Book info

• Title Best Murder in Show
• Author Debbie Young
• Year 2017
• Genre Mystery

When amateur writer Sophie Sayers inherits a cottage in the sleepy English Cotswold village of Wendlebury Barrow, she's hoping for a fresh start and a chance to finally pursue her dream of becoming a writer... What she gets instead is a dead body found on a carnival float, an extraordinary assortment of suspects, and a murder to solve! But who might be to blame...? Is the enigmatic bookseller Hector Munro all he seems? And what about the over-friendly neighbour who brings her jars of honey? Not to mention the eccentric village shopkeeper, the village show committee, the writers' group and drama club, who are all suspiciously keen to welcome her to their midst. Can Sophie find the courage to solve the case or could this new move be her biggest mistake?

Thoughts

This book does fit into the cosy mystery genre but it has a slightly odd structure. The murder happens up front and straight away, but then we go all the way back to the moment our narrator moves into the village and spends a LONG time getting settled. It’s nice, there are fun characters, but it’s weird because the character is so suspicious of everyone right from the start with no real reason for it. Then when there is a murder, there’s actually not much in the way of investigation after the event, as all the time has been spent on the build up. Odd, but interesting.

Rating: 2 / 5