⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Christmas time. A crotchety, argumentative neighbour. A Gran who seems to make it her mission to make others miserable. And a bag of human remains, found in the garden.
Jan will be spending Christmas this year in Devon, with her boyfriend and his parents, Alf and Elsie. She has not spent a Christmas apart from her aunt and uncle since they adopted her, and she is slightly concerned for what such a thing means for her relationship with Laurie – does this mean they are now in a serious relationship?
Settling into the countryside, and making friends with Alf and Elsie, everything seems to be going alright. Until one of Laurie’s past relationships is brought up, and Jan starts to feel a little jealous about this other girl, who is getting all the attention, despite the fact that Laurie’s relationship with her didn’t last long, and the girl has been missing for several months. But with so many different mysteries – what happened to the girl? Where did the vicar’s wife go? Who is the girl living with the vicar now? – a bag of human remains only adds to the list of things that need solving.
This is a mystery, but it is not an intense experience to read it. It is a journey that you travel along comfortably, never entirely desperate to figure out whodunnit, but at least a little curious. The Christmas spirit is kept alive throughout the story, for although there are things to find out, that responsibility falls to other people. The main characters of this book are merely outsiders who are involved only through their garden being the one that the bones were found in.
Jan is an absolutely lovely character, and I loved following her story. She is a little naive, but she is 18, and there are things about the world that she has yet to learn. This novel is not very ‘historical’, in the sense that it is set in the 1970s, which is quite modern when you take into account how many years there have been, but there are some things that point to this book not being as modern as we are used to. Mobile phones have led to a lot less worry when people leave, for you can constantly remain updated. Jan has to work through being alone, with the people she knows in different places, and not knowing what is happening. Another thing is the popularity of green bathrooms – you would, thankfully, be hard-pressed to find one of them nowadays!
This story is a pleasant experience, and I greatly enjoyed reading it. There is always that little nagging thought, (who actually is the murderer?), that keeps you reading on and not putting down the book to go to bed. This is a wonderfully Christmassy book, and it is a great story to settle down with to get you into the Christmas spirit, as well as to get you pulling on your detective hat and analysing the characters.
‘Had I known what was to happen soon after we arrived at Mr and Mrs Walker’s lovely old West Country house, my apprehension about spending Christmas in Devon would have dwindled to nothing.’
Library Assistant Jan Christopher is to spend Christmas with her boyfriend, DS Laurie Walker and his family, but when a murder is discovered, followed by a not very accidental accident, the traditional Christmas spirit is somewhat marred...
What happened to Laurie’s ex-girlfriend? Where is the vicar’s wife? Who took those old photographs? And will the farmer up the lane ever mend those broken fences?
Set in 1971, this is the second Jan Christopher Cosy Mystery. Join her (and an owl and a teddy bear) in Devon for a Christmas to remember.
Will the discovery of a murder spoil Christmas for Jan Christopher and her boyfriend DS Laurie Walker – or will it bring them closer together?
If you would like to read this novel then head over to:
If you have a #KindleUnimited subscription you can read for free.
Helen Hollick and her family moved from north-east London in January 2013 after finding an eighteenth-century North Devon farm house through being a ‘victim’ on BBC TV’s popular Escape To The Country show. The thirteen-acre property was the first one she was shown – and it was love at first sight. She enjoys her new rural life, and has a variety of animals on the farm, including Exmoor ponies and her daughter’s string of show jumpers.
First accepted for publication by William Heinemann in 1993 – a week after her fortieth birthday – Helen then became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she also writes a pirate-based nautical adventure/fantasy series, The Sea Witch Voyages. Despite being impaired by the visual disorder of Glaucoma, she is also branching out into the quick read novella, 'Cosy Mystery' genre with the Jan Christopher Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working for thirteen years as a library assistant.
Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She also runs Discovering Diamonds, a review blog for historical fiction, a news and events blog for her village and the Community Shop, assists as ‘secretary for the day’ at her daughter’s regular showjumping shows – and occasionally gets time to write...
Social Media Links:
Website
Thank you for hosting today's blog tour stop!
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for such a lovely review - and HUGE apologies for being so late in commenting ...my Internet went down last Wednesday - and still not completely fixed (I'm working/catching up on everything from a less than efficient mini-hub!) SO frustrating to loose connection during an important tour BUT super to come back and find such a wonderful supportive and enthusiastic review! Thank you again!
ReplyDelete