Book Review, Giveaway: The Slayings in Sydenham (The London Murder Mysteries Book 7) by Alice Castle

The Slayings in Sydenham

 (The London Murder Mysteries Book 7)

 by Alice Castle

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

A dangerous move…

Single mum and super sleuth, Beth Haldane, has been set her most daunting task yet by handsome cop boyfriend Inspector Harry York. He wants her to find them a new home – outside Dulwich! Beth can hardly bear the idea, so when a young estate agent turns up dead, she diverts her energies to nailing the killer instead.

As it turns out, more or less everyone in Dulwich who has ever moved house may have a motive. But do some of the richest residents have an even stronger reason to murder the agent than others? What on earth is up with Dr Grover, head of prestigious private school, Wyatt’s? Does Beth’s uber-mummy nemesis, Belinda MacKenzie, have more reason than usual to be swaggering about the village? And who is sending Beth sinister text messages?

Join Beth for her seventh thrilling adventure amid the mean streets of south London, in The Slayings in Sydenham!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:



The girl now flicked her eyes very slightly up and down Beth’s own random assembly of clothes and readjusted her smile. A series of noughts seemed to be vanishing off her estimation of Beth’s net worth.



The telly that the three-piece suite had no doubt been grouped around was conspicuous by its absence, leaving the chairs looking like a group of worshippers in search of a deity.



Harry says I’m like a cadaver dog. Honestly, if I never see another dead body as long as I live, that would suit me just fine.



…his funds had to stretch, like cheap prosecco at a second wedding.



It was no good stressing discretion to Nina. If she hadn’t currently worked in the estate agents, her dream job would have been town crier, complete with a medieval-style tabard and handbell as she went around announcing items of juicy gossip to all and sundry.

My Review:



Alice Castle's clever levity and diabolically witty observations had me smirking and snorting while delving into the latest misadventures of my favorite tiny pixie booted snoop. Beth Haldane is one of my all-time favorite characters. Beth is deliciously flawed, which makes her all the more appealing to me as she is a somewhat lazy and cheapskate busybody who is militantly stubborn and highly prone to daydreaming, equivocation, and procrastination.



I covet Ms. Castle’s clever wordplay and her vocabulary is to be greatly admired, unlike her character of Nina who had me hooting with gleeful delight at her malaprops and misuages, not that I have ever been known to make such grievous errors myself ~ snort. The storylines were well-crafted with a writing style that was as engaging as it was highly amusing and bestowed yet another new word for my Brit Words and Phrases List with wittered on – which means to jabber. Much like my reviewing style…

About The Author


Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks. 

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim and also hit the number one spot. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, was published in August 2018, with Homicide in Herne Hill following in October 2018. Revenge on the Rye came out in December 2018. The Body in Belair Park will be published on 25th June 2019. Alice is currently working on the seventh London Murder Mystery adventure, The Slayings in Sydenham. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website:
 https://www.alicecastleauthor.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliceMCastle

Links to buy books: 
http://www.MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery 
http://www.myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich
http://myBook.to/CiC
http://myBook.to/homicideinhernehill 
http://myBook.to/revengeontherye
http://myBook.to/BodyinBelair



Death in Dulwich is now also out as an audiobook:
 https://www.audible.com/pd/B07N1VNMLT/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-140657&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_140657_rh_us

Alice lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children, and two cats. 

Giveaway 

 Win a signed copy of The Slayings in Sydenham (Open to UK and US Only)

*Terms and Conditions 

Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfillment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review, Giveaway: The Body in Belair Park (The London Murder Mysteries #6) by Alice Castle

The Body in Belair Park

(The London Murder Mysteries #6) 

by Alice Castle

Amazon 

Beth Haldane is on the verge of having everything she’s ever wanted. Her son is starting secondary school, her personal life seems to have settled down – even her pets are getting on. But then the phone rings.

It’s Beth’s high maintenance mother, Wendy, with terrible news. Her bridge partner, Alfie Pole, has died suddenly. While Beth, and most of Dulwich, is convinced that Alfie has pegged out from exhaustion, thanks to playing with Wendy for years, Beth’s mother is certain that there is foul play afoot.

Before she knows it, Beth is plunged into her most complicated mystery yet, involving the Dulwich Bridge Club, allotment holders, the Dulwich Open Garden set and, of course, her long-suffering boyfriend, Metropolitan Police Detective Inspector Harry York. The case stirs up old wounds which are much closer to home than Beth would like. Can she come up trumps in time to stop the culprit striking again – or does the murderer hold the winning hand this time?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:



But the trouble with having lifelong ambitions was that when they were finally realised, you were left treading air like a cartoon cat shooting off a cliff.



‘Beth, and you know I don’t like to boast.’ Wendy lowered her eyes modestly for a moment, then ruined the effect by going on to blow her own trumpet in a lengthy solo.



Beth remembered neither of them had ever been Scouts. Or Brownies, come to that, though Beth had tried to make up for that by eating her weight in them many times over.



Was it Beth’s imagination, or did Katie sound a bit, well, reluctant? ‘You do still want to help out, don’t you, Cagney? Or are you Lacey? You’re the carefree blonde, obviously. I’m the brunette with the bad flick hairdo and the fat arse.’



Wendy well enough to realise that she would have been so hands-off as a mother to qualify as an honorary amputee.



Beth had thought bridge was just longwinded whist. But no. In Dulwich at least, it seemed as riven with rivalry and toxicity as the set of Who Killed Baby Jane?



Mrs Prendergast’s partner was a big man, his pale blue shirt at least a size smaller than its owner. Beth wouldn’t like to be around when his buttons finally decided they’d had enough of this arrangement. Tall and over-spilling the spindly chair in all directions, he was frowning over his cards like a hippo scrutinising a matchbox.



All this would be complex enough, without the added burden that her mother would be playing the recent poisoning victim like Meryl Streep on steroids, to get Josh’s full attention.




My Review:



I have savored each delightful tale in this cleverly written series. As with the previous installments, The Body in Belair Park was a highly pleasurable read featuring a seemingly confounding and unsolvable mystery with witty comedic accents, cunning humor, and colorful character descriptions that evoked keen and smirk-worthy visuals. The series revolves around Beth, a quirky pixie of a woman with a questionable work ethic, tight budget, narcissistic mother, tween son, indulged pets, and lax domestic efforts. In addition to being disorganized and easily distracted, she apparently tends to be a trouble magnet. I adore her and want to be her friend.



Ms. Castle writing style is refreshingly crisp and breezy yet cunningly insightful and deliciously entertaining. I treasure and covet her agile word skills and sublimely captivating storytelling and greatly enjoy her penchant for unusual fatalities. I fervently hope she continues to unearth them in every suburb across England.

About The Author

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks. 

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim and also hit the number one spot. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, was published in August 2018, with Homicide in Herne Hill following in October 2018. Revenge on the Rye came out in December 2018. The Body in Belair Park will be published on 25th June 2019. Alice is currently working on the seventh London Murder Mystery adventure, The Slayings in Sydenham. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy her books:

 http://MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery 

http://myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich

http://myBook.to/CiC

http://myBook.to/homicideinhernehill 

http://myBook.to/revengeontherye

Death in Dulwich is now also out as an audiobook: https://www.audible.com/pd/B07N1VNMLT/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-140657&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_140657_rh_us

Alice lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats. 

Giveaway 

Win a signed copy of The Body in Belair 

(Open to UK and US Only)

*Terms and Conditions 

Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfillment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review, Giveaway: Revenge on the Rye by Alice Castle

Revenge on the Rye 

by Alice Castle

 Amazon US / UK / AU / CA  

Beth Haldane, SE21’s answer to Miss Marple, thinks she is going for a carefree stroll on Peckham Rye with her best friend, Katie, and her annoying new puppy, Teddy. But before Beth knows it, she is embroiled in her most perplexing mystery yet.

Strange events from her family’s past, present-day skulduggery in the art world, and the pressures of moving school in south London threaten to overwhelm Beth. Will she be able to piece together the puzzle before her son’s crucial interview at Wyatt’s? Or will Beth’s insatiable curiosity finally drag down all her dreams for the future?

Join Beth, her irascible on-off boyfriend, Detective Inspector Harry York of the Metropolitan Police, and the dog walkers of Peckham Rye in a tale of murder, mayhem – and bloody revenge.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

So, you’re telling me there’s a bit of a #MeToo movement building up in the park against young Teddy here? … Perhaps you might want to think about getting him, erm, done? I’m not sure what age they need to be to have the op, but that would definitely sort out his hormones, I should think. Even a Dachshund isn’t going to look that irresistible if you’ve had your danglers cut off, I dare say.

‘Liquorice? Oh, is that your dog?’ looking under the bench at the little wiry-haired creature… ‘He’s very cute,’ said Beth dutifully, looking at Liquorice doubtfully. She supposed it was like being presented with other people’s babies. No matter how much they resembled Winston Churchill sucking a lemon, you were still obliged to say how utterly gorgeous they were.

Beth sometimes wondered how she’d grown to adulthood with such a light hand on the parental tiller. Her father had always been at work. She remembered trying to get into the garage, as a small child, as that was the place her father disappeared to every morning and the spot he emerged from every night. With her child’s logic, she assumed he spent his days shut away in there, and already she could see why he might want to.

Delving in the bread bin, she made the unwelcome discovery that she only had white sliced, which she was pretty sure Katie equated with crack cocaine. More horrifying still, one slice had a tiny fleck of blue on one edge. Mould! Hastily chopping off all the crusts and hurling them in the bin dealt with that problem. And penicillin was good for you, right?

… such an oily charmer, he’s totally the type to sell a double bed to the Pope. I’d take every word he said with a mine of salt.

Bursar looked as though he had been poured into his suit but had forgotten to say ‘when’. 

My Review:

While she appeared to have started with an exceptional skill set and an enviable level of innate ability, Alice Castle continues to hone her craft as each new installment of this pleasantly entertaining and enticing series has proven to be even better than the last.  Each cunningly plotted tale has provided ample servings of clever wry humor, engaging storylines, endearingly flawed and intriguing characters, and an unusual and unpredictable murder mystery.  I am besotted with this quirky collection of characters; several of which reappear in each interconnected book.  I am also totally enamored with this series and keenly await each new tale. 

The main character of Beth is a pint-sized, pixie boot wearing young widow and single-mom with an insatiable curiosity, a somewhat short attention span, and a tenacious tendency to follow her own instincts.  I adore her!  She is as prone to daydreaming and being easily side-tracked as she is to stumbling into crime scenes and discovering murder victims.  Her domestic skills and time sense are humorously haphazard yet she somehow keeps her beloved young son and well-adored pets fed and content, and is fortunate enough that her work output is largely unmonitored and her frequent absences go unnoticed.  Beth generally intends to show up at her office, yet she just cannot seem to keep herself from careening off-track to snoop and delve into the lives of those unfortunate creatures she has found without a pulse.  All despite the rigorous admonitions from her overworked and jaded police detective paramour to cease and desist.           

In addition to providing high-quality entertainment, Ms. Castle has gifted me with a toy box full of new terms and idioms and for my Brit Word List with: in bits - to be very upset; titchy – a small person; chuntering – talk or grumble monotonously; swish – fashionable; inside gen – information; and Bonio – a popular brand of dog biscuit.  What would I ever do without my blessed Mr. Google?  

Empress DJ

About the Author

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks. 

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, France, Spain, and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, was published this summer, with Homicide in Herne Hill following in October 2018. Alice is currently working on the sixth London Murder Mystery adventure. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a top mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website.

Social Media Links –

 http://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy books:

myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich,

 myBook.to/GirlintheGallery, 

myBook.to/CiC myBook.to/homicideinhernehill

Giveaway 

Win a signed copy of Revenge on the Rye 

(Open Internationally) 

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfillment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review, Giveaway: Homicide in Herne Hill by Alice Castle

Homicide in Herne Hill

by Alice Castle

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

Beth Haldane, SE21’s premier – and only – single mum amateur sleuth is really pleased to find a new friend at the school gates, in the shape of irrepressibly bouncy Nina. As well as a way with words, Nina has a puzzle she wants Beth to solve, centered on the solicitor’s office where Nina works in Herne Hill.

But as the mystery thickens, threatening to drag in not just Nina and her boss, but the yummy mummies of Dulwich, too, Beth is about to find out just how far some people will go to keep up appearances.

Join Beth in this fourth installment in the London Murder Mystery series for her toughest case yet.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:


Beth realised she had never enjoyed a Nativity so much… The Angel Gabriel was extremely reluctant to hand over the Godchild to Mary, as it was her brand new Luvabella doll playing the pivotal role. Once that tug-of-war was over, one of the Year 1 oxen bit a shepherd on the leg and the Three Wise Men got lost, their Sat Nav having apparently failed in the desert. Billy and Bobby MacKenzie, playing the role of bouncers – characters who had oddly not appeared in the original Gospels – had a not very sotto voce fight over who was going to tether Mary’s extremely uncooperative donkey, and only their mother’s blistering intervention from the audience got events moving again. Finally, one of the angels absentmindedly lifted up her skirts to reveal she wasn’t wearing any knickers, at which point many parents gave up live-streaming the event for fear of prosecution on public decency grounds.

She fumbled out the Nokia phone, looking askance at its blocky buttons. ‘Cool,’ breathed Ben, taking it from her with the reverence of an Egyptologist examining a rare papyrus. ‘That’s so… old.’

Poor Janice was starting to get that look of occasional blank terror Beth had often seen on expectant mothers’ faces, and which had no doubt been on her own, as the horrible truth dawned that two people couldn’t continue in one body indefinitely, and there was only one possible exit route.

‘Bet you thought we was all too old for hanky-panky. Well, let me tell you, a Freedom Pass in’t just for the buses, love… It’s like the January sales, sometimes, down at the sheltered housing. And I’m in a good position now that Ivy Penrose has passed.’

How do you even know that much? We’re just piecing things together. Honestly, I ought to just tap your phone line. It would cut our investigation time in half.


My Review:

I have enjoyed each intriguing, humorous, and cunningly penned installment in this series, but I believe I enjoyed this one most of all. Alice Castle has laced her well-crafted mysteries with delightfully amusing wry wit, clever comedic observations and insights, and humorously depicted and enticingly quirky characters. I smirked and reveled in the nimbly described antics and colorfully detailed encounters and shenanigans the highly curious Beth manages to entangle herself within, but she just can’t herself. I totally adore Beth and suspect we would be fast friends if we ever had the chance to meet. She also provided a treasure trove of new additions for my Brit Vocabulary List with blimmin’ - a milder version of bleeding or bloody; boyf – boyfriend; moggie – a common cat; titch – a small amount or small person; cozzie – swimsuit; off-licence – a liquor store; and shirty – irritable and bad-tempered.

Empress DJ

Author Bio 

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle had a long career as a feature writer on national newspapers including the Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Alice grew up in south London and, after a brief stint in Brussels (where her first novel, Hot Chocolate, is set) she is back where she belongs, dreaming up adventures for her heroine, amateur detective and single mum Beth Haldane. Alice is married with two children, two stepchildren, and two cats. Find out more about her London Murder Mystery series on her website, www.alicecastleauthor.com. Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 by Crooked Cat Books and was #1 in the Amazon Satire/Detective charts in the UK, US, Canada, France, Spain, and Germany. The Girl in the Gallery came out in December 2017 and the third in the series, Calamity in Camberwell, was published on 13th August 2018. Revenge on the Rye will follow in 2019, with more books in the pipeline.

Social Media Links – http://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy books: http://www.MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery.

myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich, myBook.to/GirlintheGallery, myBook.to/CiC myBook.to/homicideinhernehill

Giveaway 

Win a signed copy of Homicide in Herne Hill

 (Open Internationally) 

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfillment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review, Giveaway: Calamity in Camberwell (The London Murder Mysteries Book 3) by Alice Castle

Calamity in Camberwell - 

The London Murder Mysteries Book 3 

by Alice Castle 

Goodreads 

Amazon US/UK  

B&N

Beth Haldane, SE21's answer to Miss Marple, worries she is losing a kindred spirit when her friend Jen, the only other single mum in the playground, suddenly gets married and moves to Camberwell.

Soon Beth has to face much more pressing fears. Has something gone horribly wrong with Jen's marriage? What is her husband really up to? Why is her daughter leading Beth's son astray? And where on earth IS Jen anyway?

As Beth's friends push her to start dating again, Beth turns to Met Police DI Harry York for help. But will they solve the mystery in time, or will it turn out that in south-east London, not everyone gets to live happily ever after? 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

To onlookers, her long fringe, sturdy build, and diminutive stature might say adorable little Shetland pony, but inside, Ben’s exams made her feel like an overbred dressage horse, nostrils flaring, quivering with nerves before going into the ring to do utterly impossible things with her hooves.

Puberty was lurking round the corner, like the bad fairy at the Christening. It would change her soft-skinned, gorgeous boy, with his luxuriant eyelashes and ready smile, into a gangling, bristly, spotty giant that she would scarcely recognise or want to acknowledge.

‘What happened? Not a pervert? What was he, a boob man?’ Sam leaned in to get all the details. ‘Toe sucker?’ said Lily understandingly.

Oh come on, don’t you recognise Ryan Gosling when you see him? Someone’s just using his picture. You can bet he looks nothing like that at all.

‘I should go to the movies more. The only things I see now are superhero films with Ben. He’s ten… I don’t think I’ve seen a man who isn’t wearing a mask and a Lycra bodysuit for years.’ ‘Well, you can probably find loads just like that on Tinder,’ said Sam.

What do you call it when you’ve had déjà vu twice? Déjà vu-vu? Or déjà déjà vu?

My Review:

I have become quite a fan of Ms. Castle’s wry and sardonic humor and cleverly amusing depictions of her characters’ appearance, temperament, and contemplations.  Her vivid and evocative descriptions never failed to call forth keenly sharp and smirk-inducing visuals.  This installment had a lighter tone than the first two volumes as the focus was not on solving a murder (until much later in the book) but rather on the characters themselves.  Widowed for eight years, Beth felt under pressure from her friends and co-workers to return to the social minefield of dating.  Her colleagues even introduced her to Tinder – oh my.  And being a world-class procrastinator, Beth did what she did best - she dithered and ruminated - over everything.  I adored the little pixie boot-wearing sprite but there were times I wanted to give her a good pinch, or ten.  My curiosity was quickly piqued and remained alert to something rather foul and troublesome occurring in the home of her friend Jen, although the discovery of what exactly was always thwarted by Beth’s scatty dithering.  I was beginning to despair that the wily author had forgotten to include my favorite Detective Inspector, the Inscrutable Harry York, although he was just busy elsewhere until midway through the book.  I look forward to more pairings and hopefully sparks flying for this somewhat recalcitrant duo in future installment as I am totally grooving on this author’s lush word skills.  My latest extra fun bonus word addition to my Brit List was “goolies,” which are those rather useless appendages that my coy and genteel Grandmother called the family jewels, but of course, only when absolutely necessary.  

Empress DJ

Author Bio – 

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks.

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, Canada, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, will be published this summer, with Homicide in Herne Hill due to follow in early 2019. Alice is currently working on the fifth London Murder Mystery adventure. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy books: MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery

myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich

myBook.to/HotChocolate

She lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats. 

Giveaway 

 Win a signed copy of Calamity in Camberwell 

(Open Internationally) 

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review, Giveaway: The Girl in the Gallery - The London Murder Mysteries #2 by Alice Castle

The Girl in the Gallery

by Alice Castle

Goodreads

Amazon US / UK B&N

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Dulwich…

It’s a perfect summer’s morning in the plush south London suburb, and thirty-something Beth Haldane has sneaked off to visit one of her favorite places, the world-famous Picture Gallery.

She’s enjoying a few moments’ respite from juggling her job at prestigious private school Wyatt’s and her role as single mum to little boy Ben, when she stumbles across a shocking new exhibit on display. Before she knows it, she’s in the thick of a fresh, and deeply chilling, investigation.

Who is The Girl in the Gallery? Join Beth in adventure #2 of the London Murder Mystery series as she tries to discover the truth about a secret eating away at the very heart of Dulwich.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Katie wrinkled her brow. She and Beth were among the few that could pull off this feat in Dulwich, since Botox had become a hobby of the mummying classes.

Zoe was a dream babysitter, one of those swotty girls who’d been liberated from terminal uncoolness by J. K. Rowling’s wondrous invention, Hermione Grainger, patron saint of over-achieving girlhood everywhere.

She tiptoed further down the corridor, thanking the Lord for her soft soles. Angie Douglas might well turn her nose up at such comforts, and she was never going to argue that these lumpen shoes represented the most stylish choice out there for a woman of her build, but there was a lot to be said for rubber. She felt like the hippo in Fantasia creeping up on a load of half-starved gazelles.

Though much prettier –and a lot less wrinkly –the women were like the velociraptors in the Jurassic Park films: hyper-vigilant; alert to every threat; and presumably, every bit as deadly if anyone dared threaten their young.

Beth felt as though she was getting shorter by the second as he stood up. By the time he was upright, she was like Alice in Wonderland after drinking the shrinking potion.

 

My Review:

I enjoyed the premise and various storylines which picked up shortly after the first book left off, although I struggled more than a bit with the pacing with this installment and was waffling on the overall rating until I sorted through my favorite quotes and was thus compelled to give it a four-star rating due to the author’s wickedly clever wit alone.  While I adore her skills, I didn’t feel as fully engaged with this narrative as I had been with the first book as there was a multitude of loose and rambling story threads to throw me off-track.  Yet I reveled in the vibrant character depictions and deviously humorous observations, inner musings, and foibles of this quirky ensemble.  My main annoyance was while the storyline of the floundering investigation advanced at an excruciatingly slow rate; in the final pages, it was resolved so quickly it felt anti-climatic.   However, I remain eager to read the next installment and am well pleased to announce two new additions to my Brit Vocabulary List with "argy-bargy," which the Urban Dictionary told me was “a heated discussion, perhaps one that has become bad-tempered enough to amount to a spat or minor quarrel,” and is actually of Scottish origin; and OAP, which Mr. Google told me was an Old Age Pensioner and what is now my official designation… I wear it with pride!

Empress DJ

Author Bio – Alice Castle

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks.

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, Canada, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, will be published this summer, with Homicide in Herne Hill due to follow in early 2019. Alice is currently working on the fifth London Murder Mystery adventure. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

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