This is the Cambridge of a Sunday afternoon drama: all golden light on the Backs, solo rowers gliding up the river, misted-window tearooms and joshing undergraduates rolling down Trinity Street. It is 1935, and a thinly disguised Girton College is the setting for this murder mystery: the war veteran Frederick Rowlands, and his wife Edith are visiting Cambridge for a May Week event at St Gertrude’s, a college that’s slightly out of central town, where newly welcomed female undergraduates battle suspicion and prejudice to study alongside their male counterparts. It emerges that several of the college’s “dons” have been receiving poison pen letters, and in the first few days of the Rowlands’ stay, tragedy strikes: a brilliant young female pHd student is found dead – and it turns out that Frederick was one of the last people to see her alive. Which means that the couple’s stay in Cambridge might not be the relaxing break they’d been hoping for…

As the series’ title suggests, our hero Frederick is sightless after being blinded by shrapnel in the war, and Koning’s earlier books incorporate his attempts to re-enter life without vision. The author’s hero was inspired by the story of her own grandfather, also a soldier in the First World War, who was blinded at Passchendaele. Five books in, Rowlands’ other senses are significantly enhanced: he is able to recall voices in the same way a sighted person might recall faces, and Edith is now well practised at describing locations for her husband. The overall effect of these descriptive passages is a dialled up sense of place: conveying the details of the sounds, the texture and scents presented by locations is a very clever way of embedding readers right in the room where the action is happening. This is an engaging, immersive read that is the ideal companion on a cosy winter evening, and will no doubt see you seeking out the other books in the series.

featured in the November issue of Cambridge Edition magazine, print and online

This is a review of Murder in Cambridge and Murder at Bletchley Park, both part of the Blind Detective historical mystery series.
I chose to review them together as this is a compelling and well written historical mystery series. The main character who suffer from the aftermath of WWI is interesting, clever and brave.
The story take place in different location and it's always great to discover something about these places.
The mystery is solid and I like the golden age atmosphere and the surprising twists.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Murder in Cambridge is part of the Blind Detective series which features Frederick Rowlands as the protagonist and is based just after the war. In this novel, Frederick is invited to an end of term party at St Gertrude's college, Cambridge where he meets Diana Havelock, a PHD student, who later that evening is killed in mysterious circumstances. As he begins to look into Diana's death, he discovers the darkness and jealousy hidden in academia.

I thought the protagonist being blind made this book really unique and it was fascinating to see how he navigated social situations whilst trying to investigate Diana's death. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of Cambridge and thought that the author captured the university atmosphere well.

However, I did find overall that this book fell slightly flat for me and it took me a long time to get through. At the start of the book, we are bombarded with so many side characters and given very little information about each character to differentiate them so I found myself getting confused as to who was who. I found the pacing to be slightly strange and extremely monotone as for the entire book it felt as if we were waiting for the action and the mystery to properly pick up and for me neither element really did. The ending was very predictable and due to the aforementioned flat tone of the book it felt very anticlimactic.

Overall this book was fairly average and I would recommend it if you're looking for a cozy crime story in the beautiful setting of Cambridge.

Frederick Rowlands, blind detective is in Cambridge.
When a young woman undergraduate is murdered he is first on the scene and it’s up to him to find out what’s happening.
This is a clever mystery set in its time well.

Mr. and Mrs. Rowlands are visiting Edith's friend Maud Rickards at St. Gertrude's College at Cambridge. Rowlands lost his sight during WWI, but he has an amazing ability to sense things around him. The book takes place between the World Wars when most women didn't go to college. When Rowlands comes back from a short walk, he meets Sedgewick, a young man who is drunk and upset because Diana (a brilliant physics student) had not come to meet him as she had arranged. Rowlands goes to her room and finds her dead. After this, he needs to find out how and why she died.

Rowlands ends up going back to Cambridge for the inquest., and then a last time to face the murderer. He sees Sedgewick again. After going home again, he gets a call that there is another death. Rowlands feels he needs to go back to Cambridge once again. He needs to face the murderer, and isn't going to give up until the case is solved. Unfortunately, that is a very dangerous activity. The book is very exciting and the characters are believable.

This is a great addition to the series! I thank Netgalley and Alison & Busby for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Beautifully Drawn..
The fifth entry into the Blind Detective series of atmospheric mysteries finds Rowlands attending an event at St Gertrude’s College - when a death occurs in suspicious circumstances, he is on hand to assist the investigation. Lies, secrets and subterfuge soon emerge in droves, as deaths continue, and Rowlands quickly finds himself in a veritable race against time. Another beautifully drawn case with an immaculate sense of time and place, a deftly drawn cast of characters and an immersive mystery at its very heart. (First published as End of Term)

The plot is well written with many unexpected twists and turns. The characters are interesting, well developed and believable although I do think a blind man wouldn't manage as well as Fredrick Rowland seems able to which did detract from the story a touch for me. It is however a different twist on the genre. Overall a very good story. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was my first exposure to this series and I have to say it was a very enjoyable read. Having a blind person as the hero unofficially solving crimes in a series is pretty novel though, at times, hard to believe given the ease with which Frederick Rowland seems to negotiate the streets of Cambridge. On the other hand, it allows the author to add proxy descriptions of scenes as Rowland requests others to describe what he cannot see. He also has better developed hearing, taste and smell not quite giving him “super power” status but enough enhance his powers of detection and make for a more elaborate plot.
Murder in Cambridge is a Cosy Mystery with all the usual elements very well executed. The plot is carefully crafted with many unexpected turns. The characters are interesting, well developed and believable. The academic institution in which the book is set provides ample characters and opportunities for sculduggery motivated by greed, ambition and jealousy. This is especially so given it is a pioneering Women’s College with little support from the other established male dominated colleges. Finally, Cambridge in the 1930’s as a background setting adds richness to the read and adds great nostalgia to the whole book.
I would heartily recommend this book to all lovers of Agatha Christie and the genre she helped create and I look forward to reading others in the series.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing access to this pre publication edition.