There's a lot to enjoy in The Busy Body. I really liked the chemistry between the two main characters, the nameless ghostwriter and the failed presidential candidate Dorothy Gibson (clearly loosely based on Hilary Clinton). They're both intelligent strong female characters and there's some good dialogue between them.

Kemper Donovan has a long-standing podcast about the revered "Queen of Crime", Agatha Christie. And so it's no surprise to find many elements of golden age classic Briish crime fiction reinterpreted in this modern novel. The story is a locked room mystery with a good cast of characters and plenty of twists and surprises.

I did figure out the key to the mystery quite early on. I think this was intended by the author as there is a homage to Agatha Christie in there. It's all the more enjoyable when you're reading along knowing who but not why or exactly how.

And it all leads up to a nice classical reveal scene towards the end.

The romance part of it felt like an unnecessary add-on. Maybe it's relevant for future books in the series...

I give it a rather ungenerous 3 rather than 4 stars because, well -- and I guess this is the inevitable result of writing a novel so deeply inspired by one of the greatest crime writers ever -- if you're constantly comparing a novel to an Agatha Christie, the bar is set very high from the start. The Busy Body is a good read but it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing.

Recommended for fans of well-written modern crime fiction in the classic tradition.

Thanks to the author, publisher @LittleBrownUK and Netgalley for the ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.

#TheBusyBody #NetGalley #bookreview #KemperDonovan

3.5 🌟

I really liked the ending of this, especially the whole calling everyone into the room to expose the killer part. I also enjoyed the wide cast of characters, although some of them felt shoved in to make up numbers (see below). The ending was nice and twisty overall was very entertaining.

I genuinely hated the bodyguard love interest, and it felt so out of place with the rest of the book. It felt like the editor was like "we need romance" and generic handsome (nameless for the first 60% of the book) man was born. They seemed to be wildly in love by the close of the book despite talking for about 3 minutes and one night together.

I did enjoy it but i don't think enough to read more of this series.

I do love a good mystery - and this is exactly that!

When Senator Dorothy Gibson loses in her bid to win the presidency, she retreats to her country home and employs a ghostwriter - our narrator - to write her memoirs. Despite her defeat, Dorothy meets life head on - there's no hiding away for this woman. Visiting The Crystal Palace, a nearby house, they find themselves the unwitting witnesses to a murder. Dorothy may have failed to be elected, but she still has her contacts and when a hapless detective turns out to be in charge of the case, she doesn't shirk from getting involved ...

I really enjoyed this one! I found myself becoming invested in the story very quickly; there was so much going on that I couldn't wait to get the chance to pick up where I had left off and find out what happened next. This is a complete story and a fabulous start to what promises to be a terrific series. Thoroughly enjoyed and happy to give this one 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan will appeal to readers of cozy mystery’s, in the style of Agatha Christie. In essence it is a locked room story, where a neighbour is said to have taken her own life, but noisy neighbours have their suspicions and start their own investigations.

This was a quick and easy ready, but I did find that it was a bit slow and drawn out at times. The ghost writer, who’s name you never learn, and the US senator made an interesting duo, and came out with some cracking one liners, usually when alcohol was involved. I liked the banter between them a lot. The setting was great, in rural Maine, with most people either being house staff or wealthy.

It was a fun escape from reality with an ending that I didn’t see coming. 3.5*

Thanks to Little Brown Book Group I’ll for my copy of this book to read.