Jacobyte Books

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams and Writing the Dream

When Belinda Lawrence receives a mysterious letter from her great aunt, an aunt who didn't seem to want to know her previously, Belinda is intrigued and arranges a visit to her aunt's cottage in the village of Milford.

What she finds there is her aunt's dead body lying in a pool of blood. The coroner and police are convinced that it was just a simple fall down the stairs, but Belinda is not so sure. When the will is read and it is known that Belinda has inherited the cottage, things get even stranger.

Why is estate agent Mark Sallinger so keen for her to sell? Is he just after the commission or is there more to it? Antiques dealer Hazel Whitby is very keen to get a good look round the property, but what exactly is she after? And what about her aunt's neigbours, Jacob and Rosemary? Do they know more about her aunt's death than they're letting on? And why is her aunt's solicitor so keen for Belinda to make a will?

Belinda tries to find out, but in doing so unwittingly makes herself the target of a ruthless killer...

This is a short, fast paced book, the pages seem to turn themselves. It's a cosy mystery set in a quintessential English village. There were a few inaccuracies about English geography (there are no trains from Heathrow which go to Reading for example.) I probably only noticed them myself because I live near Heathrow and know this, but it did jar me out of the story a bit.

The story itself is well plotted, but some of the dialogue came across as very unrealistic, almost how someone would speak in an old play, rather than real life. Even saying that, I finished the book quickly, keen to see what would happen next and find out the identity of the murderer.

It has a little twist at the end too, which I'm very partial to.

I did enjoy the book and if you like old-fashioned whodunnits with an amateur sleuth, you'll enjoy this too.

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