Book Review: The Manton Rempville Murders by Julian Worker

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Mirador Publishing, via Netgalley, for review purposes. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it all opinions are my own

We had a VERY long weekend, with unexpected car issues and classes, and NO internet. SIGH. So instead of being able to write blog posts, we just enjoyed the weekend, so sorry for no recipe weekend!

But the one thing I was able to get done was finishing up some books, so....

Mystery Monday is BACK!

LOL

Synopsis:

Another day in the life of Detective Inspector Colin Knowles and another murder. Bingo the retriever has been finding bodies again. This time someone left a sword in the back of Edward Pritchard in the grounds of a 700-year old monastery. 

Pritchard used to work at the nearby stately home, Manton Rempville Hall, as a gardener, although all he seemed to cultivate was reasons for people not to like him. As luck would have it, there's a house party at the hall so there are plenty of suspects. People are unwilling to give up their secrets easily and Knowles has to dig to find answers. 

Knowles inspects the libraries, the studies, and the not-so-secret passage of this old hall in an attempt to find out who murdered Pritchard. He's in a race against fate, because he suspects the killer will strike again. 

Bells, owls, and ironic topiary all play a part in his investigation as Knowles slowly weeds out the suspects. But will he be in time to stop further deaths happening...?

Review: 

This is the second book in the Inspector Knowles Mystery series, but the first I have read. The author gives you enough info to have an idea what happened in the first book, but not enough where you know the whole story, so that you will want to go back and read it! The book may seem slow at first, but part of that is that there is more dialgue and less of the writer supplying informtion, so you soon realize you have to pay attention to everything that is said! As most detectives don;t have the bliss of a narrator to help, this is actually a solid literary technique, for making the story more realistic. There is plenty of humor, to make it a lighter mystery, and to move the story forward. It's a decent mystery, perfect for picking up and putting back down, as one will on vacation when reading, so it's perfect for your Summer reading list!

About the Author:

I was born in Leicester. I attended school in Yorkshire and University in Liverpool.&nbspI have been to 93 countries and territories including The Balkans and Armenia in 2015, France and Slovakia in 2016, and some of the Greek Islands in 2017. I love being creative in my writing and I love writing about travelling. 

I've always loved mystery stories by Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy L Sayers. I have recently watched many DVDs of detective series from the UK and this was the spark to start the creative process. I have tried to add some humour into the book. This book reacquaints the reader with Knowles and his Detective Sergeant Rod Barnes, who were first introduced in The Goat Parva Murders.