This is the first book in a new series. Overall, I enjoyed this book, it helped fill my British mystery gap while waiting for the new season of Midsomer Murders. I enjoyed all of the little literary references and many of the characters were well-written and memorable. At time the plot didn't move as quickly as it could have and I would have liked the female characters to be a bit more developed. I look forward to seeing what crime Francis Meadowes happens upon in his next mystery.

If you go into this book expecting it to be ridiculous, then you'll probably come out with a higher star rating than I'm affording it. It's not that it's bad. Some of it I enjoyed. But it just fell on too many points for me.
1. The female characters. They're really not great. And the male characters' reactions to them & treatment of them is also not great.
2. The writer turned detective - I sort of liked Francis, but honestly, there is no way any detective would give so much information, or access, to a bumbling crime writer. Every time he received any news I rolled my eyes.
3. Plot. It's okay, but there are too many red herrings. And the finale is very Hercule Poirot. I guess it's meant to be, but still, Hercule is better.

If you're just looking for a light & easy crime story then go for it, but if you like a little more depth to your investigations, look elsewhere.

This wasn't for me--it started out too slowly, and I just wasn't engaged with the characters or subject matter. But hardcore cozy mystery fans who are more patient readers than I am might love it, so I would recommend it to those who fit that description.

This <i>COULD</i> have been such a great book. It really could have. Alas, it was not.
It starts out very slow, at a Literary Festival [think The Hay on Wye Literary Festival] where you have an aging, cynical, not-so-nice, harsh literary critic, who is about to drop a bombshell, along with his MUCH younger "new" girlfriend {not his open marriage "wife" or the girlfriend he has on the side when he is with her <--are you confused and lost yet? You should be} and an entourage of some pretty crazy characters, and you wonder just what is going on. Enter a middle aged writer, who has known some minor success [and is a speaker at said literary festival], who just <i>HAPPENS</i> to be "at the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time" when the murder occurs. And literally, one paragraph later, I knew who the killer was. And fast forward 4 chapters and I knew why. Fast forward to the end [and it takes a V E R Y long time to get there] and I was right. 100%. THAT is how transparent this writing is. Along with long. And sometimes, tedious.
There were moments, in the middle, when the "investigation" by Mr. Meadowes was just starting, that it was actually fairly interesting. And then, it goes into overdrive and falls flat. The author just tries to cram W A Y to much into this book [did we really NEED that many obvious red herrings? I think no] and it just bogs down as it moves forward. And I really think that the end is rather ridiculous. It was so trying to be a Hercule Poirot ending, but he was a "true detective" and the character of Francis Meadowes is just a writer, writing about a detective. I seriously doubt the DCI would have let him do what he does. SO. MANY. EYEROLLS.
So, what could have been a good read/book, turns out to be just a meh, mediocre book that anyone who has read any amount of mysteries will figure out fairly quickly and then have to suffer through a whole lot of nonsense to see if they are right [chances are, you are correct and you may be smart and skip to the end - I wish I had].

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Thorn Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An unlikeable literary critic is murdered at a festival. Who better to solve the mystery of who - than a mystery book writer?

It's a mystery book about mystery writers at a mystery convention. It's a cozy mystery!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is Mark McCrum's debut mystery novel. The setting of the mystery is a literary convention and begins with Bryce Peabody, a book critic, who is about to go to hear Dan Dickson read from his new novel. Mr. Peabody had written a brutal review of the novel. The main character, Francis Meadows, writes crime novels. After Mr. Peabody is found dead in his room, Francis decides to investigate Bryce's possible murder. As Francis goes around talking to fellow writers, he learns that there are many people who wants Bryce dead. One more murder makes the police look at Bryce's death as a murder.

This mystery keep me guessing as Mr. McCrum did a good job of throwing in a couple of red herrings. This novel is well-written, and the characters were very believable. I highly recommend this debut novel, and I hope Mr. McCrum will make this into a series of mysteries featuring Francis Meadows.

Really enjoyed the who donit aspect of the story! Didn’t know it was part of a series but warmed to the main character!
Would be good to see a few more mysteries too

A good story with description and background for all characters involved in the plot, a well written read that does not confuse with lots of minor plots

Really liked this book - a knowingly Christie style tale. The protagonist, Francis Meadowes is likeable and I reckon there is more than enough to carry this series over a few more investigations!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I loved the fact that this mystery was set at an English literary festival. What better place to have a mysterious death and investigation. My only problem is that I prefer to have the police as the main investigators, instead of a mystery book writer, as is the case here.

When an unfriendly book critic turns up dead, the police and the main character start the process to determine if it was from natural causes or an intentional murder. It is questionable, until a second person is found dead. The story follows the mystery book writer/amateur detective as he interviews everyone who is either a suspect or a possible source of information. Seemingly, he can discover information that the police are not able to get from the other festival attendees. The twist at the end is fairly expected, as he gathers everyone (including police) to point out the killer.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Black Thorne, in return for an honest review. I enjoyed the premise of this book and the fun that the author had with all the names, like the town’s name of ‘Mold-on-Wold’. At the annual literary festival, the big name is Bryce Peabody, professional critic. Accompanied by his new (and much, much younger) girlfriend, he continues his scathing reviews in person, as well as by publication. Then Bryce turns up dead. True crime author, Francis Meadowes, who happens to be just down the hall when Bryce is discovered, decides to investigate as research. There’s a huge list of suspects and no clear cause of death. When a second death, and obviously murder, occurs, Francis digs even deeper. I enjoyed the story. The characters were clearly written so no problems in keeping them straight. The logic for the murder is also clear, when finally detailed. A few things are a bit stretched – a young woman ends up sharing Francis’ room with him, for example. Is this because there’s no other lodging in the area because of the festival? If I were her, I wouldn’t stay in the hotel room of a man I just met, particularly nowadays. There are lots of references to Francis being black, which wasn’t germane to the story and threw me a bit. Still, I liked Francis and would enjoy reading more of his adventures.

I'd read another book by Mark McCrum ('Cruising to Murder'), not realising that I was reading them out of order. This book, I think, is the first to feature crime writer and amateur detective Francis Meadowes. However, I don't think the sequencing matters really - this can be read as a standalone book.

This novel is about the death of a journalist and critic at a literary festival in Mold. It's populated with a range of eccentric writer types, festival organisers, jealous exes and journalists. What looks initially like a natural death comes under close scrutiny when Francis Meadowes gets involved.

The plot and characters are fine, but there are some weird features that make this book a bit of an odd read. Firstly, why do people (including the police) talk to a random crime writer who asks nosy questions? Why does the deceased journalist's girlfriend end up staying in Frances' room? Are there no other hotel rooms in all of north Wales free? It's mentioned that Frances is black a lot, but what has that got to do with the plot? I found myself getting quite distracted and didn't find the story that convincing.

This is an easy read and quite enjoyable if you can suspend disbelief. The festival setting is quite unusual and interesting, but it's a cosy crime novel - nothing more, nothing less.

A bland book which could not keep my attention. Not as expected -did not live up to the blurb provided.

amateur-sleuth, England, murder, murder-investigation

The middle aged critic was not well loved, especially by his women, but there was no evident reason for him to be murdered. If it was a murder. The second death was assuredly murder but, again, where was the motive? The mystery writer becomes his own chief character and potters around investigating in his own way. While it does get a bit draggy occasionally, it's still a good whodunit!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Black Thorn via NetGalley. Thank you!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I quite enjoyed this, I suppose. It dragged occasionally, but did a good job of setting up the various characters so you remembered who they each were and what their backstory was. The identity of the murderer was satisfactory and clued enough for the reader to have their suspicions.

On the other hand, the author didn't really address why the various suspects were happy to answer Francis' questions, or why the police were so happy to work with him. That was just how it was. The closing Poirot-type scene was ponderous and went on too long and was a bit of a precis of the entire novel, where Francis basically betrayed the trust of every one he had spoken to and revealed all their secrets to each other.

(While referring to Agatha Christie, surely the revelation of the plot twist in a certain one of her novels is a serious literary no-no...)

It was a little odd that many of the referenced speakers at the festival were actual real-life authors (spoiler: Alan Titchmarsh was not the murderer!)