This was a fun read. Lots of introductory chapters, where we meet at the various characters and learn about the history of several families. Jackson Brodie is hired to find a painting that went missing the day an elderly woman died. Similar incidences have occured in the past - a trusted household employee made friends with the elderly scion of a family and then disappeared with a valuable painting. He meets up with Reggie Chase, now a police detective and also looking for a thief of art. Eventually they and several other characters from the village end up at a Murder Mystery at a huge and falling down house. The family is trying to make some money to make repairs to the home, but their show is put on the day of a blizzard and all of trapped by the snow and a killer. Lots of running around trying to stop the killer, while a very bad troop of actors is performing in the main part of the house. Really nice to meet up with Reggie and Jackson again.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this wonderful story.

Peppered with the author's signature dry (and often laugh-out-loud) humour, this is PI Jackson Brodie, former cop and always wise guy, at his most unflappable. Hired to track a stolen painting, lifted from a country estate by a mysterious woman who just may have many more crimes up her sleeve, Brodie is hot on the trail and not above calling in a favor or two from his not-really-so-unwilling and sometimes unofficial partner DC Reggie Chase.

The petite Reggie loves words, order, and following rules - all of which fall by the wayside as Jackson’s hands-on approach takes the pair into this swirling, complex, and yes, zany, cast of characters (as crazily textured as the best you will find in PG Wodehouse). Here we will meet, to name but a few: the Reverend Simon Cate, a long-time atheist hiding under his dog-collar, “almost handsome” with his “leonine hair” and love for furry animals; Major Ben Jennings, a sweetly vulnerable war-ravaged combat veteran suffering from PTSD, doing his best to keep a stiff upper lip, as per his savagely stoic mom, who is both hearty and heartless; and Lady Honoria Milton, lover of jigsaws, afternoon tea, and decorum, who remains surprisingly clear-eyed about her eccentric and (likely sociopathic) closest family members.

As the plot escalates, murder and mayhem (times two) are not far behind, as Jackson and Reggie work their way to closure on the actual crimes at hand, and also unexpectedly find themselves participating in a (fictional) murder-mystery weekend in Lady Milton’s stately manor.

A terrific read, which represents a more-than-welcome revisit with PI Jackson Brodie and DC Reggie Case, from an author, and a series, that absolutely never disappoints.

A great big thank you to the publishers, the author, and #Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
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I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was a very funny book, opening with Jackson and Reggie apparently participating in a murder mystery dinner party at a stately home, and then going back in time to recount how they got to this point. Jackson has been employed to recover a missing painting presumed stolen by its owner's carer and which is allegedly only of sentimental value. In his head Jackson refers to this painting as Woman with Weasel. Other chapters are from the perspective of Lady Milton, whose housekeeper has recently absconded with a valuable painting, and who can't understand why her son has insisted in turning most of their home into a hotel which hosts murder mysteries.

Lady Milton was a fabulous character, and then there was Simon, the vicar who no longer believes in God and who develops hysterical mutism, and Ben who is staying with his sister while he recovers from injuries sustained in the army. There were plenty of farcical scenes (in a good way) towards the end: Lady Milton treating Ben as her butler and him going along with it as it is easier was a particular favourite.

Highly recommended.

Not the best of the Jackson Brodie series (my vote goes to "When Will There Be Good News?"), largely due to a relative shortage of appearances by Mr. B himself. But Reggie Chase is back, which is good news indeed.

Great fun.

With thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for aproviding me with access to a digital ARC.