Ann Granger (1939–2025)

Told with great clarity in two narrative voices against the backdrop of the construction of London's St Pancras Station in 1866. An impoverished woman comes to London as a paid lady's companion and finds that the murder of her predecessor is being investigated by the police officer whose education had been paid for by her father. This is the only significantly contrived coincidence in the book as a neatly engineered mystery unfolds at a pace that rewards the attentive reader and ties up show more almost every loose end along the way. The characters are distinctive and credible in their language and motivations. show less

I absolutely adored Ann Granger’s Mitchell and Markby mysteries; I was heartbroken when she abandoned the series after No. 15, That Way Murder Lies, was released in 2004. So I’ve been in withdrawal ever since. (Don’t judge!)

I hadn’t realized that Granger launched a spinoff series in 2009, featuring Inspector Jess Campbell, who had worked with Detective Superintendent Alan Markby in the Cotswold. Thankfully, Canelo is re-releasing the debut novel in the series (and presumably the show more rest) in an ebook format, bringing it to my attention.

Now relocated to rural Gloucestershire, the feisty Campbell investigates the death of a pretty 19-year-old girl whose corpse was left at an abandoned farm. As always, Granger makes her characters, with their quirks and foibles, come to life. I was immediately riveted! Alternately amusing, offbeat and suspenseful, Mud, Muck & Dead Things will fill my Mitchell and Markby void quite nicely! I’ve already gotten the second in the series, Rack, Ruin and Murder. After 14 years without my Ann Granger fix, I’ve got a lot to make up for.

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

Somehow I had missed this newer series by Ann Granger, whose Meredith and Markby series I enjoyed so much. What a gift to discover it! Inspector Campbell, who appeared in the previous series, has transferred to a new police station since then and is getting well settled. She is getting a new superintendent, a Mr. Carter, and isn't quite sure how this will work out.
Granger excels at setting a scene and peopling it with interesting characters who often surprise you. Some of them in this book show more include a young woman trying to make a go of a horse-boarding and riding lesson stable, the crusty old farmer from whom she rents land, an accountant who occasionally helps out at the stables, and some rather sleazy characters with more money than is good for them. How they, plus the police, all deal with the discovery of a young woman's body in a disused cowshed makes for a compelling mystery with a surprise ending. I had to get the second book in the series right away. Highly recommended for lovers of British country police procedurals. show less

Rack, Ruin and Murder, the sequel to Mud, Muck and Dead Things, proves even better than the first. Inspector Jess Campbell investigates the appearance of a dead man in the moldering manor occupied by the eccentric Monty Bickerstaffe, nearly the last of a family very much gone down on its luck. Who is the expensively dressed corpse, who Monty swears he doesn’t recognize?

Amusing and well-plotted, Rack, Ruin and Murder contains a number of twists — including an unforeseen surprise on the show more very last page! What a wonderful series author Ann Granger has launched! (Not that I forgive her for abandoning her Mitchell and Markby mysteries in 2004; just sayin’.) Still, this series is definitely a keeper. show less