I will begin with full disclosure. I’ve known Nicki for many years now – she and her husband Mark opened Mostly Books in Abingdon back in the mid noughties, and I strived to be their best customer! Some years later the couple sold the bookshop on to its new owner Sarah, where it continues to thrive. Nicki moved on to writing children’s novels, and Mark joined Bookshop.org in the UK. Nicki’s series of children’s novels, the Seth Seppi Mysteries, are aimed at 8-12 years, she aimed for an Agatha Christie meets Harry Potter blend to create super fantasy whodunnits. I loved the first one, The Last Chance Hotel which is where we meet Seth, the kitchen boy and the kitchen cat Nightshade, who pair up for five further adventures. Now Nicki has written her first mystery for adult readers, and having been a bookseller for over 20 years, where better than to set it in a bookshop.
Keera Munroe used to be a lawyer, now she runs a bookshop in the (Cotwolds?) town of Crossways. She loves selling books, but it’s January and business is slow, her rent is due and she can’t really afford to heat the shop properly, or shut up early. Luckily, in the time she’s been there, she has made good friends in Liv, older, richer, better dressed, and Cady, also well-heeled. Cady had bounded in with some gossip, to find that Liz had beaten her to it. Mrs McFlintock, elderly, argumentative but the town’s best gossip had fallen down stairs and died. Keera was the last person known to have had a run-in with her…
‘You banned Mrs M from bookgroup?’ Cady quizzes me. ‘You didn’t really!’
‘Ban! Of course not,’ But I squirm as I remember that slightly heated conversation. I should have handled things better. I suppose I do have a tendency to be rude if I get stressed.
But Mrs M said she wasn’t going to finish the bookgroup’s current book (because my choice was so terrible), therefore bookgroup wasn’t allowed to discuss the end. I gently pointed out she couldn’t really be afraid of spoilers for a book she had no intention of finishing. How I’d misjudged Mrs M’s reaction.
Keera visits the McFlintock’s house to apologise and offer condolences to her daughter, but when the lease on Mrs McFlintock’s property is mentioned as a special rate if only a copy could be found, all Keera’s old instincts are reawakened. There’s something fishy going on and it leads in the first instance to Minty ‘Vampire’ Carstairs at Key Keepers, the property agency in town. Keera’s first friend in the town, Helena Craven, worked there for a while until she died a year ago. Helena’s family, husband Rick and troubled teenagers Alys and Pip have been taken charge of by Cady, her cousin, moving into Cady’s much larger house. Rick is happily ensconced there; as for Pip and Alys…
Keera had a lot of time for Helena’s children, Pip in particular, who has been helping her out in the shop instead of school as he works through his grief. He always surprises Keera with how much he knows about the town’s goings on too! Pip takes over the narrative periodically which gives a different perspective on things.
Keera is a great protagonist – she should have known that the life of a country bookseller wouldn’t be enough for the her after her first career. She and Pip make a great team, with a little help from the others at times. Thornton keeps the twists coming though, and I didn’t see how it would pan out at all. I thought Little Bookshop of Murders was great fun and I’m delighted that a second novel is in the works for next year. I may be biased, but I can heartily recommend this book.
Source: Own copy. Chimneys Publishing, paperback original, 318 pages. BUY at Blackwell’s via my affiliate link (free UK+ P&P)
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham – book group report
From the latest cosy-ish crime to a classic. The Tiger in the Smoke is widely regarded as one of Allingham’s finest novels, if not the finest. It’s the 14th of her Campion novels, published in 1952 – they span from 1929 to 1968. I’ve only read one of her novels previously – Barry Pike of the Margery Allingham Society recommends starting with Look to the Lady from 1931, the third Campion book – so that’s what I did – see what I thought of it here (I liked it a lot – it was great fun!).
The Tiger in the Smoke is very different indeed. It is set after the war in London during the pea-souper fogs. The plot is very convoluted indeed, involving the impersonation of a dead man, a psychopath on the lose, and a street band of ex soldiers lef by an albino. Campion is now married to Amanda, and they know the widow of the dead man seemingly come back to life – to prevent her remarrying? Meanwhile the police under Assistant Commissioner Stanislaus Oates and Chief Inspector Charlie Luke are on the search for Havoc, a psychopath with a string of murders to his name. Campion thinks Luke has all the makings of a fine detective – it is nice to see able policemen in a novel for once!
Whereas the Campion of the early book was a bit of an upper class twerp, this one has grown up – married with kids. There is little fun in The Tiger in the Smoke. Another thing the book was missing for me was enough Lugg! Magersfontain Lugg, Campion’s thug of a valet. Lugg was vital to that earlier novel and as a comical character was great value for money – too much fun for this one. I found the language a little stuck before the war which dated it a bit. I was in a minority however, for the rest of our book group all enjoyed it a lot.
Source: Own copy. Vintage paperback, 277 pages. BUY at Blackwell’s via my affiliate link.
