Recently retired and widowed, Sarah Vane moves to the seaside to be near her close friend Daphne. The pair decide to use Daphne’s new beach hut for storage but find it packed full of boxes already. One contains a body…
Murder at an English Pub is the first book in a new series of amateur sleuth series set in Kent, England.
Poor Sarah is heartbroken after the death of her beloved husband. Now she is proceeding with their retirement plans alone. Luckily she has the wonderful Daphne to lift her spirits but the two women are set on another path when they start to investigate the murder discovered in their beach hut. The body is the local pub landlord and the beach hut has been through many owners recently: lots of potential suspects and motives!
I really liked Sarah and Daphne’s characters. Sarah is very down to earth and pragmatic while Daphne is spiritual and vivacious. Their personalities balance each other out nicely. Of course one other character shines… Hamish the dog!
The mystery is sustained well and I was kept guessing. There are a host of suspects acting suspiciously and Sarah has to unpick their alibis to get to the truth. Secrets unfold but which relate to the crime? I liked the way that Sarah investigates and isn’t afraid to get stuck in, although I can also see that the murder gives her a distraction from her grief.
Murder at an English Pub is a good start to the series and I look forward to reading more about Sarah’s retirement.
When retired doctor Sarah Vane moves to Merstairs, she has no idea that the quaint seaside town isn’t quite as friendly it seems, and something sinister is bubbling under the picturesque surface…
Recently widowed and looking for a fresh start away from city life, Sarah Vane moves into a lovely little cottage by the sea. The rustic charm is everything she hoped it would be, but her new home doesn’t quite have enough space for her things. Her old friend Daphne offers to store Sarah’s boxes in her messy beach hut, but while clearing it out, they are shocked to find a heavy trunk… containing a dead body.
They immediately recognise the poor man as pub landlord Gus Trubshaw. Sarah concludes that he was suffocated, but who could have wanted jolly Gus dead? Unimpressed by the police’s lack of interest, Sarah realises she will have to solve the case herself.
Soon, Sarah discovers that not everyone loved Gus as much as she’d thought. Could the killer be scoutmaster Bill, who was recently banned from the pub? Or perhaps it was antique store owner, Charles, who owned the beach hut before Daphne? Or was it brewery director Mr. Grimes, who was livid with Gus for squeezing him on the purchase price of his delicious ale?
Just when the clues are starting to fall into place, the prime suspect is found strangled on the beach. And when Sarah discovers a deadly secret that links the two murders, she’s certain that a dangerous killer is roaming the streets of Merstairs. With the town in a panic, time is ticking for Sarah. Will she solve the mystery before it’s last orders for another victim?
Set off for the breezy English seaside and join Sarah on her adventures in quirky Merstairs, where nothing is quite as it seems! Fans of Agatha Christie, Betty Rowlands and Katie Gaylewill be instantly hooked by this deliciously gripping cozy mystery.
Author Bio:
Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her latest cozy mystery, set in fictional seaside town Merstairs, stars retired GP Sarah Vane. It will be published in July by Bookouture, who also publish Alice’s nine-book Beth Haldane Mysteries series set in south east London. Alice also writes psychological thrillers for HQDigital as A.M. Castle.
Recently retired and widowed, Sarah Vane moves to the seaside to be near her close friend Daphne. The pair decide to use Daphne’s new beach hut for storage but find it packed full of boxes already. One contains a body…
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