Mark McCrum

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I quite enjoyed this, I suppose. It dragged occasionally, but did a good job of setting up the various characters so you remembered who they each were and what their backstory was. The identity of the murderer was satisfactory and clued enough for the reader to have their suspicions.

On the other hand, the author didn't really address why the various suspects were happy to answer Francis' questions, or why the police were so show more happy to work with him. That was just how it was. The closing Poirot-type scene was ponderous and went on too long and was a bit of a precis of the entire novel, where Francis basically betrayed the trust of every one he had spoken to and revealed all their secrets to each other.

(While referring to Agatha Christie, surely the revelation of the plot twist in a certain one of her novels is a serious literary no-no...)

It was a little odd that many of the referenced speakers at the festival were actual real-life authors (spoiler: Alan Titchmarsh was not the murderer!) show less

This is the first in a series featuring middle-of-the-road crime writer Francis Meadowes, whose own novels feature the retired forensic science professor George Braithwaite and his ‘feisty wife and sidekick Martha’. At a literary festival in the quaintly named Mold-on-Wold, somewhere in deep Englandshire, a suitably heady mix of superstar writers rub shoulders with the not-quite-so-famous wannabes. Mark McCrum, himself an ‘insider’ – if we can call him that? – shamelessly name show more drops everyone and everyone in the literati, which makes this a perfect amusement for those who like their books.

Bryce Peabody is ‘the literary world’s number one hatchet man’, the main literary critic for ‘The Sentinel’ who has come to the festival to deliver a devastating talk on celebrity authors and, it is rumoured, about to destroy the career of one of them. Needless to say, he is found dead the night before his talk, and our erstwhile crime writer turned amateur sleuth, the ever-persistent Francis Meadowes, takes it upon himself to investigate the death. For fans of the traditional murder mystery, every kind of suspect is here: spurned lovers, the current glamorous girlfriend, writers who have been savaged in Peabody’s writings, a group of hangers-on involved in Class A drugs… When a second death happens, the race is on the find the culprit.

This is a breezy, self-referential and amusing story. OK, the clues are there and if you guess the identity of the killer early on, it’s all pretty obvious. But McCrum has a lot of fun with the conventions of the Golden Age crime novel, and it becomes at times a pastiche of itself. Meadowes invokes the spirit of his amateur detective to help him poke around: everyone involved opens up to him, answering his most probing questions without blinking an eye; the police are happy to share information with him that defies belief; and, of course, the classic Golden Age conclusion, where all the suspects are gathered together, is arranged by Meadowes whilst even he admits: ‘Braithwaite would have hated a set-up like this – as near as dammit to the traditional “group denouement” of the Golden Age!’

It's fun, never intended to be taken too seriously, and thoroughly enjoys itself with its nods to the absurdity of the festival circuit so prevalent nowadays for writers. I shamelessly enjoyed it, and look forward to more in the series. To paraphrase Eliot’s Prufrock: this is not Agatha Christie nor was meant to be. Enjoy it for what it is and just escape for a few hours. An enjoyable 3.5 stars, happily rounded up to 4. show less

The story starts with crime fiction author Francis Meadowes enjoying a free cruise along the west African coast on an upscale ship. He's a "guest lecturer" onboard the cruise, speaking to other passengers about writing crime fiction. In exchange for delivering the lecture, he travels for free.
Before long however he is investigating a couple of suspicious deaths aboard the ship, one of them being a "man overboard" (who is actually a woman). Under the auspices of the ship's captain, Francis show more undertakes an investigation. Then one of the crew dies onboard from a snake bite, raising the death toll to three. His investigation comes to a dramatic conclusion on a small island off the coast of the African nation of Guinea-Bissau.
It's an edgy story, perhaps being too gritty to be a true cozy mystery. There is the closed environment of the ship at sea with a defined set of suspects: an eclectic assortment of cruise passengers on a high-end cruise. The story includes plenty of background about cruise ships (for example the procedures to follow when someone falls overboard) and how crime is reported and investigated when a ship is in international waters. The social experience of cruising is captured well, the interaction amongst a group of strangers randomly brought together on a ship is on full display. Anyone who has been on a cruise will recognize the group scenes onboard and on the off-ship expeditions.
There's some social commentary too. The contrast between the crew quarters and the passenger areas is a topic, as is the intersection between first world passengers and third world people and places they visit.
Francis is an attractive protagonist and does a good job of narrating the story. He makes a good amateur detective.
It's a entertaining and intelligent read: recommended.

Thanks to Severn House Publishers and Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy of the book. The views expressed above are mine. show less

A dramatic description of a person's last minutes alive opens this traditional whodunit murder mystery. At this beginning point however, readers do not know the person's identity. Then crime writer Francis Meadowes finds himself in the midst of a murder investigation, tasked with solving the puzzle. He's in Umbria Italy tutoring a small group of amateur writers at a summer creative writing conference. In due course, the most obnoxious of the students is killed. The writing group becomes the show more suspect pool from which Francis must find the killer. Several others potential suspects are thrown into the mix for good measure: the husband-and-wife who host the conference, their household staff including the gardener and the cook. Francis is in his element, as narrator and amateur sleuth in an excellent Agatha Christie-like country house mystery story.

It's a great read, made more enjoyable by the local colour of the Italian countryside which provides the background. Francis goes about finding that the potential suspects have secrets, which become red herrings for him to pursue. Some may find the resolution contrived and a tad too cute, but it suits the story. Mrs. Christie would have approved.

This book is the third in a series featuring Francis as amateur detective. However, this one can easily stand on its own and be enjoyed. It's a good series to follow.

Recommended.
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I requested and received a complementary advance reading copy of this book from the publisher, Severn House, via Netgalley. The comments about it are my own. show less