Review: The Murder Hour

The Murder Hour by Alice Castle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Seventh book in the series set in wealthy, privileged, Dulwich Village where yummy mummies prowl the crowded streets in their Chelsea tractors (aka Range Rovers), dressed in Lulu Melon yogawear and competing viciously to get their precious male children into the prestigious Wyatt's School.

Beth Haldane, unlike many other mothers, was born in Dulwich Village and as a young widow she doesn't really fit into the dynamic. She (barely) works as an archivist for Wyatt's school three mornings a week and does some freelance writing to make ends meet. Oh, and she also has the unfortunate habit of finding dead bodies.

In this latest, and even more ludicrous than the last, book Beth has been persuaded by her 'boyfriend' DCI Harry York that she needs to move out of her charming but poky cottage in Dulwich Village and that they should buy a place together in a slightly more affordable area like Sydenham. Whilst logically understanding that they need more space and can't afford to buy in Dulwich Village, Beth can't bring herself to take things seriously and has found reasons to reject all the houses they have seen so far. Then, on her latest visit the Estate Agent who was supposed to show her the house turns out to have been murdered and stuffed into a kitchen larder!

As noted in my previous reviews of this series, my feeling is that these books are so 'cosy/cozy' that there is very little detecting involved, we read a lot about coffee in chi-chi shops and expensive handbags, and cat hairs then out of thin air Beth solves the crime without (as my maths teacher used to say) showing the workings. It is always as an afterthought that someone asks 'how did you know that X was the murderer' just so we the readers can find out what happened. These are okay but TBH if I didn't have the eighth book sitting on my TBR pile as an ARC and the books are all on Kindle Unlimited, I probably wouldn't bother reading any more.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

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