As it happened with many of us, I discovered the pleasure in reading during my teens with Agatha Christie's novels, so the "Murder Will Follow" series is a complete joy for me. In this third book in the series, retired Scotland Yard detective Jasper is in Venice where he has to solve the death of a woman, whose death he already investigated three years before in England. A dead body coming back from the dead three years later? Sign me up!

As usual, we have a pretty complex mystery with plenty of suspects, all of them hiding some secrets. I love the stories where the suspects are all reunited at the end so the detective can unveil the murderer, but in this instance I found it a bit too long, needing all my senses while reading to try to keep track of all the facts.

Absolutely satisfaying murder mystery in a beautiful setting (special mention to the beautiful cover) and with a main character that's fast becoming one of my favorite detectives in today's mystery fiction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canelo for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

This was a fun murder mystery that I didn’t know the answer to before the denouement - unusual for me.

At the beginning of the book (Chapters 1 and 2) there were too many characters introduced too quickly, with their stories and I just can’t keep track. However, once I started on Chapter 3, it all seemed to come together and make sense.

I found the final scene going around accusing each person in turn a little tedious. Other than this scene, the story held my attention throughout, though I disliked pretty much all the characters. There were just too many dark secrets and people with ill intent for my personal taste, I like my murder mysteries a little fluffier!

Overall, this is a solid and interesting murder mystery, just a little darker than my personal taste.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canelo for the ARC.
Well, I can understand the author stating her love for Agatha Christie - because this is identifiably A.C. I haven't read the previous 2 books in this series but this caused no problems.

Retired Scotland Yard Detective Jasper, now living on the Riviera, is visiting his friend Alessandro Vernassi, himself a top policeman in Venice. They attend a lavish masked ball hosted by Sir James Lovelane who prompts Jasper to recall that he had investigated the death of Sir James's daughter Olivia 3 years previously in England. Olivia was married to Lord Bantham. The death was ruled accidental - her car came off the road, hit a tree and caught fire. Her maid Agnes disappeared after apparently selling-off her mistress's jewels in London.

Lord Bantham has remarried and, with the new Lady Penelope Bantham, as well as Penelope's brother George Arundell, are attending the masked ball.

Leonardo Biancci is a young, talented violinist, tutored under the guardianship of Marcheti. They were both at the party at the Bentham estate the night before Olivia died - they are both at the masked ball. Leonardo is engaged to an older widow, Giulieta Calvieri, whom he does not love, but is a convenient source of wealth for Marcheti.

Larissa Kenwood was Lady Olivia's friend but was spurned by Lord Bantham following Olivia's death, so she became friends with the new Lady Penelope to stay close to the Lord. She's also attending the masked ball.

There we have the main characters (Oh! not forgetting Jasper's dog, Red).
On the strike of midnight the unmasking takes place; on a balcony above the ballroom the (dead) Lady Olivia Bantham appears, in a red flamenco dress she wore 3 years previously at the party in England.
Chaos ensues. Sir James asks Jasper to investigate the meaning of the appearance - she's dead, it couldn't be her, except the next morning her body is found on a bridge spanning the canal where she had been stabbed.

Why did Olivia decide to make her appearance from the dead, now? Who was in the car crash? Who has to gain from all this?

Jasper is dogged by memories of not investigating the original car crash in any real depth and, with all the main players now in Venice, he's determined to find out what's going on, despite not being able to access any local law enforcement support.

This is a rather complicated plot in true A.C. style, however, I did find the narrative to be rather drawn-out and at times repetitive, and felt like saying 'please, just get on with it'.
3.5 stars really.
Still a good, absorbing read.