Primrose Hill: A 1920s Historical Murder Mystery by G J BellamyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sophie Burgoyne and her friends are asked to assist the Home Office, Foreign Office, and the police. A Russian communist cell has taken a house in Primrose Hill which the HO and FO have been observing, until one of the observers dropped his notebook in front of one the Russians. The HO/FO think that putting Sophie and her team in will allay the Russians' suspicions.
In addition, a man was recently murdered in the same square. The police have no clues other than an empty bag that once held dog treats which was found by the body. The dog treats are not available commercially, they are made and given away by another resident and therefore the police would like Sophie and her friends to befriend the numerous dog owners in the square and make subtle enquiries; they have lent the girls a police dog as cover.
When I started reading this I breathed such a sigh of relief, I've been reading some meh novels recently and to pick this up with its sprightly dialogue and interesting characters was a relief. However, all too soon I was bogged down in a quagmire of new characters, none of whom really seemed to have any distinguishing features/personalities other than the former Indian army general. Consequently, I couldn't keep track of who was a suspect, what they did, how old they were, what sort of dog they had, or their relationship with the deceased. If you have ever read the Dorothy l Sayers book The Five Red Herrings, which relies heavily on railway timetables you may have some indication of how flummoxed I was.
I also thought the ending was a bit of a cop out - the murderer decides to kill off another person in broad daylight - for reasons - and gets caught. Anyway, it looks like the next story will return to the women disguising themselves as servants at a country house party - hurrah!
Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.
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