I was thrilled to return to the charming village of Berrywick in the English Cotswolds with this, the 6th in the Julia Bird series of cosy mysteries. Once again, Julia and her beloved chocolate lab, Jake are on the trail of a murderer after they discover not one, but two bodies at the bottom of a cliff while on one of their favourite walking paths!
Blurb:
Julia Bird loves a walk in the countryside. There’s nothing quite like the fresh air and green rolling hills of the Cotswolds to clear your head. Unless you come across a dead body, that is…
When the local Berrywick vet, Dr Eve Davies, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, the police believe it’s nothing more than a tragic accident, but Julia isn’t so sure. Just a few days earlier when she took her dog, Jake, to the vets, Dr Eve said she believed something awful was about to happen. It turns out she was right…
But who would want the beloved village vet dead? Was it her mother Kay, a down-and-out gambler who stands to inherit her unwedded daughter’s home? Was it her assistant Olga, who was close to getting fired? Or was it her cut-throat tennis partner Will, with whom Dr Eve had an argument shortly before she took a tumble? And who is the stranger skulking around Berrywick peering into people’s windows?
When a second body appears in the exact spot where Dr Eve was found, Julia knows it can’t be a coincidence. Both victims were pushed off the cliff, but why? Should Julia let sleeping dogs lie, or will she be like a dog with a bone to find the murderer?
A totally gripping and charming cosy mystery set in the English countryside. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands will love the Julia Bird Mysteries.
My Review:
If you’re unfamiliar with this series, or even with cosy crime as a whole, think Midsomer Murders, Father Brown, Sister Boniface (all set in fictional Cotswolds villages) or Brokenwood Mysteries (set in a fictional New Zealand backwater village – no offence intended, but that’s how it comes across!) … well that’s how I picture Berrywick, where Julia Bird lives.
This is the 6th in the series and although they can each be read as standalone stories, I really do recommend that they be read in order. There’s a thread that runs through the books, connecting them to each other, and the steady character development is wonderful. To be fair, the murder victims do tend to be bit players, rather than main characters, thank goodness! I think that’s a key factor in fans of the series continuing to love these books: there are those who play major roles in each book, and we’d like to keep them around for quite a few more books to come please!
This time, Julia is out walking her much-loved dog Jake (who has definitely become a lot more obedient since we first met him, but is still not averse to getting up to his old antics when he feels like it), when they come across another dog on their walking trail, wandering on his own. She knows that it’s Fergus and that he belongs to the local vet, Eve, but there’s no sign of Eve anywhere. Julia can’t imagine that the vet would let her dog wander off on his own and decides to go and look for her. She finds her … dead at the bottom of a nearby cliff!
Julia’s friend the local DI, Hayley Gibson is convinced that Eve committed suicide, but Julia is not convinced and in her usual non-intrusive way, starts doing her own investigation. However, eventually she thinks that maybe the police must be right as she’s getting nowhere. But when a second body turns up in exactly the same spot, Julia knows she’s onto something!
Julia is the type of friend that I think we all need. She’s wise, intuitive, kind, a wonderful listener … and she has a gorgeous dog who’s in love with a chicken! Although at her age she’s comfortable with herself and where she’s at in her life, she’s still not over-confident and full of herself, which shows in the lovely relationship she has with the local doctor Sean O’Connor.
I did have a few laughs at she and her friend Tabitha and their attempts to learn the fine art of playing padel (the latest sports craze). They’re braver than I am, that’s for sure. Actually, I was picturing our intrepid writing partnership of Kate and Gail doing this, and wondering if it was based on some actual padel performances of their own!?
With some twists and red herrings thrown in for good measure, this is a great page-turner which I highly recommend. If you haven’t read the other books in the series, I recommend those too. I’m looking forward to seeing what Julia and her close-knit group of friends get up to next, and I’m also hoping to see her daughter’s return some time soon.
Thank you to Bookouture for the Books-on-Tour. I love being able to promote fabulous South African authors like Katie Gayle – Kate and Gail, who not only write so well, but who are also the loveliest people!
Author Bio:
Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats.
https://www.facebook.com/KatieGayleWriter
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