Faith Martin, The Winter Mystery (2018)

I wanted an easy, cozy British mystery to read in between family meals during the Christmas holidays, and this book perfectly fitted the bill. I read it in two days, about the same time the action takes place in the book. Only it was a lot more picturesque: Christmas in Oxford. Nice landscape, snowy hills, old stones, family and good food, especially goose and pudding!

The good thing is that even if your own family reunion went totally awry, if you argued with family members about anything and everything, if the kids were over-excited and the dog knocked the tree down or ate all the food, chances are it won’t be as bad as Christmas with the Kelton family, where everyone hates the head of the farm, and where his sickly older brother is found stabbed to death in the kitchen.

The narrator is Jenny, a plus-size professional travelling cook, who has been hired for the occasion (Christmas, not the murder, of course). Being the first witness and first suspect in the case, she takes it upon herself to investigate this case and find who in the family might have committed the murder (well… everyone… duh) and who really did and why.

I don’t meant to be too harsh. This is a cozy mystery and it’s ok if there are plenty of tropes in this genre. My main problem is that I guessed the guilty party and the motive very early on, so I grew a bit impatient. Stylistically speaking, the writer loves her adjectives, and I would have preferred a stricter editing. It was fun enough, but I’d much rather spend Christmas with Miss Marple after all, even if the food might be not so good.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

A perfect setting for the book when reading it in January. The usual twists and turns i have come to expect from Faiths writing. A lovely cosy mystery that's easy to read and I would recommend. Look forward to reading the next instalment.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I read this book over the Xmas break and it was totally the right thing to read during that time. Good cosy mystery

This is the second book in the Jenny Starling series but found no difficulty in picking up the story. A thoroughly enjoyable read with good characterisation and an intriguing whodunnit that will have you frequently changing your mind on who the killer is.
A nice cosy read to snuggle up with and I will certainly read more in this series.

Although only the second book in the Jenny Starling series this was as good as the first and I can see the series getting more and more addictive as the books are released

Faced with spending Christmas on her own Jenny takes up the temporary position of cook in a remote country farmhouse where the residents are not as pleasant as the snowy country side, determined not to have another murder mystery to solve and to give the residents a Christmas meal to remember Jenny is hoping for a quiet 2 weeks but as usual things do not work out to plan

Another addictive story by Faith Martin and again highly recommended

This is the second entry in the Jenny Starling series and features a very dysfunctional family! Jenny is hired to cook for the household over the Christmas season, but seems to spend a great deal of time mopping the kitchen floor and as a result, there doesn't seem to be much appreciation for her culinary efforts. A great setting just adds to the mystery.

Intriguing story about family and rivalry between brothers. A Christmas time mystery. Unusual characters and bitter neighbors. The clues finally come to light. You'll be guessing and changing your mind a few timrs along the way.

This is the second installment of the "Jenny Starling' Mystery series and one of my favorite mysteries of the year. The author has a well crafted writing style that is fast paced with interesting settings and charcters. I look, forward to reading further books in this series. Thank you for the ARC which does not influence my personal review.
2o something Jenny Starling is back in the holiday season. She has decided to take on a job on a farm to cook over the festive season so she won't be alone. However she was not counting on the fact It’s snowing, the farm is in the middle of nowhere with no phone or contact with the outside world and the family hates each other at constant odds. When a murder occurs in the kitchen where she is working she feels the local police are not helping and she begins to investigate.

i love the setting that is perfect for a winter time read. The sleuth was very well crafted and kept me guessing. i like the charcters and how Jenny is smart for her age and clever to find clues and suspects. A very enjoyable read indeed.

Where to start? With the good points of this book of course. It is, as with all Faith Martin's books, very hard to put down once you start reading. Jenny Starling is an interesting character and after only two books in this series I think (and hope) that we will learn more about her - and her food of course. I happen to like books with cooks in them a lot.
The plot is a bit obvious from the beginning but it is nice to see how the story flows along. I also like all the somewhat typical characters in this story, especially the dog and the goose ;-). Although it is not a fun book (the poor family Jenny cooks a Christmas dinner for is one of the most unhappy families I ever read about) there is humour to be found in other things.
Another positive point: in this second book in the series, there is no constant mentioning of Jenny's figure, her weight or her height, as in the first book.

I cannot help it, I have some negative points too. There are some mistakes in the text that are confusing and at a certain point the research of an American professor is mentioned that is important for the story. This research is presented as 'new' but actually this research was done by an Austrian monk in 1860. You can look it up in Wikipedia... The research is important but I think this point had better be described somewhat different.

I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Thanks to Netgalley and Joffe Books for this digital copy.

Jenny Starling takes a job as a Cook over Christmas at a country house. The family is not a happy one and when a family member is killed the unpleasant head of the household blames Jenny.

Luckily the Police don't believe Jenny killed the victim and she works with them to find the culprit.

It's a fun and easy read. My only criticism is the way Jenny is described physically which is less than flattering.

This is the second book in the Jenny Starling series, and this time Jenny has paused her catering business due to no customers and started working for a family as a chef over the Christmas period.

When she arrives there is a lot of tension in the air, someone dies and yet again the blame is put solely in Jenny’s direction.

This then leads Jenny to have to investigate it herself, which she does with a very systematic approach.

Personally I worked out what had happened quite early on, but it was a nice easy book to read so I wasn’t that bothered by this.

Great story! Gets better each time I read it. Wonderful characters. Looking forward to the next book.

Some reviews are harder to write than others. I like to be as fair as I can be but also honest. Personal taste is a huge factor for any reader and reviewer and it definitely plays a role for me. When looking at my reviews, you need to look not just at one review but at more--compare my taste on a book you may have already read to your own opinion. Consider my reasons for liking or disliking something. Consider that I'm growing in my understanding of writing theory and technique and this is refining my opinion and sometimes making it harder for me to let go and enjoy the ride. And consider that I try to keep genre expectations in mind as a factor in my ratings also. That can be tricky, especially when my own expectations probably exceed genre on some points.

The Winter Mystery is one of these tricky reviews because I'm torn between my own expectations and what's acceptable in the genre, especially in later books of a series in the genre.

I ended up reading this one twice trying to clarify things (and after talking to the publisher about a concern in the prerelease ARC that is resolved in the final version). I'm doing my best to rate this purely on the final. Things happen in ARCs sometimes (advanced reader copies) because they're created before the editing process is completed and I'm still new at learning what to expect there.

In terms of genre expectations, this is a good, solid cozy mystery with an interesting female amateur sleuth and a credible reason for her involvement in the situation. It's a British countryside setting and I'm honestly not certain of the time period. Cell phones exist, but she found a phone booth when one was needed. I've never been in rural England to know how common those things still are. So it's recent if not completely current.

I was somewhat annoyed by what felt to me like head hopping. But the average reader is probably going to feel like it's a comfortable omniscient perspective and not give it a second thought. Despite this, I really liked the narrative voice. I just felt like I got shuffled into a new person more than I needed to. I prefer staying primarily in the sleuth--or in a consistent POV character near the sleuth--so I can feel like I'm racing the sleuth to put the clues together and ID the killer.

Although this book turns out to be a later book in a series, I never felt left out of anything. This kind of welcome for a new reader can be difficult but the author pulled it off. The passing references to old cases only were significant in how the police thought of her and it never mattered that I didn't know anything about it. The book's focus was firmly on the mystery, without too much sidetrack into personal relationships. I'm sure those who have read more of the series will enjoy another layer in the story, but the new reader can pick it up and enjoy every page.

I give it 3.5 stars and would happily read more of the series. Readers who aren't bothered by those POV shifts are likely to rate it far higher.

My thanks to Joffe Books for their prompt response to my email with feedback and for letting me see the revised final edition so I could offer a review based on it.

This aptly named mystery is the perfect book for a cold, Winter's afternoon. Jenny Starling is a strong, likeable character with a talent for crime solving. The cast of characters in this particular mystery is not easy to empathise, but when the most likeable of them is murdered, Jenny is first on the scene and becomes involved in solving the crime.

This is an old-fashioned crime mystery with false clues, numerous suspects and a particularly nasty murder. The slow pacing fits the story and the reader aside from reading an interesting story can try and work out #whodunnit.

An easy to read but cleverly plotted mystery with complex, realistic characters and a memorable amateur detective.

I received a copy of this book from Joffe Books via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Curvy cook Jenny Starling is back! It’s almost Christmas and instead of spending it alone in a little bedsit, she takes a chance on an advert looking for a cook over the festive season. When she gets there a sense of foreboding overcomes her. It’s snowing, the farm is in the middle of nowhere with no mod-cons or even a landline and the family...well they seem to hate each other especially the head of the household, Stan Kelton.

When someone is found stabbed to death in the kitchen, the local police are out of their depth so the ask Jenny to investigate.

So this is the second in the Jenny Starling series but it can easily be read as a stand alone.

Another cosy mystery from Faith Martin perfect for the holiday season full of food, fun and fiendish murder.

Now I’m not going to say to much about the story or character because I feel like this one of those books that you should dig into with as little information as possible. I will say there were some funny light-hearted moments involving a marauding goose and a sheepdog that’s afraid of sheep that you should look out for while you’re reading!

Again as with the last novel I guessed the killer and motive quite early on. Also I kept having to remind myself that Jenny is only in her twenties as a lot of the time she sounds much older.

Overall the winter mystery a Christmassy cosy whodunnit that I’d recommend for those who love a more light-hearted mystery.

What a lovely cozy! This is the second instalment I read in this series and I loved it as much as I loved the first one.
The cast of characters is lovely, the heroine is amazing, growing up on you and well written.
The mystery was great and it kept me guessing till the end.
I look forward to reading other instalments in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Joffe Books and Netgalley for this ARC

*Many thanks to Faith Martin, Joffe Books and Netgalley for providing me with ARC in exchange for my honest review.*
This is a perfect read for Christmas time: a snow-covered farm in the Cotswold, a murder and smell of delicious food prepared by a professional, travelling cook, Jenny Starling (sic!) who just happens to solve crimes in the meantime. Hired by one of the Kelton Brothers to cook and serve food over Christmas, Jenny gets involved in a crime committed on one of the family members. The relations within the Kelton family are rather complicated, and there is a plethora of suspects, which does not make Jenny's task easy. Evetually she succeeds and leaves the Kelton Farm unscathed and its inhabitants in much higher spirits. Recommended to all cozy mystery fans.

Another delightful entry for Jenny Starling, traveling cook. This time Jenny’s booked for Christmas at a ramshackle farm in the Oxford countryside. The Keltons have owned the farm for generations, always passing down through the eldest son. The current eldest son is Sidney, a gentle peaceful man who has suffered from ill health for years. Sidney never married, so his younger brother Stan has run the farm for years with his two sons, Bert and Bill. Stan is an evil, tightfisted man, the total opposite of his brother Sid, the entire family live in fear of him. On Jenny’s second morning at the farm, she finds Sid stabbed to death at the kitchen table. No one would have been shocked if it had been Stan, but Sidney? Why? Quickly Jenny becomes involved “helping the police with their inquiries”.
Although this is a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. I have really enjoyed reading this series, I find Jenny to be a unique character and I am anxious to read more in the series. For readers of classic cosy British mysteries I highly recommend.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a free electronic copy. All opinions are my own.

A good 'cozy mystery' - one without profanity and sex scenes. I had a little difficulty imagining the setting since the farm people were intent on being quite old fashioned in their living and methods of work. Once you get past that, it's a fun mystery with the unlikely outcome of the hired cook helping the police. It was also a little difficult to imagine a hired live in cook for 3 meals a day for a two week time period in the present day, but again, it IS fiction! I did not know this was part of a series but it can be easily read independently of any other books. Even though events occur over just a few days it is a quick read/slow paced book that you can put down and pick it back up later.

This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley as an ARC for an honest review.. The opinions expressed are my own.

This was my first book I read by Faith Martin and whilst it is a series I felt it was fine to read as a stand alone.

I really enjoyed this murder mystery and would recommend and read more in the series.

I did guess who had done it as by the end the clues were a tad obvious and repeated however I thought there were lots of good twists and red herrings thrown in. I also really enjoyed the light relief in the form of the gander and pooch!

The country, winter scenes were well described and it made reading the book enjoyable.

Thank you to netgakkey for providing me with an
arc.