This is a confection of a book, with the village itself the character we grow to love. I listened to this in audio form, enjoying it greatly. But it means I do not recall all the characters' names. Berit, a woman of Swedish and British background is a semi-well known author with writers' block. Her agent "surprises" her with an assistant, nineteen year old Sally early on. Sally crushes on Nate, a local handyman. The town is abuzz because the heir apparent to a local estate owns and is pulling in loans on several buildings in town, threatening the very existence of several businesses. His aunt, who has a life estate in the estate and loves books has a library with a surprise feature that's fun to imagine. Some questionable people in Reginald's camp are interested. When his aunt holds a tea party at the estate no one has anything good to say about Reginald. And murders will out. The village has a wonderful cast of residents. Sima, the local councilwoman, brilliant, risk taking and out to save her town. A pair of older retired sisters who turn out to be quite the characters. The problem, of course, with writing about a mystery that is full of red herrings and nice little twists and turns is that we cannot give things away.

This mystery has been underrated. I agree it feels like a lovely Agatha Christie with very Swedish Berit taking a spin as a sleuth. It is all that was promised.

Seeking inspiration for her next novel, author Berit Gardner arrives in the eccentric village of Great Diddling. When an explosion rocks the community and a local man is found dead, Berit gets caught up in a real-life mystery. The villagers ingeniously transform the narrative, turning their sleepy village into a tourist destination with a book and murder festival. But can Berit identify the culprit before they kill again?

This magnificent book is so much more than a mystery. It’s the story of a village and the people living there, mostly well-meaning despite their faults and all the ways they’re broken. I didn’t want any of the characters to be the killer, but obviously, someone had to be. I loved the audiobook narration. I eagerly look forward to the next book in the series.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Until I checked to see what else Katarina Bivald has written, I'd forgotten I read her first novel, "Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend," when it first came out a decade ago. This is a similarly enjoyable book. It's a cozy-ish mystery with no romance, which is a nice change of pace from many series. Berit Gardner is a great main character, but her new assistant and DI Ian Ahmed were also fun to get to know.

Helen Lloyd was a good narrator for the story and I think I liked the book better on audio than I might have in print. Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't find it confusing when the story shifts from one character's perspective to another's. Because it was all done in close third-person, it was very clear what was going on. I also quite liked seeing Berit from the perspective of other characters.

Those who like a mystery with an endearing but not completely likeable main character (Agatha Raisin, for example), might be interested in this. I hope it becomes a series!

I recently read a really awesome novel called "The Murders in Great Diddling" that I think any book lover would enjoy. It's got everything from rare books and a book festival to an aspiring literary agent, a book collector, and an author on the hunt for her next story. The book includes references to both classic and modern literature, some of which are pretty funny. It felt like a cool mix of Agatha Christie and "Murder She Wrote." This is the first book in a series, and I thought it did a great job setting up the town and its characters, but it did get a little bogged down in extra details at times. Despite that, I really got to connect with the people and learn about their backgrounds, like the literary agent's big dreams. I'm definitely invested in this series now and can't wait for more books!

Also, I loved the narrator!

Thank you for this audiobook arc!

The cosiest of cosies - and a whole lot of fun! One of the best murder mysteries since Only Murders in the Building. Thanks to NetGalley for the great ARC/audiobook.

The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald is the first installment in her lovely cozy mystery series featuring the charming, but grumpy Berit Gardner. If you love English countryside village vibes, quirky characters, a crime unfolding over tea time, and books - this is the series for you. Cozy, subtle mystery with a realistic and fun cast of characters. Having lived in a small town with a village-like feel, I could relate to all of the ridiculous characters.

Like most small villages, the townsfolk have a bevy of creative attempts to attract tourists, and this vibrant cast harbors secrets giving page-turning tension.

Berit Gardner is a delightful character, and I eagerly anticipate following her adventures in the next book. I'm excited to share this author with my audience and can't wait for them to experience Bivald's enchanting storytelling. If you love books about books, pick up this series!

This was a nice, cozy little murder mystery that would be an amazing read on a rainy autumn day with a warm cup of tea. ☕️ I enjoyed the story overall, but I feel like I would’ve liked it more in a different setting—it's definitely not a summer read.

The book is set in a small village in the English countryside, filled with flawed and realistic residents. After an explosion, the residents of Great Diddling all become suspects in a murder. But there’s much more than just a killer being uncovered in this story. I loved that we got such a close view and background information on so many of the characters. It felt like being right there next to them, even though it got a bit confusing at times.

There were a lot of book references—the main character is a writer, there's a book and murder festival, a bookish scavenger hunt, and many other book-related activities. As a book lover myself, this was absolutely amusing.

I'm giving this book three stars right now because overall it was good, but it wasn't 100% up my alley. I think I might have found it more understandable if I had read the physical or ebook copy—even though the narrator was amazing, you need to give 100% of your attention to the audiobook to keep from getting lost in the story.

Thank you, NetGalley and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with this audiobook ARC! All opinions are my own.

I'll have to give my final review after reading the physical copy. I was getting a little lost as an audiobook, but maybe having the book in front of me will help.. Final review to come later.

Overall, was interested in the premise and excited to finish what I started.

Excellent narration of a book with many characters and a complex, entertaining plot. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the audiobook.

I listened to this on audio book and the narrator was quite lovely -- great British accent and good voices. The story was a basic one -- someone gets killed, everyone hated him, and a Swedish author who had just moved to the village helps figure it out. To be honest it was perfectly pleasant but a bit dull. I didn't find the village characters that interesting or quirky so it kind of plodded along. A very nice cozy but I was hoping for something a little more stimulating. Sorry!

This book looked to have everything I could want out of a cozy mystery read. There was a murder mystery but even better, it was a book about books. I loved the different ways that books were incorporated throughout the entire story from the author to book lovers to book collectors. That’s not all, though, there’s a book festival cobbled together in a short time frame. To be honest, at times, I forgot that this book was a murder mystery because there were so many tangents and back stories happening. I both enjoyed and struggled with this. I enjoyed it because of the love letter to book lovers feel; however, the mystery itself felt like an afterthought at times. Also, with all of the different direction the book went in, the pacing felt off and felt like it lost too much momentum at times. I will say, though, that the narrator for the audiobook was a delight and helped me to get through the story. Helen Lloyd was a superb choice to narrate this story and did well to get me invested in the different characters. If this book sounds up your alley, I would recommend reading it via audiobook.

Overall Rating: 3.5

Author Berit Gardner moves to a small village called Great Diddling. she's avoiding her publisher while she tries to write her next book. With a deadline looming, Berit finds herself wrapped up in murders happening in the village.

I enjoyed listening to the audiobook version of this book. I found the storyline intriguing and engaging. The story is told in multiple POVs, but because its an audiobook, there were times I found it hard to follow as the book jumped from POV to POV and there weren't many pauses in between to recognize moving to a different POV. I did find the book to be a bit of a slow burn, but otherwise, I found this book to be fun.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald is absolutely my kind of contemporary cozy mystery with just the right amount of comedy. Reading the book was so much fin and the audiobook was absolutely brilliant!

I will preface this review with the fact that my attention was grabbed immediately by the title (that made me cackle out loud), the cuppa on the cover (tea is my main food group) and an author I had not come across before. It started strong and it just got better and better

Berit Gardner is having a bit of a time, not least a crippling writers block which is most unhelpgul in her vocattion as an author. Berit decides to up sticks and find inspo in a little village in Cornwall which was the epitome of English country favourites. This includes the obligatory village fete (bunting, fairy cakes, vegetable growing competitions, you know the type) however, at this fete, there is an almighty explosion and a most unalived individual

Berit wanted inspo and it was not so much as given, but deluged. However, a new covation is in sight, that of amateur sleuth and Berit has at it with much gusto!

I loved this book, I was giggling away, intrigued, cheering and growling, all in equal measure. The wrtiting flow is chipper and interesting, the characters brilliantly defined and the dialogue inspired. Brilliant!

Thank you to Netgalley, Dreamscape Media, the author Katarina Bivald and narrator Helen Lloyd for this awesome ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own