Review: Murder Under the Sun

Murder Under the Sun by Faith Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't believe this is the twenty-second book in the series (or why I somehow missed books seventeen to nineteen).

The UK is sweltering in an unexpected heatwave (very much like the time that I am writing this review) which making everyone grumpy. Hillary is handed the cold case of a forty-something woman, Imelda Phelps who was murdered in the hallway of her swanky home in Chipping Norton, bludgeoned with a lightweight object with a rounded end, fifteen years ago.

As Hillary and her team go over the old case files and re-interview family and colleagues it turns out their victim was a self-absorbed narcissist who didn't care much for her husband or children. Even her much younger lover didn't seem to have captured her attention. Whilst there might be a lot of people with motive to kill Imelda, Hillary just can't seem to the key to unlocking this case, until one of the suspects is murdered in a suspiciously similar fashion.

I really like these books, I could do without the descriptions of Hillary's clothing or her helmet-like (I think its described as being like a bell but all I can think of is the hair on Lego people) hair but I can live with them. Hillary is human and fallible, but she tries to develop her junior staff, she's dogged and a good judge of human nature. Even better, I started reading this morning (close to the end) and was speculating as to who the murderer could be, and I just couldn't see it, but when Hillary reveals her thinking I was like Doh! So obvious!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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