will be posted to instagram and linked here soon!

The Art of Murder was a very cozy mystery set in a small English village. Our two main characters had their own quirks and aspects that made them really fun to read about. I LOVE cozy mysteries but unfortunately I didn’t love this one quite as much as usual. I found that it was a pretty slow read and I couldn’t find myself excited about picking it up or while I was reading it.

Overall, if you like cozy mysteries then I’d definitely check this one out and see what you think!

Thank you to Boldwood Books for my copy of this!

I just couldn’t take to this book. I started it, got 7% in & was so confused as to where it was going, how the characters all related to each other & keeping up, that I had to shelf it. I tried again a month later, and was just as confused. It’s not very often I DNF a book, but this is one such time. It just wasn’t for me.

This book has two likeable main characters. My favorite was Phoebe who is a reclusive writer. Then there is Juno, a former stand up comic who is suspicious of her elderly mothers new fiancee and begs Phoebe to help her check out his past. A local art dealer washes up dead in the river and Juno is sure he was murdered and believes her mothers fiancee is somehow involved.

Cons: The chapters seemed way too long, the English slang words were sometimes hard to decipher, and the pace was just too slow.

Pros: Interesting characters. some humor, and a good solid plot.

In this unique mystery novel, readers meet Juno and Phoebe, distant yet old friends, as they reunite in a tiny English village called Inkbury where Phoebe lives after her journalism and writing career nosedives. Juno wants to enlist Phoebe’s help in investigating Juno’s mother’s new boyfriend, but the death of the local art dealer in the river under mysterious circumstances ropes the two of them into the investigation given the secret at the core of this murder. Forming an amateur detective agency, Phoebe, Juno, and another local must identify and stop the killer -- who has to live in Inkbury -- before they strike again and kill another local. With complex and detailed characters, Walker’s latest novel and its two protagonists are odd (in a good way), complex, and confusing personalities with difficult relationships with each other and other characters in the novel. Inkbury is a charming English village, the perfect backdrop for a murder, and readers are sure to enjoy the exploits of the Village Detective Agency and their investigation into this unexpected murder. With such interesting characters and a strong murder mystery at the heart of this novel, readers are sure to enjoy this cozy mystery and the many personalities which live here.

Juno had to relocate to an idyllic village to look after her ageing mother who seems to be starting a relationship with watching thinks could be a wife killer!
However the local art dealer washes up dead in the river.
I’m sorry to say this seems a complete rip-off of the Marlow Murder Club and nowhere near as good. Such a shame

The Art of Murder by Fiona Walker is the first book in The Village Detectives mystery series.

Unfortunately I just didn't work out for me, even though it had all that I like in the book. Small village, cozy setting, quirky characters.
Yet at the beginning it seemed like there were too many people and I had a problem figuring out who is who and keeping track.

Humor which I really appreciate in books sometimes worked and sometimes not.
The story was well presented and engaging and mystery was well done.
The chapters were too long and I think it's one of the reasons it took from enjoying it more.

I love a cosy crime and I love female characters who become impromptu sleths and this book ticked both of those boxes.

Phoebe, a former journalist now crime novelist even has female sleuths in her book. She lives in a big house in the village Inkbury. Her husband works away and her children have flown the nest.

Her friend Juno, a blogger and stand up comic has to move to the village from abroad to look after her elderly mother Judy but she is also worried about her mother’s suitor Derek whose past wives have all died. After selling the family home Judy announces her and Derek are engaged!

Judy is a celebrity in her own right but there are also other characters with a past in TV in Inkbury and some who also may have a secret to share.

Then there is a body discovered in the the water and villagers speculate what happened was it murder or an accident? Juno persuades Phoebe to investigate the death, but what will they discover?

This book is very funny, and the characters are engaging and some hilarious. It is also full of action and twists as there are robberies, murders and also some more emotional parts but I loved the chocolate box setting of Inkbury and it’s rich cast of inhabitants.

I looking forward to reading more in this series!

Loved this! Very clever cosy with great, diverse characters (and not *too* many to keep track of). The story isn’t overlong, either, and moves along very well. The murderer is well-hidden, and the county of Wexshire and village of Inkbury nicely brought to life (Berkshire? 🤔). Thoroughly engaging, and very much looking forward to the next in the series.

An interesting and entertaining mystery that makes you laugh at times and keeps you invested in the story. I loved Phoebe the most. Enjoyed the writing and the plot twists.
Thank you for letting me read this.

A great a cosy mystery !
Inkbury is a quaint village in the North Wessex Downs , Phoebe Fredericks an ex journalist and now crime writer lives in the village and is awaiting the arrival of her friend Juno.
Juno is an ex stand up comedian and is relocating to Inkbury .
Everything seems idyllic until there is a murder and Phoebe and Juno start a bit of amateur sleuthing .
I really enjoyed this easy to read book , the characters are likeable and a little bit quirky .
This is a strong start to a new cosy mystery series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books

4 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This is a cozy mystery with colorful characters, plenty of twists, and a quirky English village as a backdrop. Former comic Juno has returned to England to care for her elderly mother who is engaged to a smarmy man who may or may not be a wife-killer. She hopes her friend Phoebe, who is a disgraced journalist turned novelist, can help her figure out if her mother's fiance is hiding a murderous past. But before the duo can get into that mystery, an local art dealer washes up dead on the village's famous river bank. Thus is the origin story of The Village Detectives.

The book is written well and flows easily, although it did get a bit bogged down in the middle. Since this is the first book in the series, it's understandable since the author has to introduce the characters and build the world in which the rest of the series will live. Selfishly I was hoping there would be more colorful characters in the book, but there is room to grow in future books. Juno's mother and fiance are a hoot and I suppose it would have been overkill to have more than them providing comic relief.

The mystery was intriguing and the author provided plenty of red herrings to confuse the reader. I admit it took me awhile to figure out the culprit, which is testament to the author's skill. I think this series is going to be fun to explore and look forward to reading future books.

I was provided an e-copy of this book from Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books. All opinions are my own.

The opening chapter in this book had me in stitches, so I knew I was going to be in a treat, this is book 1 in the Village Detectives series and I cannot wait to see what they get up to next.

Such a great bunch of characters, Juno was my favourite (especially her delving In to Dennis and his previous relationships), but I enjoyed all their interactions and how they came together to solve the crime. They are certainly an interesting bunch of amateur sleuths.

For me the setting of the book was one of my favourite parts and the quintessential Englishness of it.

A good start to a new series for Fiona Walker! Two main characters Juno and Phoebe, I loved Phoebe from the start, a crime writer she gave me 'down to earth' vibes but Juno I found slightly annoying, which once you met the mother and the 'pet names' I understood where the annoying trait came from.
The story itself did keep me intrigued, and the murderer did keep me guessing until the end. Phoebe is also writing at this time so is juggling solving a murder and writing.
Overall for me it was a good read as Fiona Walker is a great author.

The two main characters, approaching an 'older age', are interesting people with intriguing background stories: Phoebe Fredericks, a previous well known journalist, is now a reclusive murder mystery writer who prefers her own company, while resenting her celebrity film star husband who is all too often away (and probably up to no good with pretty, film crew young assistants).

Widowed Juno Mulligan was once a stand-up comedienne, who is relocating from America back to her native England where her mother lives in a quaintly charming English village and is becoming romantically involved with someone whom Juno believes to be a wife-murderer. Juno talks a lot - much more than she listens - so frequently steamrollers others into doing what she wants without much opportunity to protest or back out of her unwelcome plans.

I must admit, I didn't like Juno much, I initially found her irritating although I did warm to her by the end, and I did struggle a little with a rather slow pace in places. The main plot was good, although Juno's mother, as a sub-plot, also irritated and the similarity of names caused some confusion for me sometimes, (especially on a Kindle where it isn't easy to look back at previous scenes.) By contrast, I did like Phoebe... a lot!

I didn't guess 'who did it' but were there enough clues along the way to set a clear path to the eventual reveal? I'm not sure there were, but this is the first of a new series so maybe my concentration was taken up by getting to know the characters rather than anything else?

I'll certainly try the second in the series when it is published as it'll be interesting to see how the author develops life (and murder) in the village.

EXCERPT: Since her abrupt departure from journalism, Phoebe had turned to a life of crime, the corpses piling up.
Channelling her rage into writing detective novels under a pen name, she'd now plotted multiple dastardly deaths to vex her two amateur sleuths, a 1920s society hostess and her chaperone. Recently, she'd added dark 1980s crime thrillers to her oeuvre and was even toying with gothic Victorian mysteries to avenge her bloodlust. Her imaginary worlds were like holiday destinations now, into which she escaped to find peace by restoring order.
The books had been successful enough for her to scrape a living, a positive outcome from a period of depression so deep she'd almost lost sight of the surface, when career and medical crises had coincided, cash and marriage ones chasing them cruelly quickly.
Plotting a murder every six months or so had been terrific therapy.

ABOUT 'THE ART OF MURDER': Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs, its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is, until the murder…

Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer.

She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.

But before they have a chance, the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the village’s famous river. His lover is in the frame, but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret… One that relates to Phoebe’s own past and Juno’s present.

Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury, as they soon discover, living one’s best midlife can be murder.

MY THOUGHTS: Quirky characters, a small English village, a suspicious death - and we have Fiona Walker's entry into the cosy-mystery genre. Overall, it's not too bad, a bit OTT in places but still an enjoyable, humorous read.

There is a group of characters who are somewhat larger than life - Juno, her mother Judy, and Judy's boyfriend Dennis. Their constant use of cringeworthy pet names - Pusscat, Boppa and Doobee - grated on the nerves after a while. I liked Phoebe much better, although even she was an acquired taste.

The third member of the Village detectives after Phoebe and Juno, is Mils, the local pub landlord and bikie, who likes nothing better than pretending to be a corpse for Phoebe's entertainment.

The plot is quite slow moving and complex with multiple threads: the death of Si; Juno's suspicion that Dennis is a serial killer and that her mother will be next; the moving of Judy into a retirement complex along with the associated decluttering of her possessions; Phoebe's novel; and Phoebe's relationship with her husband. There's also a burglary at the local antique store, possible art fraud, Juno's impending grandmotherhood, and a dozen other little threads woven in.

Sometimes I found it quite overwhelming, and the main thread of Silas's death seemed to get lost in everything else that was going on. The police play a very minor role, in fact are hardly seen at all, and the mishandling of evidence that the Village Detectives found left me wincing!

If you like slap-dash comedy, then The Art of Murder is bound to appeal. Although I did enjoy this more than not, I do appreciate quite a bit more subtlety than is to be found here.

⭐⭐⭐

#TheArtofMurder #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Fiona Walker is the author of eighteen novels, from tales of flat-shares and clubbing in nineties London to today’s romping, rural romances set amid shires, spires and stiles. In a career spanning over two decades, she’s grown up alongside her readers, never losing her wickedly well-observed take on life, lust and the British in love. The Art of Murder is her first foray into the murder-mystery genre.

Fiona lives in Warwickshire, sharing a slice of Shakespeare Country with her partner Sam, their two daughters and a menagerie of animals.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Boldwood Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of The Art of Murder by Fiona Walker for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

I was so very excited for this book but I had to give up at the 20% mark. I just wasn't feeling it.

Thank you for the chance to read it early.

Fiona Walker's The Art of Murder is a clever, witty, and enjoyable to read! Fast paced and kept me thinking! :-)

I have read and loved several of Fiona's books to date. There are still a few more of her books to read before I have read everything that she has written. Fiona's most recent release is called 'The Art Of Murder' and it is the first in a brand new cozy mystery series. I read the synopsis of 'The Art Of Murder' and it certainly sound like the sort of book I would enjoy. So without further ado, I grabbed my Kindle, grabbed a cup of tea and settled down for what proved to be an interesting afternoon of reading. I really enjoyed reading 'The Art Of Murder' but more about that in a bit.

I have to be honest and say that it took me a little while to get into 'The Art Of The Murder'. Part of the problem was that I was tired and finding it hard to concentrate when I started reading the book. Another problem I had was the fact that it took me a little while to gel with any of the characters. After a little while and as I got to know the characters a bit better, I found myself getting 'into' the story more and from then on found it rather difficult to put the book down for any length of time. I had my own theories as to what was going to happen and so I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had wandered off in the opposite direction. The more of the book that I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. I was so wrapped up in the story that I lost all track of time and just how quickly I was getting through the book. All too quickly I reached the end of 'The Art Of Murder'. I found 'The Art Of Murder' to be a gripping read which certainly kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat.

'The Art Of Murder' is well written. Fiona certainly knows how to grab the reader's attention and draw them into what proves to be one heck of a story and then some. For me, the story hit the ground running and maintained a fairly steady pace throughout. Fiona clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in the way in which she describes them. She makes her characters seem just as real as you and I. I love the way in which Fiona makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action. Reading 'The Art Of Murder' felt like being on an unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.

In short, I did enjoy reading 'The Art Of Murder' and I would recommend it to other readers. I look forward to reading much more of Fiona's work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Art Of Murder' by Fiona Walker.

An absolutely fantastic introduction to what promises to be an absolutely fantastic and addictive series!!!

I really enjoyed this fun, charming, emotive, crime packed page turning cosy murder mystery!!!! This book has been set in the stunning location of Inkbury, which Fiona ensured came to life in front of my eyes. She has created a fantastic setting for a crime series and portrayed life in a small village absolutely perfectly!! Fiona's amazing and evocative writing skills really has brought everything to life all throughout this fantastic book and I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment. The storyline is ram packed with crime, humour, friendship, drama and absolutely everything you could ask for in an absolutely fantastic page turner!!! There was no way I could finish just one chapter as even though I kept telling myself I would and then go to bed each chapter ended in a way where I just HAD to know what happened next and before I knew it I had devoured the whole book in one sitting in a few hours!!! The storyline was realistic which I always prefer as it makes it more enjoyable to read when you can see that it is something that could happen. It was a very compelling read and I would never have guessed who did what. An absolutely fantastic read filled with suspense, mystery, twists and much more. I must say I had tears streaming down my face laughing at some points which is always nice when it comes to any crime books as it lightens the mood and gives it a nice mix! This is one of those fantastic books that you could get completely lost in whether you are curled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate or laying on the beach with a cocktail. It really is a fun easy to read book filled with laugh out loud moments and you will get completely lost in the pages. If you have never read any books by this brilliant author then pick up your copy today!! Well done Catherine on a fantastic page turner and a great start to what is guaranteed to be an addictive new series!!!

Clear your schedules and pick up this fantastic and page turning book in this absolutely promising series!!!

I loved meeting all the characters who are a delightful mix of personalities with intriguing backgrounds and each one was very compelling. They very quickly became like friends to me and I adored watching their interactions throughout! Fiona's evocative writing skills really have brought each of these characters to life throughout this book and I am looking forward to continuing my new found friendship with them all! A great group of realistic, strong and unique characters that I have loved getting to know in this amazing book and that I cannot wait to meet again and again!!!

Congratulations Fiona on an absolutely addictive and unputdownable cosy crime book, an absolutely brilliant start to what promises to be a fantastic cosy crime book series.

Overall an intriguing, charming and laugh out loud start to a promising new series!

#TheArtOfMurder #TheVillageDetectives #FionaWalker #BoldwoodBooks #Boldwood #BoldwoodBloggers #theboldbookclub #BookAndTonic #RachelsRandomResources #rararesources
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I think that most of cozy mystery starts with the introduction of the characters and the setting. This can make the novel a bit slower and you get to know new characters.
This novel starts introducing us to Phoebe and Juno: both are woman who are facing changes in their life and career. Phoebe is writing mysteries and thriller; Juno is trying to understand.
We also get to know the setting and I think that the author did an excellent job in explaining how the average person will never be able to buy a house in a romantic English village.
A slow burning start, a bit melancholic and with some moments that are full of promises.
Something happens and our ladies starts investigating.
It’s not always easy to write a good cozy even if you are a seasoned writer like Fiona Walker. She succeeded and delivers an entertaining and solid mystery that surprised me and kept me guessing.
I can’t wait to read another story in this series and I liked both the ladies and the storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for this ARC, all opinions are mine