From the blurb this sounded to be just my kind of thing, but I found it impossible to get into. It was somehow flat for me. Not what I expected at all.

While I absolutely loved Barbara Cleverly's A Spider In A Cup, I simply could not finish Invitation to Die. The beautiful cover and the Cambridge setting (in 1923), had me hooked, but I found that the story was slow to start and I didn't feel like I really go to know the characters. The descriptions and details were often a little too long-winded for me, but I will certainly watch for the next book by this author.

It's 1924 and the Great War is over but no one knows quite what to do with the soldiers who came back, many of whom have seen conflict beyond what anyone has seen before. In Cambridge, one such soldier has been living on the streets. Well-known for being affable, Richard 'Dickie' Dunne is the latest man to be invited to dine with a group of Cambridge dons. It seems this group of six men enjoy feeding incredibly opulent meals those who they consider "less" (for a variety of reasons) and then slowly tearing them apart. But it's not just the dons who are at this meal, there is also a man with whom Dickie fought; one who shares a dangerous secret. And, at the end of the night, someone ends up dead.
This was very much modeled after mysteries actually written in the '20s - aka- it was very confusing to begin with, had a lot of references to Great Lit-er-a-chur, and lots of focus on the classes. Also, long-winded conversations that can make a person lose track of what, exactly, is going on in the book. I hadn't read the first book in the series but didn't feel like I was missing anything because of it. I did like the character development of Inspector Redfyre but didn't really connect with anyone else. Golden Age mystery fans will probably find this book quite entertaining but I'm not certain about others.

Three stars
This book came out August 6th
ARC kindly provided by Soho Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I tried to read this several times and each time wanted to throw it at the wall. Maybe it's the dialect. Maybe it's the era in which it's set. Whatever...not for me.

I couldn't get into this book. It's set in 1923 Cambridge, specifically in and around St. Jude's college. The writing style felt stilted and overly formal, and I wasn't taken in by the characters, Cambridge dons who are mostly odious. It was also hard to follow, perhaps because my mind kept wandering away from what I was reading. In short, I was bored. I love murder mysteries and books set in academia, but this one didn't do it for me. The Detective Inspector John Redfyre just wasn't compelling enough to keep me interested.

Inspector John Redfyre is back for his second investigation in Cambridge, England in the 1920s. The mysterious death of a tramp appears to connect with a university dinner club, as well as having links back to an incident during the Boer war. Cleverly's Inspector Redfyre books don't appeal to me as much as her Joe Sandilands' series did, but she does bring in intriguing historical details. This one was difficult to follow at times, jumping between various timeframes and settings. Still worthwhile for a vacation read. Review based on an ARC through NetGalley.