My Review (5 stars out of 5)
As the festive season approaches, ex-environmental health officer Kent Fisher has a lot on his mind, and another murder investigation is the last thing he needs. Torn between his new wife Gemma, who has distanced herself from him until he can accept her past (and give up his sleuthing activities), and attractive novelist Trudi Blossom who’s determined to drag him into an investigation, Kent finds himself unable to make a decision. Meanwhile, with café matriarch and stepmother Niamh in a funny mood, and old flame Belinda turning up, things just go from bad to worse. The possibility of letters and photographs suggest something sordid between William Fisher and Chloe Fox (wife of a local entrepreneur), but Ms Fox has disappeared. When a body is discovered among dumped waste, it seems obvious who the dead woman is…
This is book 9 in the Kent Fisher Murder Mysteries series, and as usual, it’s a cracker. With Kent’s widening rift between himself and his new wife pushing him towards doing the right thing (whatever that is), and all the other women in his life seeming to drag him in different directions, our hero has a lot to deal with. As always, he finds the lure of a murder mystery hard to resist and soon he and Trudi are skulking around, delving into missing letters and journals that could hold a clue to what the heck’s going on.
The usual Crouch humour is there in abundance, along with plenty of reddish herrings and false leads. Although I did get a little confused at times with Kent’s women, this is another stonking good read that kept me guessing all the way.
Colin Garrow 