A good murder mystery that kept me turning the pages.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

Poorly written, I think the name is expected to do too much of the heavy lifting here. Great concept, but limited depth to the story.

This wasn’t quite my usual type of book but I’m glad I gave it a go. It was a little confusing as to what was fact and fiction but never the less I enjoyed it

Murder in paradise.

I enjoyed this book but more as light reading, It's meant to be a thriller about a murder, but it's not that promising.

I loved the description of the island of Mustique, somewhere that I will never go unless I meet a millionaire, and the concept of a murder being committed on such a luxurious island, only visited by the rich and famous was quite original. However, the plot itself was not particularly exciting, and the killer's actual revelation was very uninspiring for me.

The author, Anne Glenconner, has based her heroine, Lady Veronica (Vee) on herself. Although in places the juxtaposition of fact and fiction is cleverly done, I did find myself getting quite annoyed at all the mentions of her previous position as lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. I felt this added nothing to the story and just seemed to be slipped in at odd intervals. It seemed to me that the author did not want us to forget her royal connections!

The plot revolves around discovering the body of 23-year-old Amanda Fortini, a celebrity from the States who holidays on Mustique. She has recently split up from her boyfriend, Tommy, another rich kid, heir to a large business. He is then also found dead, after setting fire to Amanda's family house. It seems that he has committed suicide. However, the sole policeman on the island, Solomon Nile suspects otherwise and with the help of the various characters native to the island, eventually solves the murders.

However, as stated before, I found the plot flimsy in places. For example, when Lady Vee is kidnapped, she can untie her bonds with no apparent difficulty, despite being 70, and escape. I also did not really understand how the eventual killer was led to do what he did, to me, it was unconvincing.

This book was readable and particularly good at describing the island, its inhabitants, and its ambience but as a murder mystery not particularly exciting.


Dexter

Elite Book Group received a copy of the book to review

So this book is super weird. It's like it's got a split personality. The heroine is so closely based on the author that it's jarring every time she mentions Princess Margaret and the mystery part of the novel is both obvious and bonkers at the same time. And yes I know that sounds like an impossible combination, but trust me. And then there's the weird writing style. The first person of Lady Vee sort of makes sense and flows, but Solomon Nile isn't really a fully developed character - right down to the narrative in the sections focussing on him constantly referring to him as Nile, even while sort of inside his head.

Sadly not one for me.

A very good mystery novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The setting is lovely, make me wish I was there, and the characters are well thought.
The mystery, full of twists and turns, is solid and kept me guessing.
I hope there will be other books featuring these characters.
This is an engrossing and highly entertaining story that I strongly recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I received an ARC of this book via netgalley. I had not realised who Anne Glenconner was. I am intrigued by the book and its mix with reality - in that it is populated by Anne Glenconner hersel (Lady Vee) and a host of the rich and famous alongside a smattering of locals.

It is not a bad book I think it follows the outline from a Writing 101 course - to split it into chunks (the 3 parts have no real purpose in my opinion); to write about what you know (setting and characters) To populate it with enough possible culprits.

I enjoyed learning a little bit about the Coral reef and thought the setting certainly added to the allure of the book. However it seemed almost too easy to solve. I am not sure that i would look for more of her murder mysteries but admit I am intrigued by her book about life with Princess Margaret.

Book review: Murder on Mustique, Anne Glenconnor
 
Lady Vee is due to fly out to their home in Mustique.  However, she receives a telephone call from concerned goddaughter, Lily.  Lily is already in Mustique leading a conservation project on the bleached coral.  Worried about her, Lady Vee decides to join her sooner.  
 
The island is battening down its hatches for Storm Cristobal and when American Heiress, Amanda goes missing, gone is the gentle relaxed island vibe.  Islanders are nervous about where she could be.  It is obviously someone on the island who has killed Amanda and that person is also leaving threat messages outside homes.  
 
I really enjoyed this book.  I particularly liked the fact that the author, Anne Glenconnor, was Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret and Lady Vee was also Lady in Waiting.  There are similar references to the author’s husband buying the island, building a holiday home for Princess Margaret etc.  
 
When I was reading, it felt part fiction, part autobiography.  This added to my enjoyment and I found myself devouring the references to the royalty connection.  
 
It was a good and interesting story, gentle reading, beautifully written, very much in the vein of Agatha Christie.  I am looking forward to reading the author’s actual autobiography.  
 
I rate this book 5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Lady Veronica Blake returns to Mustique to celebrate the 21st birthday of her god-daughter Lily. But there are strange happenings on the island - two of Lily’s friends disappear, and pieces of coral with strange carvings are being left behind. Newly appointed policeman Solomon Nile, freshly returned from London and keen to make an impression, enlists Lady Vee in his investigations but with a tropical storm heading for the island, can they find the culprit in time?

Murder on Mustique offers exactly what the title suggests - a murder mystery set in the beautiful surroundings of Mustique. It was only after I had finished the story and was reading the end credits that I realised that Anne Glenconner was Lady Vee in real life - former Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret and whose husband bought Mustique back in 1958. This explains the level of detail included in the story, both of the island’s scenery and the residents thereof.

I thoroughly enjoyed the read, and the identity of the culprit kept me guessing until late in the book. It has all the elements needed and is a great story. Well worth it!

This was delightfully awful, it was as you would imagine - but quite a hoot. Give it a go and loose yourself amongst the rich and famous.

Amidst A Perfect Backdrop, Murder Lurks....
Amidst luxury villas, tropical storms and the perfect backdrop murder lurks. An entertaining and enjoyable mystery with a perfect setting and a colourful cast of characters. There are irritations which may or may not affect the readers’ enjoyment but overall an engaging tale,

After thoroughly enjoying Anne Glenconner's autobiography Lady in Waiting, was excited to read this. After learning about Mustique in her previous book, it was thoroughly enjoyable to read this murder mystery set on the island. In places it felt a little like an Agatha Christie whodunnit, which added to it's charm. It kept me gripped right to the end .

Lord & Lady Blake are making plans for goddaughter, Lily Calders, 21st birthday on their private island. The rich and famous who live in the fabulous villas will be flying in to help them celebrate, if the weather doesn’t stop them. Then one of Lily’s best friends goes missing. From a wealthy family, Amanda is used to getting her own way, and had just broken up her boyfriend, Tommy, who didn’t take the break up well. A body is found, and lone police officer Solomon Nile needs to find the murderer fast before more bodies mount up. Not easy when you are on your own, even if he does have the help of Lady Vee Blake.. This is also a race against time, as a storm is on its way.

Set on Mustique, a privately owned island, bought by a wealthy, titled family, this mixes fact and fiction quite nicely. It is well written, in an almost autobiographical style but is a decent who dunnit. There were a lot of references to Princess Margaret, which didn’t add a lot to the story for me, The story is told from the points of view of Lady Veronica Blake and Dectective Solomon Nile, who was born in the island. The description of the island is well written, and obviously by someone who knows the real place extremely well. There are nice twists and I didn’t guess the murderer, which is always good.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What an amazing read.Right from the very first page you are drawn in when Amanda disappears and her best friend Lily raises the alarm.
What follows is a fast paced mystery and murder on the beautiful island of Mustique.
You can’t turn the pages fast enough and nothing prepares for the shock at the end.
Five stars all the way.

At first I found this a difficult book, with the line between fact and fiction blurred. Once I had done a little research on the author it became an easier read and as the story progressed it became quite intriguing. The plot is well written and I could not guess the culprit before the revelation near the end. Therefore well done to Anne Glennconnor for a crime mystery that is definitely different.

Murder on Mustique is a unique mix of fact and fiction but quite how much you can attribute to each is up for debate. Lord and Lady Veronica ”Vee” Blake own the island and just as they are making plans for their goddaughter Lily Calder’s 21st birthday celebrations a tragedy happens. Lily is a conservationist who has been tending to a project involving the island’s vast coral reefs when one of her best friends, New York socialite Amanda Fortini, vanishes from the island without a trace. In a place where everyone is familiar with everyone else, this sends Lady Vee into overdrive and a race against the weather and incoming storm ensues. The islanders aren't used to having an issue such as this but people can't help but liken it to the disappearance of Lily’s mother, Emily, many years prior. Resident Solomon Nile is the only detective present on the island and is, in fact, Lady Vee’s protege. He strongly recognises the time-sensitive nature of locating Amanda before the storm hits and makes it an impossible job. Can he find her and address the reason for her disappearance in ample time?

Written by Lady Glenconner who once owned the island of Mustique in the Caribbean with her husband, it feels as though quite a lot of the book, through the use of thinly-veiled names, may be based in fact but the author didn't want to risk the chance of a lawsuit. The stunning, sun-drenched Mustique is one of the islands which make up St Vincent and the Grenadines archipelago and is the luxurious location for this wonderfully indulgent mystery-thriller. It felt heavenly to escape into its pages for a few hours, to forget stark reality for a while and to read all of the gossip on the inhabitants. The descriptions were so rich and luscious that I was transported to Mustique easily. The mystery is compelling and the island setting coupled with the impending storm gave me Agatha Christie locked-room vibe, which added to the tense atmosphere as no one could leave its shores, and were effectively trapped, until the weather improved. A real opulent and hedonistic treat. Highly recommend. Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.

A touch of Death in Paradise with lots of mentions of well known celebrities and royalty. This book was written by royalty connections so has lots of inside information. Who done it and why? Be prepared to be amazed.

Probably the only way most of us will get to 'visit' MUSTIQUE

This is our one and only (so far) novel set on Mustique, a private island, well known for its association with the rich and famous. So this novel was a must-read for TripFiction.

Mustique is a bastardisation of the French word mosquito, so the island does have its down sides. Princess Margaret often spent time there and Mick Jagger owns a house or two. Bryan Ferry is a keen visitor, Daphne Guinness was a regular. It is small, merely 2.2 square miles and has a regular population of around 500 people. Apart from fabulous villas, there is the Cotton House which gets a good mention in the novel and legendary Basil’s Bar, a landmark destination for cocktails. The setting is ripe for a grisly murder or two.

In the opening pages, Amanda Fortini, heiress to a coffee dynasty, is swimming in the clear waters when it seems she is mown down by a speedboat. She disappears and her friend Lily is beside herself. Lily’s godmother Lady Veronica (Lady Vee to friends, staff and neighbours) is due to arrive on the island from London anyway because a surprise party for Lily is on the horizon and needs her final touches. (When Lily’s mother died, Lady Vee took over the parenting and thus the two have a strong bond).

It is mooted that Lily’s jilted boyfriend, Tommy Rothmore (only a few letters removed from Rothermere or Rothschild, I note) might be in the frame – he is similarly a young man of considerable wealth. As more bodies turn up, Lady Vee, the self styled “tropical Miss Marple“, is in her element alongside DS Solomon Nile. ‘Calling cards’ of coral are left at the various scenes, etched with Obeah symbols (Obeah is a system of spiritual healing and justice-making practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the West Indies). Lily is working to preserve the coral, so there MUST be a link.

The book is set in September 2002. Princess Margaret was buried earlier in the year and Lady Vee, just like the author, was her actual Lady-in-Waiting. Here’s the thing: the author has imbued parts of her character with herself, and consequently the author doesn’t give herself the luxury of licence and distance to create a character who is unique and separate from herself. This makes her character’s persona feel at times stilted, unsure of who she is meant to be. There are several mentions of Princess Margaret in the text which just didn’t really add anything apart from acting as a reminder that this is an island of glamour and famous names (in fact the author’s husband owns/owned the island).

I first came across the author on The Graham Norton Show and it is worth watching the video clip! She explains how her husband – on her honeymoon in Paris – didn’t have the words to initiate her into marital relations, so he did the ‘obvious’ thing (really?) and, rather than take her out to dinner at The Ritz, took her to a brothel where a couple demonstrated the intricacies for her, inviting her to join in. The author is clearly a woman of pluck, fortitude, resilience (you would need that, I imagine, if you were married to old Etonian Colin Tennant) and humour, and these attributes just didn’t really translate into the book. The responses to scary and traumatic events are rather measured (emotionally stunted might be another way of putting it) – for example, a house is on fire and Vee and the policeman rush up: “My sister could be in there” mutters Wesley. Mutters? MUTTERS? Where’s screaming? Shouting? Exclaiming, even! Multiple ghastly events just don’t seem to have normal human reactions in the book, it all feels quite reigned in. There is a mixture of first person and third person narrative and the transitions between the two can be a little unclear.

As the book comes to its conclusion and the perpetrator is – or perpetrators are – revealed, the pathos is revved up by the arrival of Storm Cristobel and there is a crashing crescendo of waves and wind to serenade the denouement.

I think overall this is a novel that somehow needs tightening, as it can ramble and repeat. It does, of course, have a wonderful setting and it is probably the nearest most of will get to experience the playground of the elite.

I hadn’t realised who the author was before I started reading this book. I found the constant name dropping about Princess Margaret very irritating and I saw little relevance to the actual storyline itself other than to self promote the author. Indeed as soon as I saw the name Princess I just skipped that paragraph and those celebrity names that were also littered in the story. The mystery itself was very reminiscent of Death in Paradise with lots of red herrings to keep you guessing. I felt the reveal of the killer hadn’t been properly planned and their motive and opportunity was hastily cobbled together at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read a preview copy of this book.

Rather a "Death in Paradise" feel to it as it is set on Mustique, a private island in the Caribbean. A storm is brewing and on its way and most people have left the island apart from a few who are partying. A young heiress goes missing and Detective Sergeant Solomon Nile, the island's only policeman, has to investigate.
The island is owned by Jasper Blake and his wife Lady Veronica, who is flying out to Mustique to hold a 21st birthday party for her god-daughter, Lily. She is drawn into investigating the murder with Solomon and as more murders are committed it is a race against time to find out who is responsible and why.

The book is written by Anne Glenconner, Princess Margaret's lady in waiting so the references to the Princess in the book are good. It is a factual setting as Anne's husband did buy Mustique and created the cabins there. I did a little bit of research about the island and it did help me to enjoy the book more.

Overall a good murder mystery thriller!