Liked it . Due to health issues cannot not but will write a proper review at a later time
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mineA more extensive review will follow

Actuary Una is frustrated that her numbers are out. There have been more than expected accidental seaside deaths As she heads to visit her Mum in Eastbourne she becomes amateur sleuth examining the deaths of some of her mum’s friends.

A gentle crime novel with some sweet characters. I enjoyed the humour in it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy to review.

An engaging and very British amateur sleuth struggles to understand why her insurance statistics on seaside deaths are askew, end up by investigating deaths around her mother’s retirement community. Lovely detective, spot on details, but I found the plot a bit unconvincing. The book was okay but I wouldn’t be in a rush to read it again!

Una the main character is an insurance actuary and numbers , probability , risk and statistics are what she deals with everyday.
Una is working on the figures of deaths in a seaside town and the research isn’t adding up and Una’s mum wants here to visit as she has some news to share with her .
Una is reluctant to visit she is a socially awkward character who is absorbed by her work and social interaction outside of work is not one of her favourite past times .
Una decides to visit her mum in Eastbourne and his upset to learn her mum is to marry her partner Ken .
However she learns that two of Ken’s friends have recently died and this piques her interest this could help her solve the anomalies in her data.
Una turns into amateur detective which results in some funny moments but she eventually gets the answer she is looking for!
This book started slowly but soon picked up it’s a mixture of cosy mystery with a hint of humour and self discovery from the protagonist.
A different and unique read!
Enjoyable!
Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK.

I really connected to the main character in this book and found reading about her really enjoyable. It was off to a slow start but when it picked up I was really engaged. I found the story to be quite interesting and I have never really seen a crime book like it which I also enjoyed.

Una is an actuary who finds herself investigating mysterious deaths. I really liked the concept here, but I found the writing not to be very engaging. It was hard to get into, especially for a cozy mystery!

Una is an insurance actuary who realises during her latest research that something isn’t adding up about the number of unusual deaths happening in a seaside town. She has to travel to her mums wedding and is reluctant until she realises that the unusual deaths are friends of his mums new husband. She decides to look into this mystery and finds a pattern emerge. It is down to her to find the truth in the numbers.

I wanted to read this as I loved the concept. I have never read anything quite like this before and found an intriguing cosy crime novel involving a fun mystery. I am in mixed minds about my overall thoughts on this one. Although this was an easy, lighthearted read, I did find it difficult to connect with Una and found the story quite slow and repetitive. Although there were some funny moments, I found that at other times some of the humour did not work so well. I am unsure how this would work as a series but would be interested to find out. I appreciate the author’s creativity in producing something different as a lot of cosy crime books have become quite similar. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

Death by Numbers is a mash-up of cosy crime, family dynamics and character self-discovery......and it works brilliantly! Una is an actuary, wrapped up in her own world of numbers and risk. But all this changes when she visits her Mum in Eastbourne and discovers a pattern of 'accidental' deaths.

Add to this that her Mum is getting married, and her fiance becomes Una's prime suspect!

What I really enjoyed about Death by Numbers is the characterization of Una, and her relationships with those around her. It gives the book so much more depth than your usual cosy crime, especially as Una doesn't always get it right.

I'm hoping that this becomes a series, and we see Una take on more investigations!

There's a slew of books of this ilk starring amateur detectives in interesting jobs. My favourite being an obituary writer. Una, the main character in this book, is an insurance actuary. I am not sure if it is her job or her personality (maybe the two are intrinsically linked) but I did find her to be a funny fish, dry as old boots as my mum would have said. This, I do believe marred my enjoyment of what could have been a interesting plot...
Long story short... Una and a colleague are both up for promotion at work. Her chances are cut when her predictions about number of deaths in seaside towns fails to match the actual figures. She believes her numbers are accurate and, as chance would have it, her mum lives in such a town, and is always on at her to visit, so off she goes, determined to get to the bottom of things...
Things don't go as planned when she finds out that her mum is getting re-married. But also, more worrying is the number of their "friends" who have died in "accidents"... could this be why her figures are out...
Now, the plot is interesting and intriguing enough, and would probably fly better (for me anyway) if the main character had been more engaging. Even the attempt at humour fell flat for me.
It looks like this might be a series opener. Although I am not sure how well Una will stack up in further escapades and, given that we didn't really get on, I will probably not pursue the relationship further...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This book had it all for me, great characters, humour and mystery. Such a cosy mystery that kept me hooked throughout.

This was such an interesting premise, I really loved the whole concept. There were some great ideas and it was pretty unique, especially with the numbers.
Unfortunately I struggled with the writing style, and this really didn’t work for me because of that.

Jo Cunningham writes about a London based actuary who struggles to relate to people but who is obsessed by numbers, Una McMurray, employed by Katapult Insurance. Una cannot understand why her figures for accidents and misadventures for seaside resorts are out, something she worries about as her boss, Ajay, is planning to either promote either her or her colleague, Tim, to team leader, so this is going to jeopardise her chances. Ajay thinks her methods are dated and could do with improvements. Una does not agree, as she makes a rare trip to visit her widowed mother, Sheila, in Eastbourne. On arrival, she learns some unwelcome news, her mother is going to marry the suspiciously over-generous Ken, and she will not be dissuaded.

Una finds out there are connections between Ken and a crowd of elderly bingo players and the 2 strange deaths by hanging basket and shopping trolley. She spots an opportunity, to innovate her practices by looking into these specific seaside accidents, and hopefully her investigations could aid her attempts to win promotion. As Una spends time at her mother's, she gets drawn helping with the wedding plans, including working hand in hand with Ken's son, Anton, in putting together a photo montage for the wedding. There is more murder, and Una is convinced it all revolves around numbers associated with the victims, and arriving on the scene is Tim, who is determined to get involved in her investigation, and her predictions of death, but is she right?

This is an okay crime read, but the humour did not always chime with me, whilst the plot and storyline might work better for other readers. I am not certain but I think this may be the first of a series, but Una as a central character, in my opinion, might not lend herself as successfully for future adventures and crime, given what we already know about her. I think this was a light, occasionally entertaining, mystery read that will probably appeal to others more than me. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Rating: 3.2/5

Its is increasingly difficult for cosy crime writers - or crime writers in general - to come up with original settings or backgrounds for their central protagonists. So, congratulations to Jo Cunningham for coming up with the idea of having Una, a risk averse insurance actuary as her amateur sleuth at the heart of "Death by Numbers". As far as I am aware this is a novel scenario that has not been used previously. Una is puzzled when the numbers of actual accidental seaside deaths varies significantly from her calculated projection, so she decides to look into things more closely. In doing so, Una finds herself investigating a series of freak deaths, but weirder still, they are all in Eastbourne and involve people known to Una's mother and her second husband-to-be, Ken.

The mystery itself is decent enough, but the story is really driven by the characters and especially by the central protagonist, Una. There is plenty of gentle humour throughout that relies heavily on Una's obsession with statistics and safety-first attitude towards life. I did fear that the joke would run out of steam quite quickly and become tired well before the book reached its conclusion, but credit to the author for ensuring that this was not the case. That said, I don't think there is sufficient mileage left in the scenario for there to be second book featuring Una, let alone a series, but as a standalone, light-hearted cosy mystery this works perfectly well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved, loved, loved this book!! Our investigator heroine works as an actuary, and when an issue is picked up with her figures, she decides to investigate. There are several deaths in the town her mum lives, and although they’re chalked up to accidents, she decides to investigate. I must admit I didn’t guess who the murderer was at all, so it was a surprise to see it all play out. I enjoyed reading from our heroine’s POV as I especially loved her risk adverse, autistic traits, which made her a heroine unlike most others. The mystery was fast paced, yet cosy; perfect for fans of Richard Osman. 10/10 I’d recommend

I loved this book it’s just such a fun and quirky mystery. I just couldn’t put it down, the characters in this book are just amazing as well so quirky and unique. They all automatically bring a smile to your face as they just don’t care they say it like it is. It’s a very good mystery as well.

I would highly recommend reading this book if you like a quirky mystery with great characters and a good story as well.

I would like to thank Constable and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book early.

Una, a number obsessed actuary goes to visit her mum and whilst there spots a pattern that could have an impact on her mums life which she decides to investigate.
I found this book quite slow to start with but once I got unto it it was an easy read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

An engaging and very British amateur sleuth struggles to understand why her insurance statistics on seaside deaths are askew, end up by investigating deaths around her mother’s retirement community. Lovely detective, spot on details, but I found the plot stretched out a bit.

If you love numbers, and people who love numbers, and all sorts of data and statistics, this is the book for you. And I promise you, you’ll be charmed by its lead character Una, who assesses the risk of just about everything life throws at her (from coffee temperature to the wearing of high heels). As an actuary for an insurance company, it’s her job to seek out patterns others may miss… and it’s an unblemished record until it comes to predicted deaths in seaside resort. Her mother lives in Eastbourne, and it’s to there she heads, to see where the anomaly lies and reinstate her perfect career achievements. While she’s there, however, there’s a few murders, strange fatalities, their lives ended in exceedingly strange ways. Couple this with her mother’s announcement, a host of new faces and someone from the office who won’t go away, and this is a terrifically funny, endearing read.

Cosy crime tends to leave me a little cold, but I'd been hearing good things about this one and that cover sucked me in! Turns out it's always good to have your prejudices challenged - Una leads a cast of funny, likeable characters and the story zips along. With its seaside setting it might just be the perfect summer read.

Insurance is inherently dull, isn't it?

Actuary Una's latest project concerns the projected deaths in seaside resorts. There's an anomaly in her forecasts, threatening her impeccable work reputation. So she needs to work out why there's been a spate of unusual accidental deaths.

And the obvious place to start is in Eastbourne, where her mother's bingo cronies are dropping like flies.

So when a pattern begins to emerge, it's apparent to Una that there's nothing accidental about it...