s stage fright with other concerns: peacock feathers appear in the scenery and in a good luck card, which causes consternation amongst the superstitious actors, also key props like one of Cinderella’s glass slippers and Prince Charming’s ornate belt go missing. 

The director of the Saxford Players is Cally Walcott, who has been a moderately successful actor, although she has never hit the big time. Under her guidance the Players are doing well, but not all of the actors are on good terms with her. Her assistant, Phoebe, is so suffocating in her obsessive determination to invade every aspect of Cally’s life that Cally has threatened to dismiss her. In contrast, Hayley, one of the Ugly Sisters, shows open hostility to Cally, which is unfortunate as Hayley is the goddaughter of Cally’s partner, Rex, and it is evident that Rex adores Cally. Also, Billy, who is playing Buttons, is an immensely talented actor who had been Cally’s protege but now appears to be on bad terms with her. Eve feels that there is also something off-balance with Cally’s attitude to the actor playing Prince Charming, which also effects the young man’s relationship with his girlfriend, who plays Cinderella. Even more worrying than the dysfunctional interactions amongst the Saxford Players is the hostility of the owner of the Lantern Theatre and hotel, who had been married to Cally’s late sister. 

Cally is murdered and, after the initial police investigation, the Players return to Saxford. Eve receives the commission to write Cally’s obituary, and takes on her self-appointed role as amateur detective, fervently hoping that the crime can be solved before her family comes down to stay for Christmas. Having a happy family celebration with her infant granddaughter is especially important to Eve because her second husband, Robin, has been offered a new job with the London police. Eve will not stand in Robin’s way if this is what he wants, but she loves Saxford and does not want to leave. She is also worried about Viv, who had been widowed when she was a young woman and has recently entered the dating market with catastrophic results. 

It seems to Eve that Viv is self-sabotaging her new relationships by choosing men who have no interest in a permanent relationship because she is afraid of being hurt as much as she was when her husband died. At the Lantern Theatre, Viv had encountered a pleasant, likeable man that she got on with well and Eve wants her to encourage him, but Viv is unwilling to put herself on the line. 

Despite the efforts of Eve and the friends who assist her investigations, further death and violence occurs and Eve is afraid that, unless she acts quickly, more innocent people will be harmed. 

Mystery at the Lantern Theatre is the seventeenth book in the series featuring Eve Mallow. It has a large cast of characters, many returning from previous books, others new to this novel. The plot is complex, with many twists and turns, and Eve is an engaging protagonist. This is an enjoyable addition to an entertaining, long-running series, which I recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations. Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium. As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

www.clarechase.com

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. Her most recent books is The Apples of Sodom. 

www.carolwestron.com