Published by Bookouture,
A competition for the best kept garden is in progress when the body of local jeweller Cleo Marbeck is found in her garden drowned in her own pond. This is not the first death associated with Cleo’s house. A young woman fell down the stairs twenty-five years previously.
On the same day as Cleo’s murder, Stevie has a flashback – the memory of a woman lying at the bottom of a staircase but in another house in the village altogether.
The police appear to believe Stevie killed Cleo. Eve Marlow must rally her trusted friends in an attempt to find the killer before she is arrested. Cleo had upset a great many people and there are plenty of suspects with a credible motive to want Cleo dead nearly all of whom appear to live on Meadowsweet Grove.
This is the twelfth book in prolific author Clare Chase’s Eve Marlow mysteries and, as in most cosy crime series, it can be read as a standalone novel. I confess this is the first of Chase’s books that I have read, and it took several chapters for me to sort out the large cast of characters (there are seven in the first chapter alone) many of whom feature regularly in the series and are therefore familiar to Chase’s fans. That said, the characters are all well drawn, and I quickly found myself rooting for the good guys.
Chase is a master of misdirection, and the twists and turns of the plot kept me on my toes turning the pages well into the night as the story built up to a satisfying ending.
The village setting is beautifully described, and I had no difficulty in picturing the layout of the village and the surrounding area.
A thoroughly
enjoyable read – I already have book one in the series downloaded onto my
Kindle – and I recommend Mystery on Meadowsweet Grove to anyone who
loves a fast-paced, cosy mystery that will keep you guessing till the end.
------
Reviewer: Judith Cranswick
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.
Judith Cranswick was born and brought
up in Norwich. Apart from writing, Judith’s great passions are travel and
history. Both have influenced her two series of mystery novels. Tour Manager,
Fiona Mason takes coach parties throughout Europe, and historian Aunt Jessica
is the guest lecturer accompanying tour groups visiting more exotic
destinations aided by her nephew Harry. Her published novels also include
several award-winning standalone psychological thrillers. She wrote her first
novel (now languishing in the back of a drawer somewhere) when her two children
were toddlers, but there was little time for writing when she returned to her
teaching career. Now retired, she is able to indulge her love of writing and
has begun a life of crime! ‘Writers are told to write what they know about, but
I can assure you, I've never committed a murder. I'm an ex-convent school headmistress for goodness sake!’ Her most recent book is Passage
to Greenland
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