i liked the Lady in the Lake and I liked this one. This is another excellent and entertaining story that kept me reading.
There's plenty of humour, a complex plot, and I was glad to catch with the characters I already met in the previous books.
It's a gripping read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The intelligent and compulsively readable eighth addition to the Brighton Mystery series is a fast-paced, superbly plotted showcase of the author’s skill at not only weaving a thoroughly enticing yarn but also painting characters to rise to life on the page. Twisty, compelling and a damn good read. Highly recommended.

DI Sarah Gilchrist is not exactly enjoying her evening watching a theater performance. To herself, she's wishing she was anywhere but here. You know what they say .... be careful what you wish for. When a performer begins screaming, most thought this was part of the performance.

The large pool of blood startles one of the performers and he falls to his death from the stage. Behind the curtain, the body of the lead actress is found. She's been bludgeoned to death with a lead weight that is used for opening the curtain.

Another actress has caught the attention of a gangster who insists that she has his money. Does he mean the bags of money she found abandoned in a small lake on her property? How did she find it ... and how badly does the gangster want it back?

Gilchrist and DS Bellamy Heap begin their investigation by questioning all the performers. What they find is there are as many motives as there are people. The only one they will admit to having had problems with the deceased is the director of the play. But again, everyone disliked her.

This is a rather short read ... less than 200 pages ... but it's packed with suspense, a real who-dun-it. Many solidly defined characters rival the number of suspects ... many lie, many have secrets, but is one of them a killer?

Many thanks to the author / Canongate Books / Severn House / Netgalley for the digital copy of this mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Di Sarah Wright certainly didn't expect there to be a murder at the theater the night she decided to improve herself. Not just a murder but a death and then the discovery of other bad things. I'm not usually a fan of theater based mysteries but this one is well done and wraps in, of all things, Balkan bad guys. It's on the tip of a cozy rather than a procedural and thee's a humorous relationship between Wright and her DS Bellamy Heap. While the latest in a long running series, it's also a perfectly fine read as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Cause For Consternation....
The eighth in The Brighton Mystery series and the death of an actress during a stage play gives Gilchrist and Heap cause for consternation. Unsure as to whether this death is an accident or a deliberate killing, the investigation ensues. Engaging detective mystery with a well drawn and colourful cast of characters, suspects aplenty, a solid plot and a clever denouement. Entertaining reading.

A terrific new addition to the Brighton Mysteries Series, Butcher's Wood is a brilliantly penned and fiendishly plotted whodunit with lots of delicious dialogues and a few gruesome deeds committed among the cast of a struggling theater production. Thespians are getting bumped off, a director goes AWOL and even the Balkan mafia might be on the prowl or involved behind the scenes.... A rollicking foray into a complex and bloody case and the subsequent police investigation conducted with brio.and lots of verbal pyrotechnics by DI Sarah Gilchrist and DS Bellamy Heap, the unforgettable duo and genial crime fighters from Sussex....
An absolute fictional delight that deserves to be discovered and enjoyed without moderation from start to finish!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Canongate Books for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel prior to its release date

I would like to thank Netgalley and Severn House Publishers for an advance copy of Butcher’s Wood, the eighth novel in the Brighton Mystery series, featuring DI Sarah Gilchrist and DS Bellamy Heap.

Sarah Gilchrist is widening her knowledge by attending a play, which is cut short by the murder of one of the actors, Elvira Wright, and the ensuing accidental death of another. In the meantime former Hollywood actress, Nemue Grace, discovers something grisly in the aptly named Butcher’s Wood and worries that it is a message from the criminals who have recently taken an interest in her.

I have not read this series before, so I took advantage of being offered it and dived in. I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag with both good and bad points. It is always a bit of a gamble joining a mature series like this, but the story itself is self contained so that’s not an issue, the issue lies in the characters and their past exploits and relationships. This is not a problem with Gilchrist and Heap where everything is explained, but there are several other characters who have made previous appearances and appear to have unexplained connections.

I found at first that the novel did not hold my attention, not least because the whole schtick about Gilchrist knowing nothing about anything outside policing and Heap knowing everything is annoying, tedious and frankly unbelievable. At one point the reader gets the whole nine yards about lack of knowledge not being lack of intelligence, but, whatever, the whole thing makes no sense and is not the laugh fest I think it is intended to be. Despite this lack of knowledge crimes do get solved and towards the end and the resolution it started to hold my attention more.

I’m not really sure what Butcher’s Wood is supposed to be, but I assume comedy. There are some deft touches in amongst the heavy handedness, but it’s not for me.

The setting of this book in the context of theatre and the acting profession works well and gives the story an unusual attraction. Sarah Gilchrist and Bellamy Heap (he’s a man!) are the lead detectives and score well off each other giving the book humour in the midst of murder. An actress has been killed on stage in a very clever move. That limits the number of suspects but it is not the only murder in the group of actors. Readers do have to be prepared to work through a lot of information and description that is not essential to the story but it is well written. There are many larger than life characters all of whom add flavour to the story. I recommend it.