Death on a Monday Night by Jo Allen - #BookReview #BlogTour

 

Becca Reid had slunk out of Wasby Village Hall into the gathering dusk like, she thought, a timid wild animal creeping about in the undergrowth. It was rare that she felt the need to be so furtive. On the contrary, she was in the forefront of every gathering, because there was always something to be done and she was one of those people who always seemed to end up doing it. On this Monday night, her sense of community notwithstanding, she'd been desperately keen to skip the monthly meeting of the Wasby Women's Institute and stay at home with a cup of cocoa watching Arsenal on the telly, but civic duty had won out. It would have been cowardly to stay away, and she was no coward.

***

An ex-convict. A dead body. A Women’s Institute meeting like no other…

It’s an unusually challenging meeting at the Wasby Women’s Institute, with local resident and former drug-dealer Adam Fleetwood talking about his crimes and subsequent rehabilitation…but events take a gruesome turn when prospective member Grace Thoresby is discovered murdered in the kitchen.

The case is particularly unwelcome for investigating officer DCI Jude Satterthwaite. Adam was once his close friend and now holds a bitter grudge, blaming Jude for landing him in jail in the first place. To complicate things further, the only thing keeping Adam from arrest is the testimony of Jude’s former girlfriend, Becca Reid, for whom he still cares deeply.

As Jude and his colleague and current partner, Ashleigh O’Halloran, try to pick apart the complicated tapestry of Grace’s life, they uncover a web of fantasy, bitterness and deceit. Adam is deeply implicated, but is he guilty or is someone determined to frame him for Grace’s murder? And as they close in on the truth, Jude falls foul of Adam’s desire for revenge, with near-fatal consequences…

A traditional detective mystery set in Cumbria. 

***

As a member of the Women's Institute myself I was really looking forward to reading this book. I am extremely glad that I did as I enjoyed it very much indeed. The murder takes place during a meeting of a village WI, and the author did a great job of creating the atmosphere and sometimes confined feeling of a small village.

This is the eighth book in the series featuring DCI Satterthwaite but it worked very effectively as a stand alone novel. It is unusual for me to begin a series so far along but I very much wanted to read this book, and therefore, broke my self-imposed rule of only reading a series in order. Having said that I enjoyed this to the point that I intend going back to the beginning of the series to read Death by Dark Waters.

The descriptions of rural Cumbria were exquisite. I was not at all surprised to find that the author lives in the Lake District. I went to the Lakes on a school trip in my teens (ahem, that was some time ago) and I have longed to go back ever since. Reading this book has reignited my desire.

The characters were very well portrayed and believable. Jude is a great main character and his relationship with those around him well depicted.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good murder mystery.

SBN: 979 8440889293

Publisher: Independently Published

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 296 (paperback)

About the Author:

Jo Allen was born in Wolverhampton and is a graduate of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and the Open University, with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in geography and Earth science. She's been writing for pleasure and publication for as long as she can remember. After a career in economic consultancy she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young, in genres of short stories, romance and romantic suspense. She wrote online articles on travel and on her favourite academic subject, Earth science. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read -- crime. Jo lives in the English Lakes, where the DCI Satterthwaite series is set. In common with all her favourite characters, she loves football (she's a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats.