Betty Rowlands (1924–2020)

Bookouture has reissued Sweet Venom, the 12th book in Betty Rowland’s Melissa Craig cozy mystery series, under the more appealing title of Murder in a Country Garden. I’ve never read any of the series — indeed, I’ve never read anything by Betty Rowland at all — and I still was able to follow and enjoy this novel.

Melissa Craig, newly married and now Melissa Martin, has given up writing cozy mysteries and the amateur sleuthing that went with it. Yet, old habits die hard. When show more curmudgeonly beekeeper Aiden Cresney is stung to death by his own bees, it turns out to be more than just a tragic accident. How could Melissa resist poking around? Rowland’s plots and characters never rise to the level of, say, M.C. Beaton or Ann Granger, but the novel kept my attention and I really liked Melissa a lot.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review.

Merged review:

Bookouture has reissued Sweet Venom, the 12th book in Betty Rowland’s Melissa Craig cozy mystery series, under the more appealing title of Murder in a Country Garden. I’ve never read any of the series — indeed, I’ve never read anything by Betty Rowland at all — and I still was able to follow and enjoy this novel.

Melissa Craig, newly married and now Melissa Martin, has given up writing cozy mysteries and the amateur sleuthing that went with it. Yet, old habits die hard. When curmudgeonly beekeeper Aiden Cresney is stung to death by his own bees, it turns out to be more than just a tragic accident. How could Melissa resist poking around? Rowland’s plots and characters never rise to the level of, say, M.C. Beaton or Ann Granger, but the novel kept my attention and I really liked Melissa a lot.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Bookouture in exchange for an honest review. show less

law-enforcement, relationships, murder-investigation, art, egoist, cosy-mystery

***** I truly enjoyed it! But I was surprised that the term SOCO was out of fashion and the designation used is CSI. Sukey is a forensic evidence collector with a somewhat hidden relationship with a DI in her precinct, and this makes for some interesting problems. The main mystery is pretty much covered by the publisher's blurb but there's a lot of twists and deliberate red herrings, especially those involving show more deceptions by the principals in the case. Well written and rather brain grabbing! show less

England, cosy-mystery, murder-investigation, law-enforcement

Talk about twisty! At first, there's just the insistent local doctor who says that the rural death was not simply an accident. Then there's the missing girl whose vanishing too closely mimics another case on the same footpath twenty years ago. Then an unsuspecting motorist finds a decaying hand/arm under a pile of rubble at a lay by. Lots of work for the team, but all the due diligence seems to go around in circles as the mystery show more keeps unfolding. Along the way Sukey reconnects with her neighbor's journalist son and he is able to be useful to the investigations. Excellent!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Bookouture via NetGalley. Thank you! show less

BOTTOM-LINE:
Not quite Christie, but I'll read more in the series
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PLOT OR PREMISE:
A mystery writer moves to the country to find some peace and quiet in her life and for her writing.
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WHAT I LIKED:
The feel is very much an Agatha Christie-style small village with priests, neighbours and a local mystery, with a body dropping shortly after things get settled.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The romance side doesn't work, as it's hard to get a feel for the lead character's age…one minute she seems like a show more woman in her late 50s and the next she seems like a girl in her early 20s. Worldly, calm, centred and then naïve, unsure, flighty. The ex and her son seem superfluous, and some of the other characters are a bit superficial with their secrets wildly apparent long before they are "revealed". She isn't as bumbling as, say Stephanie Plum, but she's hardly Miss Marple either, or even Jessica Fletcher. But they are minor complaints for a rich world and sense of Christie mystery.
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow her on social media. show less