Crooked Herring, by L.C. Tyler

Ethelred is approached by another writer asking him to figure out whether he killed someone. Henry Holiday woke up after a bender with the thought that he had committed murder. But he's not sure who. And it seems that the person that he thought he killed is still around. At least, Ethelred is still getting text message from Crispin Vyall so they think is still alive.

Ethelred pulls Elsie in to help (or she barges in, who can tell) but she doesn't exactly make the case go more smoothly. In fact, her interference could mean that our intrepid (okay, maybe not exactly but...) hero ends up in jail.

This was an okay addition to the series but not as good as some of the others.

Three stars

This book came out September 18th, 2014

Follows Herring on the Nile 

Followed by Cat among the Herrings

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Herring on the Nile by L.C. Tyler

The ending was a little convoluted but I overall enjoyed the story.

After the last story, Ethelred has decided that he needs a trip to Egypt. Maybe it will help him with his next story (though the only work we see in this book is him answering questions for newspaper articles, most of which have confused him with another more popular writer.) 

The noxious Annabelle is no longer with him. Perhaps that is because Ethelred is selling the ancestral home that she wants so badly. But, though wildly romantic, Ethelred is also wildly pragmatic. He believes that Annabelle will stay with him even without the property. He seems to have been wrong because he is now on the cruise with his editor.

And the cruise quickly becomes a sort of locked room mystery with a character from a previous book claiming to be protecting an unknown client. Well, he knows the client's name but not who the client is. When a man is murdered, was it the right person or was it supposed to be Ethelred. 

Then the book sort of veers wildly from the classic mystery to a seventies kidnapping mystery and then ends, as I mentioned at the beginning, sort of confusingly. But I did enjoy the ride.

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 2011

Follows The Herring in the Library

Followed by Crooked Herring

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

The Herring in the Library by L.C. Tyler

Elthelred has old college friends. Who knew? Well, at least one of them, Shagger Muntham, shows up in this book. Shagger seems to have a lot going on what with a new wife and a new estate. But he spends some of his days hanging out with Elthelred. And invites him to dinner. Of course, Elsie is going to come along with him. 

Friend? Literary agent? Muse? Who knows what Elsie really is. But we get a fun mystery surrounding the fact that Shagger exits, stage left, and ends up dead. But is is really suicide? Shagger's wife (with shades of personality that resemble Elthered's ex) is determined that it be determined murder.

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 2010

Follows Ten Little Herrings

Followed by Herring on the Nile

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler

At the ending of the last book, Elthelred Tressider had faked his own death. His stalwart publisher Elsie didn't believe a minute of it so she's not surprised to pick up his phone one day (she's still checking on his house) to hear a very badly accented voice that is that of her writer's. She quickly figures out where he is (in France) and chases him down. It's just too bad that a man is killed at their hotel and everyone is forced to stay on site. Well, that doesn't actually happen until after the second murder but it's still inconvenient. And it's not like the company is scintillating. After all, the hotel is mostly booked by stamp collectors there for a conference.

Elsie decides to get involved and stumbles over the French police at every angle. But she may not be able to solve the mystery because Elthelred is keeping something from her.

The ending was a little too much for me but the rest of the book was pretty good, developing both Elsie and Elthelred's characters. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out November 15th, 2015

Follows The Herring-Seller's Apprentice

Followed by The Herring in the Library

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

The Herring-Seller's Apprentice by L.C. Tyler

What is a mystery writer but someone who sells red herrings? And Ethelred Tressider certainly counts as a writer. In fact, he counts as three of them -- two mystery series and one romance. His publisher, Elsie Thirkettle doesn't think much of any of them but they earn him enough to live on so he keeps churning them out. Until his life is derailed by a real-life mystery, the murder of his ex-wife, Geraldine. It seems she left him for his best friend about a decade ago but never really changed her will so Ethelred is still in charge of her estate. 

Elsie is immediately suspicious because she is immediately suspicious of anything having to do with Geraldine. The woman was a menace and she still kept Ethelred flopping on a line. And apparently he wasn't the only one. Geraldine was building some sort of scheme and had bilked a large number of people out of money so there were lots of reasons for someone to want her dead.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Ethelred and Elsie, this book is an interesting introduction to a new series. Rather than have a stellar author with all bestsellers, the main protagonist (we have far more Ethelred chapters than Elsie chapters) is middling at best. His "partner" looks down on him with some scorn, some affection and she too sort of bumbles into the solution in the end. 

The book occasionally got bogged down and, even with this being my second Ethelred and Elsie book, I'm not sure I like either of them but I'm definitely going to still read the next book. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 2007

Followed by Ten Little Herrings

Kindle ebook

Opinions are my own

Farewell My Herring by L C Tyler

I had never read a book in this series before but I a) didn't feel like I was missing anything and b) am now very intrigued about the rest of the series. The ending was a little mushy and sort of left open like there might be more to the story in later books and there some plot points were sort of glossed over but generally I liked the well-built characters and the descriptive creation of setting.

Though it is hard to believe, there are still places in the world where people cannot get wi-fi or cell service. I live near one of them so there was no suspension of disbelief for me when this mystery was set in a remote old house, Fell Hall. Ethelred and his agent Elsie have been invited to a conference where they will discuss writing mysteries and how to get your book noticed, respectively. There are only supposed to be the three authors (Elsie and Ethelred have had interactions with both of the other writers but I'm not sure if it was in other books or not.) They are there to confer with the woman, Wendy, who runs the writing seminars with one other person, Jenny who helps with the cleaning and cooking, in the building. However, two of the participants have shown up early. It is that evening that the snow begins to fall. This very much annoys Wendy who is the type of regimented person who wants things to not only run smoothly but to run her way. Even worse, one of the two participants seems to be causing consternation among the authors.

Added to the mix another participant shows up the next day, even with the deep snow, and he seems to have some sort of information about Wendy. Then one of their number dies. And one disappears. Elsie and Ethelred take it upon themselves to investigate the murder.

It was really interesting being in the head of both of these characters, especially since I didn't actually like either one all that much. But they are both fully formed, this being the 9th book in the series, and Tyler certainly has them so down pat that one book really gives the reader a full idea of who they each are.

Four stars

Follows The Maltese Herring

This book comes out on April 22nd, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Allison & Busby and Netgalley

Opinions are my own