RATING: 2 STARS
(Review Not on Blog)

This historical mystery was right up my alley, when it came to the synopsis. However it took me so long to get into and then I eventually had to skim through some chapters till it picked up but I could not really get into the story. I could not connect to the plot or characters.

***I received an eARC from NETGALLEY***

Fran is living a quiet life in an English village after World War I, alone with her cat. She is the member of a literary society who meet for a conference. During the conference one of the members dies and it is up to Fran and her companion Tom to solve the mystery.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I can't wait for the next time Fran and Tom team up. Nothing like a bit of unresolved sexual tension to get the readers hooked.

Very much reminds me of midsummer murders. I found this quite an easy read which didn't require too much brain power,just what I was looking for

Personally, I just could not get involved with the characters or the story line, and I tried three separate times.

A literary society is conducting a genteel conference when one of the speakers is found dead -- apparently by her own hand. The various members of the society respond in a surprisingly wide range of ways to the events... and a lot of dirty laundry comes out for an airing.

Fans of Golden Age mysteries will find this book satisfying. There's a plucky heroine with a madcap friend, a couple of questionable fellows who might be good guys or bad guys, plenty of local color, and a true mystery plot with clues.

It's well written and convincingly from its early 20th century time frame. Characters are well developed.

The Magic Chair Murder is a thrilling and well plotted mystery set at the end of the 1920s.  Women were beginning to play a greater role in commerce and academia. Frances Black is a capable woman long separated from her husband.  As part of the board for the Robert Barnaby society, she recommended Linda Dexter as a speaker. Surprisingly Linda Dexter doesn’t show up, and her car is found burned out a ways away.  Along a little traveled railway, Linda’s body is found. Was her murder related to her talk, which promised to challenge some much beloved beliefs? Or was it related to her past?


Between dealing with egos and avoiding a stalker, Frances Black, assisted by her friend Tom Dod, delves into the mystery of Linda Dexter’s death.


The Magic Chair Murder is a well plotted mystery, and Frances Black is a lead who is easy to identify with.  All in all, it is a solid story and an entertaining one. I’m curious to see where the next novel goes.


4 / 5


I received a copy of The Magic Chair Murder from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.


— Crittermom

This book is a muddle of a mystery. Fran Black and Tom Dod are attending a literary society meeting when a keynote speaker turns up dead. Despite the society's desire to sweep the murder under the rug, Fran and Tom decide to investigate. I have some concerns with the story should the series continue, Fran and Tom are drawn to each other, yet both are married, which would seemingly affect their relationship and their ability to work together. Fran seems to do most of the investigation, with Tom throwing in a bit here and there. They live in two different places and mainly solve mysteries by comparing notes over the phone,, which is not particularly exciting reading.. Though the crime is solved, I don't think I will be going further in the series. I did not find any reason to make me want to read another installment. ,

A very simple premise sets up the story, where a guest speaker inexplicably disappears during a conference and when her body is later discovered, it is assumed she has committed suicide. Both Frances Black and Tom Dod don’t believe this is the case and are determined to get to the bottom of why Linda is murdered.

I loved this one – Janes has taken care to set up the story and establish the characters in much the same way as Christie did. There is also no shortage of likely candidates when it comes to working out who the murderer is. As the investigation proceeds, we also learn more about Frances and Tom – and why the pair of them might be very willing to spend time and energy worrying about a problem that has nothing to do with their own daily routines. Despite this story consciously harking back to the past, there is no sentimentality in Janes’s depiction of the 1920s. The shadow of the Great War is still lying heavily across the country and although women have been granted the vote during the previous year, the manner in which Frances is frequently dismissed makes me very glad that I wasn’t born in that era.

I was also impressed with the worldbuilding and the level of historical detail throughout – at no time did any of it jar. What you don’t get with this book is foot to-the-floor action as the story builds steadily while Frances and Tom discover yet more facts and clues surrounding Linda’s life. Nonetheless I was immersed in the world and wanting to know exactly why Linda was murdered and who did it.

One of the pleasures in reading this type of crime novel is trying to guess the culprit and while I won’t claim to be particularly good at it, I can report that I didn’t guess whodunit, yet the murder and why it was committed made complete sense. I came to really like Frances and I’m going to be looking out for more books in this series – luckily it seems that Diane Janes is a prolific author. Yippee! While I obtained an arc of The Magic Chair Murder from Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

1929 Northern England . Book one in the Black & Dod Mystery series.
A woman, committee member Linda Dexter disappears the night before she is to make a speech to the Robert Barnaby Society on the subject of the famous writer’s ‘magic chair’. This intriguing historical cosy mystery has amateur sleuths Frances Black and Tom Dod who are fellow members determined to find out what really happened when they take the mystery into their on hands. Could the woman have been killed to silence her from telling what she has found out and does a killer walk among the members or is it a random killer? I enjoyed the historical atmosphere presented in the book.
Pub Date 01 Mar 2018
Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for a review copy. I was not required to write a positive review.

Thanks Severn House and netgalley for this ARC.

Short but very engaging and a good taste of future books.

The first of a cozy mystery series set in 1929 England. At the Robert Barnaby Society wekkend, the day before she was due to give a talk Linda Dexter has disappeared. While the police carry out their own investigate Fran Black and Tom Dod join forces to delve into the mystety.
A enjoyed this easy to read well-written story and liked the characters. A really good start and a series which I look forward to reading more of.

Frances is on the board of the Robert Barnaby Society. They are staying at the hotel with "The Magic Chair" that is part of the Barnaby legend. A lady is to speak about the tale and the chair the next day, but she's missing. When she's found, she's dead...

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published March 1st.

Frances teams up with Tom and starts looking into things. She had talked to her the night before and doesn't believe it was suicide as the police do.

It turns out the society is hotbed of intrigue, has been hiding an affair, and even has a guy who is a stalker. It's not a group I'd like to be involved in! As it is, her snooping gets her into trouble with the group.

They determine she was going to deliver some controversial information during her talk the next day. They take a look at everyone in the group and her past. As they sift through the facts they get closer to the killer.

Even more disconcerting, Frances finds herself falling for Ted. Then she calls about the case and finds out he's married. Things aren't easy for Frances, whose husband left her for another woman.

This was an interesting and entertaining mystery that I enjoyed. I'd read more in this series.

Interesting start for a historical cozy mystery series. Note that the mystery in some ways takes a back seat to the relationship between Frances and Tom, who are both in bad marital situations and who come together to investigate a murder. 1929 was prime time for fascination with things like Robert Barnaby's "magic chair." Here, Linda, a naysayer, is the one who is found dead. Because Fran is invested in the Robert Barnaby Society, she takes on the effort to find the killer. What a nest of serpents the Society turns out to be. This doesn't always have the same 1929 atmospherics you might expect but it's a well written into to new characters. The mystery isn't too twisty. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm looking forward to the next one.

I had a hard time getting invested in this story. I did enjoy the mystery but wish it had been wrapped up a bit quicker.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishing for a digital galley of this novel.

One of the things I found interesting in this first novel in a new series is that there is no police presence in the book. The two main characters, Fran Black and Tom Dod, do all the investigating on their own with no help or hindrance from anyone in the official policing community. The story moves along at a rather sedate pace with Fran making many trips through the Dales on public transport busses to meet Tom (who does have an automobile) for investigations or meetings to compare notes. Luckily Fran is able to afford a telephone because that instrument is invaluable in keeping Tom and her friend, Mo, apprised of the progress of the investigations. Fran and Tom are members of the Robert Barnaby Society, a nationwide group established to honor the famous author of children's books. At the yearly conference one of the speakers goes missing before she can give a speech which had the potential to cause dissention among the membership. Now it seems that the Executive Committee of the society would prefer to have Linda Dexter's death be quietly ruled a suicide so that no hint of scandal attaches to them. Fran and Tom see the possibility of more going on and decide to try to find the truth.

The time period of 1929 is a little hard to feel in this novel even after reading about Fran taking advantage of her first opportunity to vote for Prime Minister. The author does a good job of trying to keep the language true to the period but I did find myself reacting a few times to particular words or phrases. Not enough to ruin the book for me, just enough that I noticed. The author has also written the matrimonial situations for both lead characters in such a way that it is hard to see how they can remain sleuthing companions without involving themselves in personal problems. I hope there will be some way out for these two who are obviously attracted to each other and yet have two such unusual marriages. The pace of this novel is rather slow, but very thorough in revealing the facts uncovered by the two amateur sleuths. That very slowness is the reason the resolution of the crime struck me as so rushed and unsatisfactory. One level of the novel I really enjoyed was seeing the inner conflicts and positioning of the members of the Robert Barnaby Society. Those segments of the book rang very true and will be easily recognized by anyone who has ever been involved in a group of this type. The hint of a second book is pretty plainly stated at the end of this story so it probably won't be long before this investigating duo is back at work trying to find the truth behind their next mystery.

A fun start to a new mystery series with interesting, intelligent protagonists Francis Black and Tom Dod.
The story moves along a ago of pace but seems to get bogged down towards the middle and the ending seems a bit rushed but overall this was a fun read and I look forward to the next book in this series.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Well written and enjoyable cosy mystery, shall look out for more books from this author

This murder mystery, set in 1929, is centred around the Robert Barnaby Society, a collection of people who meet regularly to discuss the author's works. At one convention, one of the key speakers goes missing and it is up to her fellow committee members to find out what happened to her and why. Frances Black and Tom Dod step up to the challenge, but face problems from those who wish to preserve the author's legacy at any cost. It becomes clear that they can not trust anyone and that their investigations have put them into the path of danger themselves.

I really enjoyed this historical murder mystery - it was well-paced and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading (and guessing!) Every time I thought I had solved it, something changed and I was back to square one. The two main characters, Frances and Tom, were appealing and there was a lovely secondary plot line about their developing relationship.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys fairly cosy historical crime novels. There's plenty to keep you reading and the promise of more to come if this, as it would appear, is to be the first of a series.

Diane Janes has created two very likable amateur sleuths who would be promising characters for a tv mini-series. I loved the premise of the book and its period setting, but found the writing a bit lackluster. She paves a path for a continuing partnership of her two protagonists and I hope that future books in the series will have a bit more sparkle.

I found the lonely afternoons with a cup of tea, and evenings with a few gins (and the cat) a bit tedious after a while---but the prospective partnership with a charming male friend might add the needed sizzle to this potential series.

Netgalley provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House for a review copy of The Magic Chair Murder, the first novel in a projected series to feature amateur sleuths Frances Black and Tom Dod, set in Cumbria in 1928.

Fran and Tom are newly elected committee members of the Robert Barnaby Society, a society dedicated to the work of said children's poet and are attending their first annual conference in this role when one of the keynote speakers, Linda Dexter, disappears before she can make some controversial claims about the eponymous magic chair, the apparent source of Barnaby's inspiration. When her body is found on a remote train track close to where her car burned out the police are quick to suspect suicide despite there being nothing in Linda's demeanour that night to suggest it. Fran and Tom think it was murder and in the course of their investigation uncover many secrets others would prefer to keep hidden.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Magic Chair Murder which is a good start to the series. The plotting could be a bit tighter as I constantly felt that I was ahead of the game, reading the clues better than Tom and Fran, but I don't feel that it really matters as there is so much going on the novel still held my attention. Who knew one unassuming woman could have so many potential enemies and that the reason for it would be so compelling? In between this Linda tangled in a serious way with the leading lights of the society. I found the portrayal of the petty jealousies, rivalries and characters in this society very apt, to the point and extremely amusing - there's nothing as cutthroat as inconsequential vanities and causes.

I found the period detail and sensibilities rather inconsistent but again the mild humour overcomes it. Fran is not a war widow as are so many women of her generation, instead she is in limbo because her husband has left her and the shame of a divorce would kill her mother which means she can't give her cheating husband the ammunition of a new partner to divorce her. This is a shame as she is strongly attracted to Tom Dod but with his own problems he is not free to act either. In many ways this conundrum is so totally alien to modern lifestyles that it is hard to believe and yet it caused a lot of heartache at the time. I'm not sure how convincing the situation is in the novel is because it is surrounded by modern speech and a certain freedom which would not have existed at the time.

The Magic Chair Mystery is a light hearted read with a convoluted plot which held my interest throughout and has interested me in reading more so I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.