Member Reviews

Sleuthing Begins..
Susan lives a relatively happy life on the Isle of Wight with her beloved pooch, her dog walking group and more recently lodger Colette to keep her happy. When Colette is found dead at Castle Cove it’s a shock and even more concerning when the circumstances of death are suspicious but police determine to put it down to an accident. It soon transpires that the dog walking group were the last to see Colette alive. Let the sleuthing begin. An enjoyable and engaging mystery with a nicely drawn cast of characters, red herrings aplenty, an immersive plot and an atmospheric, well crafted setting.

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Placing the story on the Isle of Wight added a visual element making it an original and special setting. .Detailed descriptions of nature, the beach and coast meandered throughout the plot, drawing the reader in, as we followed all the clues following the murder, alongside the main character.
The plot was carefully constructed and was very realistic. I found myself following the same chain of thoughts as Susan, the main character, as pieces of evidence emerged! The other characters in the dog-walking group appeared to be normal everyday people, but who were each hiding their own personal secrets.
The conclusion was reached eventually, as Susan discovered through trial and error, and putting her own safety at risk.
This novel would suit anyone who enjoys sleuthing! I have been happy to review such an interesting and thought provoking story!

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This is the third book that I’ve read by this author, all of which are set on the Isle of Wight.

Susan lives happily on the Isle of Wight, and her divorce from husband Steve is just about to reach decree absolute stage. Every day, she meets up with a group of friends to walk their dogs on the beach, and life is good.

Susan opens her home to a lodger, a young lady called Colette. Colette’s grandmother, now dead, had lived in a care home on the island but some of her belongings went missing after her death; a brooch, a children’s book, and a locket. Colette is determined to find the person responsible.

In a twist, five of the people in the dog-walking group used to work at the care home but now work together at a hotel, jointly owned by three of them. This means that the thief is one of the dog-walking friends. As Colette gets closer to revealing the thief, she goes down to sit on the beach one evening, alone. She is then found dead but the police are happy that it’s an accident; Colette had a severe shellfish allergy but had apparently eaten some marshmallows that contained fish gelatin. Susan doesn’t believe that Colette’s death was an accident because she was so careful about what she ate, so she starts investigating the theft herself. She puts her life in danger but can she manage to reveal the thief, also Colette’s murderer, before something happens to her?

Plenty of twists and turns, and I suspected every single person but couldn’t decide which of them was the perpetrator. I really enjoyed this book and stayed awake until 3am to finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.

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I love British mysteries, and the setting of this novel — the Isle of Wight — is my cup of tea. Main character Susan is devastated by the death of her lodger Colette, a vulnerable young woman who moved to the island to discover the truth about her grandmother’s missing valuables. These items were stolen from her grandmother right before her death in a nursing home. The five people most likely responsible happen to be the members of Susan’s dog walking group. Colette, a collector of other peoples’ secrets, confronts the group with accusations and threats, a move that leads to her murder. To honor Colette, Susan takes it upon herself to uncover the murderer, again most likely one of her friends. At the heart of the mystery are the handful of items Colette had gathered as blackmail fodder, a collection that makes no sense to Susan until she begins unraveling the truths about Colette’s death.

This was a good, but not great, read. Susan grew to irritate me with her careless actions and dangerous confrontations with the five potential suspects. Despite the fact that Colette was murdered, despite the fact that Susan lives alone and her house was broken into, she repeatedly does foolish things like walking her dogs alone at night and verbally confronting the five would-be murderers with her accusations. I also found it odd that one minute she was accusing one of them of being guilty, to which they reacted coldly and/or angrily, then in the next scene they were all friends again as if all was well. Also, her snooping into their homes and personal effects seemed a little much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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An easy who done it read which i flew through.
Set in the Isle of Wight.
A little to cosy for me but i'm sure will appeal to those who are not into a major thriller.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.
Four stars from me.

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I love British mysteries and reading the description of the novel set on the Isle of Wright prompted me to read this. I wasn't enthralled with the book, a little slow going. The main character is trying to solve the mystery behind her lodger's murder. A quick read for her cold day but I will not be recommending it.

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Susan lives on the Isle of Wight. She has grown fond of her young lodger, Colette, who has recently lost her beloved Gran who lived in a home on the Isle.

Susan exercises her dog along with a group of dog owners, most of whom worked at the home where Colette's Gran lived.

Colette suspects someone in that group of stealing off her Gran, and voices her suspicions to the group, and is later found dead at Castle Cove.

Susan vows that she will find out who was responsible for Colette's death, and investigates the dog walkers.

I quite enjoyed this novel. It was an easy read, but had so many characters that I had to really concentrate!
Each of the characters were suspects, and I liked the way Susan got to the bottom of the mystery.

I give this book a solid 4/5 stars.

Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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A cozy mystery set on the Isle of Wight. I felt like this one was trying to both be a cozy mystery and a more serious thriller, so it wasn't my fave. Overall, a decent mystery though!

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Good book! This book was a decent read! It had the usual, light suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, and a great who done it, with a bit of a older lady sleuthing going on lol The storyline was interesting and flowed nicely! I would recommend reading this book as it was worth reading! It wasn't one of my top favorites but still a good read! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

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This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. A mystery and intriguing. Secrets abound.

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