Book Review: Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire by M.R.C. Kasasian

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from Head of Zeus Publishing, via Netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.

Welcome to today's mystery!!!

Synopsis: 

September 1939.

As Britain readies for war, Inspector Betty Church must battle a ruthless killer...

Inspector Betty Church – one of the few female officers on the force – has arrived from London to fill a vacancy at Sackwater police station. But Betty isn't new here. This is the place she grew up. The place she thought she'd left for good.

After a slow start, Betty's called to the train station to investigate a stolen bench. But though there's no bench, there is a body. A smartly dressed man, murdered in broad daylight, with two distinctive puncture wounds.

While the locals gossip about the Suffolk Vampire, Betty Church steels herself to hunt a dangerous killer.nds in his throat.

Review:

I've gotten sorta bummed about historical mysteries lately, as they all seem to be the same vein of thinking. But this book, and series, has made me change my mind, and cheer for their return!

Betty is a very unique character in that she's not only facing a tidal wave of resentment from the males in the police service, but also chauvinistic public opinion, and she is disabled by way more than her sex. Yet, she tackles her job with a sarcastic wit, that modern mystery heroines would readily recognize in themselves! Add in a mystery that is confounded by public hysteria and police ineptitude, and you have a delightful read, as Betty tries to solve it, while dealing with aloof parents and 'sibling rivalry'. Some of them historical vernacular can make it slow going for some, but stay with it, and it will soon be more understanding, and pages will fly!!

About the Author:

Martin Kasasian was raised in Lancashire. He has had careers as varied as factory hand, wine waiter, veterinary assistant, fairground worker and dentist. He lives with his wife in Suffolk in the summer and in a village in Malta in the winter.