Blog Tour: Murder in an English Castle (2024) by Merryn Allingham: Flora Steele Mystery #10

It's my stop today on Murder in an English Castle by Merryn Allingham Books-on-Tour. Many thanks to Bookouture's Sarah Hardy for the invite, and for the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

📚 About the book

It’s time to rewrite history with amateur detectives Flora Steele and Jack Carrington as they are called to a castle to unearth the clues of a murder most medieval…

Sussex, 1959. The sun is shining on the breathtaking castle as the Abbeymead Historical Society prepare their re-enactment of the Battle of Lewes. But the fun ends abruptly when council worker Alex Vicary falls to his death from the castle ramparts. A shadowy figure runs from the scene, but Alex was a beloved member of the community… who could possibly want him dead?

As Flora and Jack investigate further, they dig up troubles Alex kept buried from those closest to him. Perhaps he was pushed by his money-hungry landlord, Larry Morton, who was trying to sell Alex’s home? Or maybe his oldest and shiftiest friend, Bruce Sullivan, who gambled away the money Alex loaned him? Or could it be his wide-eyed new girlfriend, Diane Croft, who dodges questions about Alex’s death, and hides presents from another suitor?

But when Flora discovers an engagement ring among Alex’s possessions, she is stunned to learn that his relationship with Diane was more serious than everyone thought. With whispers of another man fighting for Diane’s heart, were the battle lines drawn for love?

Then the body of a second member of the society is found, and the pair realise time is running out. Will history repeat itself with yet another death? Or can Flora and Jack catch their killer before the medieval murderer bids them both adieu?

A totally compelling and absolutely charming cozy mystery novel. Fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and Joy Ellis will adore this unputdownable series!

📚 My thoughts

🏰 Our beloved amateur sleuth couple is back for another murder case! Set in an English rural village in the 1950s, Flora Steele is a bookshop owner who married a crime writer Jack Carrington after they solved several murders together in the past. Now, a newlywed couple, they spend half their weeks in their own house in Abbeymead, the other half in a Cottage in Lewes, where Jack works as a temporary teacher at Lewes arts school.

🏰 The premise of this story is quite unusual, and a creative choice from Allingham. Hector Landsdale is one of the many recurring secondary characters, friends of Flora and Jack. He's the sous-chef at the Priory, and a fervent member of the local historical re-enactment society, who call themselves Knights of Mercia. Our sleuths were invited to one of these re-enactments, the "Battle of Lewes", and witnessed a horrible accident. One of the "actors", Alex Vicary, fell from the ramparts during the "battle" and died instantly. The police's verdict was accident, but Hector was adamant that it was a murder - someone has deliberately pushed Alex amidst the skirmish.

🏰 Now it's up to Flora and Jack to find the murderer. But first, the motive. Why would someone want to get rid of Alex, if he is as good a man as Hector indicated? Was it a passionate murder, because he had been pestering his girlfriend Diane Croft to marry him - a bit too much - despite of her several rejections? Or did money matter involve - a huge sum of loan to a gamble-addict friend? A greedy landlord who wanted to sell Alex's house is another possibility. Few "accidents" had befallen Flora and Jack during their investigation, who perpetrated it? And then, the second murder happened - another member of Knights of Mercia, one of Flora and Jack's suspects. They are at a dangerous point, now that the murderer is getting desperate...

🏰 This is another delightful cozy mystery from Allingham. The premise and the murder method are well thought of. Pushing someone from high place during an enactment of a battle - that's an easy one. No one would have suspected a foul play. Accidents happen. But I have to admit, that my favorite part of the book is not the murder mystery itself - which is creative and lovely - but the village, Abbeymead. I remember that that was the point where I fell in love in the first place to the first book, The Bookshop Murder. I love everything about Abbeymead - the vibes of the era (1950-1960), the inhabitants - which keep growing each season, and even the establishments (the Priory, the All's Well bookshop, the Nook). The characters with their eccentricity, struggles, and triumph begin to grow on me, that I feel like living for years in Abbeymead. Even Betty, Flora's beloved bicycle, feels like a close friend, that I became rather sad when something bad happened to it.. her! :)) Needless to say, I'm going to miss Abbeymead for I don't know how long, because I think I can guess where the next instalment would be set in! ;)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 Author Bio

Merryn taught university literature for many years, and it took a while to pluck up the courage to begin writing herself. Bringing the past to life is a passion and her historical fiction includes Regency romances, wartime sagas and timeslip novels, all of which have a mystery at their heart. As the books have grown darker, it was only a matter of time before she plunged into crime with a cosy crime series set in rural Sussex against the fascinating backdrop of the 1950s.

Merryn lives in a beautiful old town in Sussex with her husband. When she’s not writing, she tries to keep fit with adult ballet classes and plenty of walking.
https://merrynallingham.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MerrynWrites
https://twitter.com/merrynwrites

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Buying Link

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0D12DYX12social
You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you'll love at: https://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo

#MurderEveryMonday: Cover with Victim's Name

Murder Every Monday was created by Kate @ Crossexamining Crime and @ArmchairSleuth. Put simply, the plan is for readers to take a photo of a crime fiction book (novel or short story collection) which meets a given week’s theme criteria and to then share it online, using the hashtag #MurderEveryMonday.

This week's theme is is quite easy, so here they are, dominated by Agatha Christie's:

Cover which has the name of the victim on the title

Have your read any of them? Which cover(s) do you like most?

If you want to participate, here's the list of the weekly theme.

A Single Rose (2020) by Muriel Barbery #NovNov24

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader):

It is said that in ancient China, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a prince who, every year, would have a field of a thousand peonies planted, and during the first days of summer their petals would ripple in the breeze. For six days he would sit on the floor of the wooden pavilion where he habitually went to admire the moon, drinking a cup of clear tea from time to time, and he would observe the flowers he called his girls. At dawn and at sunset, he would pace up and down the field.

🌹 From the first paragraph one might deduce that this novella is set in China, or the characters are Chinese. It is not. A Single Rose is a story set in Japan, but the main character is a French girl. So, how that Chinese opening fits in? Apparently, every chapter begins with a Chinese folklore, which is related to what the chapter is about. Interesting, no? Considering that this novella is written by a French author, makes it even special.

🌹 Rose is a forty something French botanist who comes to Kyoto for the will reading of her deceased Japanese father, whom she has never met. The father who left her mother years ago, and apparently never contacted nor acknowledged his daughter. This has wounded Rose and she grew up to be a bitter woman. Her intention of travelling for the first time to Japan is just to know what her father left her, and then go straightly home. But what awaits her in Kyoto is beyond her imagination, and that's the backbone of this novella.

🌹 Apparently, her father had tasked his trusted assistant Paul, also a French man, to guide Rose through some journeys for days before the will reading. Everyday Paul takes Rose from temples, Zen gardens, galleries, rivers, to tea houses and restaurants. And during those journeys Rose is getting to know more of her father, why he had left her, and most importantly, that he truly loved her and she's always on his thoughts. Little by little these excursions soften her heart, and she begins to embrace the Japanese culture, and with that, her own identity and root.

🌹 This was pretty unexpected read for me. I thought this was only a story about a daughter getting to know her father after his death, a reconnecting to her past. In a way, it is that, but there's more to it. It is a life-changing journey for Rose; she had been lost before, her life was stalled. But now that she reconnects with her past, Rose finds herself, what or who she truly is. A brighter future awaits her, a happier and more wholesome existence.

🌹 What I love most of this novella is Barbery's writing. I often forgot that it's written by a French author. It reads like a Japanese book; it feels like one. Like most Japanese literature, A Single Rose is tender, Zen, comforting, inspiring; and Barbery wrote it so beautifully it touched my heart and stirred something deep in me. The element of nature is pretty strong too. The flowers (azalea, peony, roses, and many more) seem to be living characters. So, too, the weather. These elements are not there as a background, but they have huge influence in reshaping Rose.

Friday 56 Quote (hosted by Heads Full of Books):

In the silence broken only by sips of beer, somewhere in a tenuous, immense place, as invisible as the sky, something changed position. She could sense rain coming, a smell of thirsty soil, grass in the wind. There was yet another shift, a scent of undergrowth and moss. She began to weep, huge sobs, tears of sparkling pearls. She could feel them forming, flowing, and bursting into the world, adorned with light.

Read for:

Novellas in November 2024 #NovNov24

hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books & Rebecca @ Bookish Beck

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy (1996) by Frances Mayes #NonFicNov24

🌞 Under the Tuscan Sun is a memoir by Frances Mayes, an American university professor, who were just through a divorce. She'd been in love with Italy, and accompanied by Ed, her current significant other, she began to hunt for a house in the countryside. Tuscany was their final choice, in particular an abandoned villa called Bramasole, in a hill town of Cortona.

🌞 Bramasole was named from two Italian words: braemar (to yearn for), and sole (sun); which literally means something that yearns for the sun. What a proper name for an Italian house! Like any other memoir of foreigners who move to European country, Under the Tuscan Sun follows, first the many doubts and indecisive moments Frances and Ed must have endured before finally deciding to buy the house. That part was the easiest, really. After that, came the relentless struggles to make the house and land to be habitable, while they are adapting with new culture, new language, and all.

🌞 The renovating of the rural abandoned villa took them years of dealing with Italian people, with their habits and eccentricities. But this memoir isn't entirely struggles, there are triumphant moments too, like when they found an ancient slab of stone while digging for a well (they finally use it for garden table). Or when renovating walls, they unexpectedly found a beautiful fresco. But maybe the most triumphant moment was when Frances realized how Italian she has been becoming at one point, and how Tuscany and Bramasole become, eventually, her true home that she loves.

"When you're falling in love, everything is lit from within."

🌞 Besides describing how much energy Frances and Ed had poured to make Bramasole home (they loved doing it), Frances also entertained us with her travelling journals - the small town they visited, complete with little historical background, local churches with their religious fervor, local cafe, and landscape. Last but not least, Italian food. Dishes Frances has becoming expert of cooking, and wines they taste and collect, what they serve for visiting guests. Frances even include several recipes in between chapters.

🌞 In short, it's a pleasant memoir to read with perfect proportions between struggles and pleasures, historical background and daily life, and between their personal routine with the interesting characters of their neighbors.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Nonfiction November 2024 #NonFicNov24

hosted by Liz, Frances, Heather, Rebekah, and Deb

Mini Reviews for #AgathaChristieSS24: November

THE GIRL IN THE TRAIN

A young man called George Rowland who has just been disowned by his rich uncle, decided to seek a better luck at Rowland House (he shares the name, it must be a good sign, right?) On board the train a beautiful girl asked his help to hide her, apparently from an angry "uncle". She asked him further to tail an anonymous man and to keep a mysterious parcel for her. Stimulated by the mystery, Rowland did all these. Staying at a hotel, he's confronted by some men accusing him of hiding a royal princess of a small Balkan country. Furthermore he found that the small parcel is missing. What's really going on? Is the beautiful girl really a princess? And what was in that parcel?

It's an exciting story to read; light, humorous, full of action, with a touch of light budding romance, the style of which reminded me a little of Patricia Wenthworth's Benbow Smith mysteries.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

THE DEAD HARLEQUIN

When visiting a painting exhibition, Mr. Satterthwaite found a painting titled The Dead Harlequin; a man is looking from outside the window to a dead body lying on the floor inside the room. The man resembled his friend, Mr. Harley Quin, and the room reminded him of one death in Charnley House. Curious, he bought the painting and invited the painter for dinner, which is also attended by a Colonel who investigated the death. A man shot himself fourteen years ago. 

The dinner was interrupted by two women who insist on buying the painting from Mr. Sattherthwaite - two women who no doubt are familiar with what the painting depicted. The question is, was the death really suicide? If not, who was the murderer?

It was unexpectedly an entertaining story with a clever plot. Something that left me thinking hard after finishing it.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Wigs on the Green (1935) by Nancy Mitford #NovNov24

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader):

No, I'm sorry,' said Noel Foster, 'not sufficiently attractive.'
He said this in unusually firm and final accents, and with a determination which for him was rare he hung up his office telephone receiver.

💚 After a high brow spiritual novella I've read earlier, a witty satire from Nancy Mitford seems like a perfect option to get into next. And it was pretty hilarious - its comical quality isn't unlike P.G. Wodehouse, but with a center theme of British fascism, Mitford is unbeatable. Fun fact: Mitford was actually inspired by her sisters' political enthusiasm, and the book caused a rift between the sisters.

💚 When Noel Foster came upon a small fortune, he retired from boring clerk job to hunt for wealthy heiress to marry. His biggest mistake was to boast about it to his sycophant playboy scheming friend of Jasper Aspect. The later knew of an unworldly but rich and beautiful Eugenia Malmains who lives in the countryside. They find her to be an ardent supporter of Union Jackshirts movement, headed by a Captain Jack.

💚 Also coming from London are two young women, one Miss Smith and one Miss Jones. They are in fact Poppy Saint Julien, who's considering to divorce her unfaithful husband, and is accompanying her friend Lady Marjorie, who's running away from a Duke she's just jilted on the altar. A fourth young woman who was to complicate the story is a local beauty, Mrs. Lace. The two friends from London represent their generation and background, the 1930s of metropolitan city like London, when young people, especially the rich, were reckless, irresponsible, and ignoring moral conventions.

Friday 56 Quote (hosted by Head Full of Books):

"There's nothing radically wrong with your nature, darling, but your upbringing and environment, so far, have been lousy. I never met anybody more invited to cope with the ordinary contingencies of life - especially the emotional side of it."

💚 As expected, Jasper turned out to be a rival rather than assistant to Noel's cause. And their whole wealthy heiresses scheme is thwarted by many unforeseen but hilarious events, from falling in love with the "wrong" women, to the appearance of mysterious detectives, to Union Jackshirt fanaticism. It is the latter aspect that provided this story with loads of incredibly foolish, but witty at the same time, humour, and comical scenes that will make you laugh. Like I said, the story feels like a mixture of Mitford's sharp and witty satire and Wodehouse's slapstick comic; a thoroughly fun and hilarious read!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Novellas in November 2024 #NovNov24

hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books and Rebecca @ Bookish Beck

Maud Martha (1953) by Gwendolyn Brooks #NovNov24

🔸️The titular Maud Martha is an African-American girl lives in Chicago in the 1920s And through this novella we follow her life, her views from little girl to adulthood. It feels like reading a personal memoir, with vignettes of seemingly unimportant everyday life. It is from the character, personal struggles, and the glimpse of the outer world, that we are able to form an idea of what was really happening.

🔸️ Maud Martha was born from a respectable parents, and was brought up with her sister Helen and her brother Harry From childhood she felt insignificant and always came after the others. Her father, for example, loved her sister Helen more than her. She realized also that the color of one's skin determine one's quality of life. Helen is always more liked than her because of her lighter skin. The same with her husband, who was much lighter than Maud Martha. He even enjoyed a semi-normal social circle when he attended these events alone. The darker your skin color is, the more marginalized you are.

🔸️ During her childhood, Maud Martha and her family almost lost their house, and it left a deep impression in her. After she's married, Maud Martha dreamed of having a proper house, but what they ended up was a kitchenette (only a little above a studio apartment?) These seemingly unimportant vignettes brought us to understand the extend of what African-Americans at that time must endure.

🔸️ As a story, it lacks a plot and cohesion. The charm lays in the writing. Gwendolyn Brooks is a Pulitzer winning author, and it is her poetic prose that lent this otherwise monotonous novella its sharp tone and impeccable beauty. One more thing: it is one of the books which, I think, is best enjoyed in audio version.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/5

Read for:

Novellas in November 2024

hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books & Rebecca @ Bookish Beck