Review: A Whole Lot of Murder
Last year when I was just starting to read ARCs and getting Cozying Up off the ground, I read the first book in the Piddlington Gazette series The Body on the Roundabout. While I liked the book overall, I wasn't too sure about Harry Hedges, the main character. Flash-forward a year and Faith Eckersall is about to release the third book in the series.
A (W)hole Lot of Murder starts with young reporter bicycling her way into work when a sinkhole opens up below her, dropping her and her bicycle deep into it. The story really takes off when Hattie remembers seeing something shiny in the hole and while investigating, Harry falls on top of the body of the local MP. Add in local power outages to the mix and the game is afoot.
Since I had missed that the second book was released, I went back and read it before starting this one. Since Eckersall does a good job of passing the Grafton Test, I didn't really need to but it was still nice to have some information filled in.
With this third book, I'm really starting to like Harry. His on-again, off-again relationship with Sargent Ophelia Starsky is part of the reason, but mainly it's how much he has come to care about Hattie, their colleague Ray, and Ignatius (the office dog/Instagram canine influencer). With Harry's move to his shared house in Lower Knacker, we now have his free-spirited landlady and Gaz, the landlord at the Nine Oaks tavern. Don't worry! The Dolly Parton-like Cassandra at the Ball Inn is still around!
The story itself is well-written. The mystery takes you through several possible solutions right up until the reveal. There is a subplot involving Ray and dating apps that also illustrates the closeness of the Piddlington Gazette gang. At the very end, there is a big twist that I definitely didn't see coming.
A (W)hole Lot of Murder will be released on November 16th which gives you plenty of time to read The Body on the Roundabout and Death by Canapé first. If you like your cozy mysteries with a bit of whimsy, add this to your TBR list!
5 lattes out of 5
Disclaimer: This eARC was provided by Embla Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
