The Art of Murder (The Village Detectives #1) by Fiona Walker

EXCERPT: Since her abrupt departure from journalism, Phoebe had turned to a life of crime, the corpses piling up.
Channelling her rage into writing detective novels under a pen name, she’d now plotted multiple dastardly deaths to vex her two amateur sleuths, a 1920s society hostess and her chaperone. Recently, she’d added dark 1980s crime thrillers to her oeuvre and was even toying with gothic Victorian mysteries to avenge her bloodlust. Her imaginary worlds were like holiday destinations now, into which she escaped to find peace by restoring order.
The books had been successful enough for her to scrape a living, a positive outcome from a period of depression so deep she’d almost lost sight of the surface, when career and medical crises had coincided, cash and marriage ones chasing them cruelly quickly.
Plotting a murder every six months or so had been terrific therapy.

ABOUT ‘THE ART OF MURDER’: Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs, its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is, until the murder…

Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer.

She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.

But before they have a chance, the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the village’s famous river. His lover is in the frame, but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret… One that relates to Phoebe’s own past and Juno’s present.

Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury, as they soon discover, living one’s best midlife can be murder.

MY THOUGHTS: Quirky characters, a small English village, a suspicious death – and we have Fiona Walker’s entry into the cosy-mystery genre. Overall, it’s not too bad, a bit OTT in places but still an enjoyable, humorous read.

There is a group of characters who are somewhat larger than life – Juno, her mother Judy, and Judy’s boyfriend Dennis. Their constant use of cringeworthy pet names – Pusscat, Boppa and Doobee – grated on the nerves after a while. I liked Phoebe much better, although even she was an acquired taste.

The third member of the Village detectives after Phoebe and Juno, is Mils, the local pub landlord and bikie, who likes nothing better than pretending to be a corpse for Phoebe’s entertainment.

The plot is quite slow moving and complex with multiple threads: the death of Si; Juno’s suspicion that Dennis is a serial killer and that her mother will be next; the moving of Judy into a retirement complex along with the associated decluttering of her possessions; Phoebe’s novel; and Phoebe’s relationship with her husband. There’s also a burglary at the local antique store, possible art fraud, Juno’s impending grandmotherhood, and a dozen other little threads woven in.

Sometimes I found it quite overwhelming, and the main thread of Silas’s death seemed to get lost in everything else that was going on. The police play a very minor role, in fact are hardly seen at all, and the mishandling of evidence that the Village Detectives found left me wincing!

If you like slap-dash comedy, then The Art of Murder is bound to appeal. Although I did enjoy this more than not, I do appreciate quite a bit more subtlety than is to be found here.

⭐⭐⭐

#TheArtofMurder #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Fiona Walker is the author of eighteen novels, from tales of flat-shares and clubbing in nineties London to today’s romping, rural romances set amid shires, spires and stiles. In a career spanning over two decades, she’s grown up alongside her readers, never losing her wickedly well-observed take on life, lust and the British in love. The Art of Murder is her first foray into the murder-mystery genre.

Fiona lives in Warwickshire, sharing a slice of Shakespeare Country with her partner Sam, their two daughters and a menagerie of animals.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Boldwood Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Art of Murder by Fiona Walker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.