Murder at Tanton Towers A by Amy Myers

There's a body at the Towers. Cara Shelley was just thinking about how much she enjoyed working at the Tanton Towers having opened a cafe there and now, one of the people that she calls a friend (well, at least she didn't hate Daphne) is dead. And worse, the DCI who's investigating the case, Andrew Mitchem, is the same man who argued with her on whether she is baking her huffkins the "correct" way. There is no way to trust this man to find the murderer. He's obviously deranged. Especially when he settles on Daphne's husband, Mike, as the main suspect.

Cara goes looking on her own to figure out what is going on. Though we mainly see her point of view in the third person omniscient, we see the points of view of many of the other characters as major clues turn up. I did not figure out who the killer was and I'm not upset about that. It did take me awhile to get into this story. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have kept going except that this was an ARC. It took almost half the story for Clara to come into focus as a character and there is still a lot about her that could have been added to make her more interesting. 

British Stately Home Mystery #1

Three stars

This book comes out May 7, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Severn House and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Chapel in the Woods by Dolores Gordon-Smith

Jack Haldean, detective story writer, returns in a new mystery that brings a little murder close to home, at least, his cousin's small village. A very rich Canadian and his wife have just bought Birchen Bower. The property has a very interesting history with a family that was descended from pirates. There are also stories about jaguars and ghosts that haunt the area. But the Jagos bring bad luck of their own with stories of Mr. Tom Jago's secretary, Derek Martin (a local boy), running off with twenty thousand dollars worth of diamonds.  

However, they stick around for a bit, even enjoying the village fete. It's just too bad that a body turns up in the chapel on their property. And then there's another.  And another. All appear to have been clawed by a big cat. It will be up to the local constable and Inspector Edward Ashley, with some help from Jack, to figure out what exactly is going on.

Four stars

This book comes out March 1, 2022

Follows Forgotten Murder

ARC provided by Severn House and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Missing Diamond Murder by Diane Janes

I didn't read the first two books in the series but I really didn't feel like I had missed much. We know that there is a hit of romance between the main protagonist, Frances "Fran" Black" and Tom Dod but we don't see much of him or of the two interacting. A lot of that is because Fran is trying to get divorced from her husband and, because of a quirk in English law at the time, only one person in the divorce proceedings can have another love; there must be one sinner and one who is sinned against. An interesting plot point. Someone has sent the court an anonymous letter saying that Fran and Tom are involved so they need to stay apart. Besides, Tom is also married.
Tom has heard about a family mystery in Devon. He can't go himself so Fran goes instead. She meets the Edgerton family and learns about their grandfather's accidental (?) death and the disappearance o the family diamond some months before. Even though a lot of time has passed, the Edgertons are interested in finding the diamond. And, if it turns out that their grandfather's death wasn't so accidental, his murderer. I also like the slow burn of Black and Dod. I regret letting the book lapse when NetGalley gave me an ARC but look forward to the next book in the series.
I really liked Fran as a character. She is human, not a perfect woman or detective. We get to see some of her deductions.

Four stars
This book came out November 5th, 2019
ARC kindly provided by Severn House and NetGalley/eBook borrowed from library
Opinions are my own