After the complications of reviewing to a deadline for Theakstons, by this point my year would have been over for that kind of thing, but last year when I watched Luca Veste and Tom Mead at Newark Book Festival, I spoke to the organiser afterwards about the fact that I was just about to release my first book, 2 writers 1 story at Harrogate less than a fortnight later. On hearing this and that my book was about interviewing authors, she said that we could probably get something done for next year and after I’d dropped her off a review copy, she kindly emailed me and allowed me to organise my own panel on this years theme, the power of play, which was to incorporate hobbies and other traditions of fiction.
Within crime there was the theme of isolated locations and locked rooms, so when I was told this, the first person to come to mind was Kate Rhodes, but it also allowed the opportunity to read an author who was new to me and I knew did really well during author conversations that I’d watched online and who was an excellent fit for the criteria with her country house mysteries and isolated locations within her Smart Woman’s Mystery series, Victoria Dowd.
Whilst getting quite rapidly towards the denouement, last night I had a few issues with my leg, so ended up going to bed earlier than planned and watching the new adaptation of Rebus, because with the denouement being slowly revealed throughout half of the book, I didn’t want to get too distracted and fall asleep like I often do when reading audio in bed, so left it until the morning.
When a book club rents out a country house, you expect that several members of their party will be opening themselves up to danger, as one of the biggest cliches within crime fiction that all fans of the Golden Age enjoy. With several other nods to golden age elements, like spiritualism and the dreaded butler, this book ticked so many great boxes with a lot of modern elements added, too, and when you add in snowfall, a poor mobile signal and other complications, you know that one of the last things they’ll actually be discussing is the book itself that they are supposed to be there for.
This is the sign of a good book, with the slow build up of characterisation at the beginning, with all of the clues laid out being relevant to the end of the book and when I say all, I mean literally everything, this is a book where you’ll have to keep your observational skills well on point. I’m really glad that I chose to read Victoria alongside Kate, as this book is a prime example of the country house mystery. Locations will be coming soon in the other 4 books of hers that I’m reading for the panel within Victoria’s series, before we all appear there in July. I’m really honoured to be hosting there and hope to see you there, too.
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