Thank you NetGalley for approving me for this book. I am so glad I was able to read this book as I really enjoyed this and will read more by this author.

Another corker from Jonathan Whitelaw. An intelligent mystery with wonderfully drawn characters who I have great affection for.

Journalist Jason and his mother in law Amita have to join forces to find out why Hal Mulberry has been murdered just as he was about to unveil an iconic painting. The fun starts with the characters sparking off each other as they both travel around Penrith trying to work out clues to the crime.

"The Village Hall Vendetta" by Jonathan Whitelaw is a charming cozy mystery that unfolds in a picturesque village setting. Whitelaw's storytelling is both witty and engaging, with quirky characters and a delightful blend of humor and suspense. This book is a delightful and light-hearted read for mystery enthusiasts.

The second in Jonathan Whitelaw's cosy crime series featuring Journalist Jason Brazel, his formidable mother in law, Amita and the not-so-sleepy country village they live in. This time round the two amateur sleuths are pulled in to the murder of local philanthropist and multi-millionaire Hal Mulberry,on the even of his unveiling a recently acquired £2 million painting.
If you read the first in the series; The Bingo Hall Detectives, you'll have an idea what to expect in terms of tone, humour and levels of cosy.
The author has a knack with humour filled dialogue and an eye for the absurd. While cosy crime isn't my natural go-to in crime fiction I enjoyed this as much as the first in the series and found it much more readable than a number of the higher profile celeb turned cosy crime books out there.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the chance to read.

Jason and Amita return , the amateur sleuths are looking into the murder of Hal Mulberry .
Mulberry had just bought a valuable piece of art which is to be displayed in Penrith village hall , on the night of the unveiling Hal is found with his throat cut.
The detective duo don’t disappoint and the book moves at a fair pace with twists and turns along the way.
I enjoy the relationship between the two main characters and this helps to make this unique series in the genre.
An enjoyable read and looking forward to the next book in the series.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Amita and Jason are back as the detective duo. Even though they aren’t detectives. Amita is a pensioner, and Jason is her son in law, and also happens to be a journalist. Jason has a new, big interview lined up with wealthy, local businessman Hal Mulberry. Hal has purchased a piece of art for a substantial amount of money, and the artist is local to them. Then Hal winds up dead, and some say the painting is cursed, but also not everyone thinks Hal is wonderful. And Amita and Jason only feel it’s their responsibility to catch the perpetrator.

This author has created wonderful characters in Amita and Jason. They are chalk and cheese, but they just work together so well. They bounce off each other with wit and comedy. They make a brilliant duo, and I can’t wait to see what they get up to next. The storyline was well written and well thought out, and I didn’t guess what or who until nearly the end. The writer uses great descriptives to describe Cumbria, and it really sets the scene. This is shaping up to be a great cosy crime series, and I really recommend this series.

I really enjoyed the first in this series and was happy to read about what the unique mother and son-in-law duo would get.up to next.

A solid follow-up that delivered a pacy, twisty plot and some more of these great characters of Jason and Amita. It didn't quite live up to the first one for me though, but was an easy entertaining read.

Hal Mulberry has been found dead shortly after buying a famous painting and rumour is that it comes with a curse. Journalist Jason and his mother-in-law Amita find themselves caught up in the murder investigation, desperate to uncover the truth.

This book is the very definition of cosy crime and I loved it!

I absolutely adore a crime-solving duo and this was like no other I've read before. How can you not love Jason and Amita?! They made me laugh out loud and I simply can't wait to see the antics that they get up to later in this series. I particularly liked the way that Jonathan Whitelaw wrote the dialogue between Jason and Amita.

The whole book had a brilliant sense of light-heartedness that made it really fun to read. I enjoyed how intriguing the plot was and found myself constantly trying to follow the clues to work out who was responsible for the murder.

The perfect story to curl up with for a weekend of reading.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperNorth for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Murder Afoot..?
The second outing in this series featuring journalist Jason Brazel and, mother in law, Amita. Jason is feeling on top of the world following the promise of an exclusive on a new art piece to be displayed at Penrith Village Hall. Needless to say Amita disapproves, although she has her reasons. Things are soon to take a much darker turn and as the unveiling arrives so might a murderer. A cosy style mystery, much in the vein of the first in the series, with a warm cast of characters and a convincing sense of place.

Like the painting at the centre of this murder mystery, this book is a masterpiece. Jonathan Whitelaw brings together a collection of well drawn and interesting characters in this fun book set in the Lake District.

There’s a fine art to penning cosy crime and @jdwhitelaw13 has it sussed. Village Hall Vendetta, his follow-up to Bingo Hall Detectives, is another fun chase around the Lake District.

Hal Mulberry has bought the masterpiece, Buttermere at Dawn, and plans to bring it back to the Lakes where it belongs. He’s going to turn Penrith Village Hall into a cultural mecca with the painting as the main attraction.

Journalist Jason Brazel is delighted to get the inside scoop, until things take a turn for the worse. So, he and his mother-in-law, Amita, are back on the hunt for some answers… and only the truth will do.

A pacy ping pong ball of a book, it bounces you back and forward, from one suspect to another, with a wealth of well-drawn characters. Can you guess who put Hal out of the picture, and why?!

Thanks to @netgalley and @harpercollinsuk for this early copy to review in my own words. It’s out on 11 May.

#cosycrime #VillageHallVendetta #JonathanWhitelaw #caledoniacrime #crimebooks #funread #lakedistrict #whodunnit #art #bookreview #goodread #netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper North for an e advance copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this title. I had hoped for an enjoyable example of the increasingly popular genre, cosy crime. This was not it.
Village Hall Vendetta is the second in a series involving a son and mother in law amateur sleuth duo. An interesting idea, but , sadly, as with so much in this book, an idea that fails in its execution.
From its opening, outlandishly saloon bar style brawl in a fast food outlet, the book tries too hard to be funny and quirky and ends up being merely tiresome.
This was definitely not one for me

Good effort at the ever increasing popular cosy crime with a modern twist type of novel but this lacked something for me. I really liked the concept of the son and MIL as detective duo it was an unusual choice but it worked fairly well needed a little more development but it did work. The plot was something that hooked me in when reading the description and it was good story just didn’t live up to what I was expecting. Overall this a good cosy crime book with some interesting characters. But it lacked something that would have made it into the same leagues as the likes of Thursday Murder Club