Review: Murder in the Belltower

Murder in the Belltower by Helena Dixon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Kitty Underhay is invited to spend Christmas with her cousin Lucy's family at Enderley Hall, little does she know that her uncle, Lord Medford has invited a motley crew of guests to try to uncover the source of leaked documents which have been sold to the highest bidder, each of the guests has been in the vicinity of previous thefts. So we have an Austrian count and his beautiful sister, a hearty American businessman and his wife, and a writer researching for a botany book as well as Kitty's beau, ex-army captain turned private detective Matt Bryant. Throw in an oily vicar, a retired actress and village rivalries are you surprised it ends in murder?

I've read quite a few cosy English mysteries set in the 1920s and 1930s recently and I have to say, sadly, this does not match up. First, there are constant allusions to what happened in previous books and an ongoing arc relating to Kitty's mother's death (apparently her body was found in the previous book). Everyone is a caricature and when Kitty uncovers the murderer it was, frankly, a flight of fantasy. There was not (as far as I can see) a single clue that would lead the reader to identify the murderer, save rampant xenophobia, and Kitty had no evidence, she just strung together a string of suppositions and got lucky. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of detail about everyone ate at each meal and what clothes Kitty was wearing for no apparent reason. Also, I loath mysteries where someone (in this case Kitty's maid) finds out loads of secrets that help to 'blow open the case' as they say.

Also, personal foible, if my boyfriend called me old thing not once, but six times in just a few days I would ditch him immediately, he clearly thinks of you as a chum and not a woman who makes his toes curl!

Not the series for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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