Amateur Sleuths

MJ Soni: The Masala Chai Mystery Club

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Debut

This charming first mystery may follow several trendy and now familiar tropes, but that didn’t bother me in the least because the telling of the story and the characters in it are simply  delightful.  It’s set in an upscale condo development where the main character, the recently retired and widowed librarian Neeti Shah, lives with her niece Myra and her adorable great nephew, Ved.  The story begins when Neeti hears a scream across the road and hurries over to find her neighbor dead at the foot of his stairs, seemingly killed by a fall, but, surprise, Neeti is not convinced. read more

Robert Thorogood: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

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Marlow Murder Club #5

This charming series inhabits the same universe as Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books.  The books are intelligent, well observed, occasionally funny – as well as being very clever mysteries.  The “Marlow Murder Club” consists of the intellectual, crossword puzzle loving Judith; dogwalker Suzie; and Becks, the wife of the vicar of Marlow (the vicar plays a very small supporting role).  The unofficial member of the club is Tanika, an actual police officer, who has come to rely on them. read more

Danielle Postel-Vinay: Murder Most Delicious

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Series Debut

There are several ways to judge a book.  If three are present – plot, character, and setting – the book (to me) is good, if not great.  The x factor is prose style.  This novel has three excellent elements – character, setting and lovely prose.  The plot is OK and I figured out whodunnit long before the last page, but the prose just sings as does the setting of the novel, and I was carried away.

That setting is a tiny Paris neighborhood, Gros-Caillou, abutting the Eiffel Tower. The arrival of American sommelier Olivia Beech to a local anchor restaurant, Chez Jacques, is something of a sensation, becoming even more so when, during a wine tasting, the eponymous Jacques falls dead at Olivia’s feet.  While Olivia has been gifted with an extraordinary “nose” for wine, covid has taken away her sense of taste, which for a sommelier is a disaster.  Surfacing from a career crisis in an attempt to reclaim her life, she’s pinned her hopes on a resurrection at Chez Jacques. read more