You’ve got to pick a victim or two…

Book blurb

A sleuthing librarian and her friends spend Halloween at a generations-old estate where they discover murder runs in the family . . .

Prunella Pearce, Bree, and the other ladies of the Winterbottom Women’s Institute are planning to spend Halloween at the Montgomery Hall Hotel murder-mystery weekend—just as the historical venue’s past comes back to haunt it.

The hotel is now in the incapable hands of Tarragon Montgomery, with its faltering finances overseen by elderly matriarch Cecily.

Meanwhile, the local actress hired to play Psychic Selma for the weekend has been replaced by an impostor. But who is she, and what is her agenda?

Pru and Bree have some experience solving mysteries, but as Montgomery Hall is engulfed by a storm and the bodies start piling up, they may need a little assistance from Pru’s delectable detective, Andy Barnes, in order to crack the case . . .

My thoughts

After the previous book, first of this series, Pru and Bree are forming a detective agency and their first job is to investigate the rash of thefts that have taken place at Montgomery Hall Hotel. It is very handy that the ladies of Winterbottom W.I., of whom they are a part, have chosen to attend a murder mystery weekend at the hotel as this will give them an excellent cover story.

Along with the murder mystery which is played out with a local acting group the hotel have organised for Psychic Stella to perform over the weekend. Tarragon is the owner of Montgomery Hall Hotel but it is his wife, Stephanie, that has organised the events. They really need the weekend to go well as the Hall is in need of work and finances are not very good. Cecily the family matriarch oversees the finances. Bentley, Tarragon and Stephanie’s son it seems is always in need of money doesn’t help the situation.

Andy, a DS in the police and Pru’s partner, along with his colleague Lucy, a DC, are assigned to another forces investigation. The weather is bad and it is difficult for Andy and Pru to keep in touch. They are finishing their time with this investigation when Andy gets a garbled and worrying text from Pru. He and Lucy don’t hesitate and are soon making their way to the Montgomery Hall Hotel.

In this delightful book murders are mounting up and there are a number of mysteries to be resolved. Is there a lost fortune hidden in Montgomery Hall? Who is killing off the Montgomery heirs? Are Pru and Bree in danger? Can Pru and Bree find the thief? Can they find the killer?

If you like your murder mystery reading with a hearty measure of humour, wonderful characters and plots to die for then Murders at the Montgomery Hall Hotel is for you.

I read these books for the excellent cosy mystery novels that they are.

Book: Purchased

#20Booksofsummer23

Murders at the Montgomery Hall Hotel by Gina Kirkham is my 15th and final book this year. I had anticipated 10 books so am delighted to have read so many.

Information

Published: Bloodhound Books (14 Nov. 2022) | Open Road Media | ISBN: 9781504081832 | Pages: 364

Buy: AmazonSmileUK | Hive Books UK | Waterstones | Amazon.com

Author: Gina was born in the late 1950s to a mum who frequently abandoned her in a pram outside Woolworths and a dad who after two pints of beer could play a mean Boogie Woogie on the piano in the front room of their 3-bed semi on the Wirral. Being the less adventurous of three children, she remains there to this day – apart from a long weekend in Bognor Regis in 1982.

Her teenage years were filled with angst, a CSE in Arithmetic, raging pimples and Barry White. Marriage and motherhood ensued, followed by divorce in her early thirties and a desperate need for a career and some form of financial support for herself and her young daughter. Trundling a three-wheeled trike along a leafy path one wintry day, memories of her favourite author Enid Blyton, ginger beer and solving mysteries along with her lifelong passion to be a police officer, excitedly gave way to an epiphany. And thus began an enjoyable and fulfilling career with Merseyside Police.

On reaching an age most women lie about, she quickly adapted to retirement by utilising her policing skills to chase after two granddaughters, two dogs and one previously used, but still in excellent condition, husband. Having said goodbye to what had been a huge part of her life, she suddenly had another epiphany. This time it was to put pen to paper to write a book based on her experiences as a police officer. Lying in bed one night staring at the ceiling, Gina’s alter-ego Mavis Upton was born, ready to star in a humorous and sometimes poignant look at the life, loves and career of an everyday girl who followed a dream and embarked upon a search for the missing piece of her childhood.

Books

The Constable Mavis Upton Adventures Series

Handcuffs, Truncheon and a Polyester Thong | Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | Blues, Twos and Baby Shoes

Other writing

Written in the Stars (A Charity Anthology – in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and The Butterfly AVM Charity, who both work tirelessly to offer help to children and their families with life-threatening illnesses.)

The Prunella Pearce Mysteries

Murders at the Winterbottom Women’s Institute | Murders at the Montgomery Hall Hotel | Murders at the Rookery Grange Retreat (Nov 2023)