Matilda Darcy returns to her university course and shared house after the Christmas break. She split up with Dean just before the holidays and is looking to party to heal her broken heart and show him what he is missing. But another student dies during a party game and other deaths follow…
First Degree Murder is a murder mystery set in Ambleside in northern England. I think the book is probably aimed at older teens and young adults due to its shorter length and style of writing.
It has a Dear Diary style at the beginning of each part and is written from Matty’s first person perspective throughout. The tone is very chatty and I felt that Matty’s character felt authentic as I was caught up in her student dramas (it did make me feel rather old, remembering that I finished uni 21 years ago!)
The drinking game death and the subsequent one are traumatic and emotional due to Matty’s experience of trying to help the victims. There are lots of twists as Matty suspects many of her friends and enemies of being a killer. The ending was a little extreme but certainly dramatic!
On the softer side, Matty has her on-off relationship with Dean and the whole host of emotions this causes. Her growing friendship with PC Nick Wilde is full of humour and possible hints of a future relationship (hoping this is the first book in a series…)
First Degree Murder is an entertaining murder mystery aimed at young adults.
Matty Darcy is a Criminology and Psychology student in the quaint university village of Ambleside. She has survived the normal dramas of student life such as shared living, assignments, heartbreak and friendships. But this year takes the drama to a whole new level when her fellow students start mysteriously dying.
Matty takes it upon herself to catch the killer with the help of local Police Officer, and heartthrob, P.C Nicholas Wilde and her ex-boyfriend Dean. It is a race against the clock to work out who’s killing students, and why.
Matty soon finds out more than she has bargained for… enough to make her the next target!
Author Bio
M.J. Weatherall is one of those people who loves writing but always struggles to write about herself. She always feel like she’s bragging (which in and of itself sounds like a brag according to her).
She is a young author from Sheffield who moved to the Lake District to get her BSc (Hons) degree in Outdoor Adventure and Environment. More recently she has qualified as a primary school teacher and is now fulfilling her calling as an educator.
M.J. loves climbing, kayaking and spending all her spare time in nature. A lifelong bookworm, she takes pride in growing her book knowledge (an asset to any pub quiz team to be sure!). She likes to think that she’s a fun person to be around…at the very least, her cat seems to think so.
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