Fast-paced and funny, this is a must-read for all fans of a classic murder mystery

Welcome to Castle Kidbury – a pretty town in a green West Country valley. It’s home to all sorts of people, with all the stresses and joys of modern life, but with a town square and a proper butcher’s. It also has, for our purposes, a rash of gory murders …

Book blurb

Jess Castle is running away. Again. This time she’s running back home, like she swore she never would.

Castle Kidbury, like all small towns, hums with gossip but now it’s plagued with murder of the most gruesome kind. Jess instinctively believes that the hippyish cult camped out on the edge of town are not responsible for the spate of crucifixions that blights the pretty landscape. Her father, a respected judge, despairs of Jess as she infiltrates the cult and manages, not for the first time, to get herself arrested.

Rupert Lawson, a schooldays crush who’s now a barrister, bails her out. Jess ropes in a reluctant Rupert as she gatecrashes the murder investigation of DS Eden. A by-the-book copper, Eden has to admit that intuitive, eccentric Jess has the nose of a detective.

As the gory murders pile up, there’s nothing to connect the victims. And yet, the clues are there if you look hard enough.

My thoughts

Jess has returned home to Castle Kidbury after handing in her notice and once again running away from something she finds difficult so proving her father right that she is incapable, she believes. When a pretty grisly murder is committed and the body is found with what might be a message in some kind of ancient writing or code it calls to Jess, this is after all her expertise and she inveigles herself into the investigation.

The murders mount up and Jess, along with Sergeant Eden, are not yet getting any closer to proving one of the various suspects as the killer.

Eden is following every step in the process in order to eliminate suspects and hopefully move forward with the investigation. Jess meanwhile flies by the seat of her pants in the pursuit of the truth. However, it comes very close to home when her good friend goes missing. Will Jess manage to work out what happened? Can she save her friend? Is this the same person who has committed the atrocious acts?

In a fine murder mystery that has some lighthearted elements this is an easy read with terrific characters and with a good murder mystery at its heart. One that I enjoyed.

Book: Purchased

The Virtual Crime Book Club

The Virtual Crime Book Club is hosted by Rebecca Bradley, author of the D I Hannah Robbins and D I Claudia Nunn series as well as standalone novels.

Rebecca is a great host and often gets the authors to come along and chat with us. You can find out more on Rebecca’s website.

Most book club episodes are recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Be aware they may contain spoilers so, if you’re planning to read the book, it may be better not to watch them until you’ve done so.

20 Books Of Summer 2025

I have read Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death by M. B. Vincent as part of my 20 books of summer challenge.

My list of books being read for this challenge. 

20 books of summer has new hosts Emma of Words and Peace and you can read all about it on Annabel’s blog including all the rules and sign up. It’s a challenge I’ve always enjoyed and am sure I’ll continue to do so. 

The challenge takes place between 1 June and 31 August 2025

Information

Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK | 18 Oct. 2018 | 368 pp | ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781471168246 | ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1471168246

Buy: Amazon | Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | Your local bookshop | Your local library

Author

M.B. Vincent is a married couple. She writes romantic fiction; he writes songs and TV theme tunes. They’ve even written musicals together. They work at opposite ends of the house, andthey meet in the middle to write about Jess Castle and Castle Kidbury, the West Country’s goriest market town. When they’re not making up books, tunes, and mysteries, they cram head out in an open- top car and explore. They particularly like West Country market towns …

Books

A Death in the Woods (A Jess Castle Investigation) (2020)