‘Agnes Sharp and the Wedding To Die For’ by Leonie Swann

Published by Allison & Busby,
7 April 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-74903398-9 (HB)

Agnes Sharp had decided that she didn’t want to live in a care home, So, she turned her home Sunset Hall into a house share for unruly geriatrics. 

The opening of our story finds Agnes with a cup of tea and a piece of cake contemplating the blank sheet of paper in front of her. During her life Agnes has dealt professionally with many murders, firstly with the police, and later privately in her spare time. But this the first time she has planned a murder. 

The sight of housemate Edwina lying lifeless on the floor with red fluid oozing out the corner of her mouth causes Charlie to drop the washing basket in fright at the horrific sight. Not to mention the sight of the blood-smeared garden shears. Charlie stuck her finger in the pool of blood on the floor, tomato ketchup she said. Edwina opened one eye, ‘It’s a surprise to cheer Agnes up. 

The other residents of Sunset Hall, Agnes, Winston, Marshall, the tortoise, Brexit the wolfhound, and Oberon, the house boa constrictor, were in the lounge trying to coax the smoky fire to be a fire. Charlie opened the door and dramatically announced Edwina’s dead. What again? Said Agnes. Stabbed in the utility room, said Charlie. Agnes struggled out of her chair. The house mates are aware that Agnes has not been herself since finding the verger hanging in the church bell tower a while back. But Agnes comes clean and says it’s not the verger, it’s this stupid wedding of their housemate, Bernadette

Bernadette was marrying her old flame, Jack. In Agnes’s opinion it was a holiday romance gone horribly wrong. But worse news was to come. The corner-shop owner’s daughter has done a runner with her riding instructor, which means that Foxhole Manor have a date free at short notice. The requirement is a minimum number of guests in order to use the champagne fountain. So, all they have to do is turn up in fourteen days with twenty guests. Twenty guests!! They don’t know twenty people to invite. The residents of Sunset House add up the list for the wedding, five house mates, one tortoise, a boa constrictor and Brexit the wolfhound.  Can they invite some distant acquaintances and even some strangers to attend?  As Jack’s previous career was as a hitman, he doesn’t have any former customers to invite. Then an anonymous letter arrives suggesting sabotage on their happy day.

There are plots and sub-plots. Even Charlie’s idea of online dating to find a beau for Agnes. Will the wedding go ahead or will disaster befall the happy couple?

A marvellous tale, with the most unexpected ending that was an incredible shock. I was not prepared for it. Don’t miss this.------

Reviewer: Lizzie Sirett  

Leonie Swann is the nom de plume of a German crime writer. She was born in Germany in 1975. She studied philosophy, psychology and English literature in Munich, and now lives in Berlin.