A murder mystery where the victims are authors of murder mysteries! This one had to be fun to write. It’s the second book with detective Harbinder Kaur (after Stranger Diaries), but I don’t think you have to read the first one to jump in.
This was a great example of “group of nosy civilians gets involved and digs up clues while making the actual police officer’s life more complicated” genre. The civilians are a nurse at a care home, an 80-year-old resident of that care home, and a former priest who now runs the coffee shack nearby. This unlikely group of friends dives in to the mystery when Peggy, an elderly resident of the care home, is found dead. It’s written off as natural causes, but when they find a business card listing Peggy as a “murder consultant” and a stack of murder mysteries dedicated to her (“Thanks for the murders”), they get suspicious. When some of the mystery writers who listed Peggy in their acknowledgements start dropping dead, DI Kaur sees that the group has a point.
These are a step above ‘cozy’ mysteries, but still light and quick. There are lots of good suspects, some international intrigue, and a road trip. The amateur sleuths end up at a crime writers’ convention, and I wondered if the characters there were based on Griffiths’ own experiences. It’s a great mystery for book-lovers, with books as clues and readers as detectives.