Continental Riff

Another good addition to this interesting story.
I found it well written, entertaining and engrossing.
I was happy to catch up with the characters and the story kept my attention till the end.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Europe Beckons....
The third in the delightful Stockwell Park Orchestra series and a European tour beckons. Needless to say not all goes completely to plan. With a wholly likeable, colourful and entertaining cast of characters, written with wit and often farcical humour, this is another enjoyable, warm read and a worthy addition to the series.

Quite an entertaining pleasant story of the goings on that occur between the members of an orchestra and their relationships, and the shindigs of what they get up to between concerts to relax. Provides an insight to the timing and discipline required from the various sections that results in a successful performance and the hard work behind the scenes to ensure a successful tour.

Who doesn't love the Stockwell Park Orchestra! Book 3 is as good as the 1st two. This time on an European tour with some guest musicians. A gentle story with believable characters.

Continental Riff is the third instalment in The Stockwell Park Orchestra Mystery series, set in and around Europe. The series follows the misadventures of an amateur south London orchestra. In Continental Riff, the orchestra will go on a week-long continental European tour. The orchestra leaves London and are thrown into a Bruckner festival in Cologne, via Bruges and Amsterdam. Nobody who has toured with brass players will be surprised at anything. The world that Isabel Rogers evinces so warmly is one that we’ve all simply overlooked. The hotbed world of classical music! Who knew? We meet Alexander Leakey, the brilliant French horn player who reminds everyone of Chris Hemsworth. Eliot is conducting, Mrs Ford-Hughes drops in, and there are extra Wagner tuba players and shenanigans. One week, three cities, four separate vehicles. What could possibly go wrong?

This is a captivating, engaging and thoroughly original cosy mystery with bags of charm, and I found the orchestra's escapades fun and entertaining from the beginning. Amongst the trials and tribulations they face, we are treated to a cast of characters who come alive on the page and for whom I have a soft spot for; each character is believable and relatable. It's sharply observed with a decent dollop of wit and playfulness, and I found the narrative rich in detail and both enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining. If you loved the previous two books in the series then you are in for another treat featuring this ragtag crew of musicians just plying their trade and getting into all sorts of kerfuffles in the process. It is the perfect escape from our real-world issues with its genuinely cosy atmosphere. A warm, comforting and often farcical read I highly recommend.

Continental Riff is the third book in the Stockwell Park Orchestra cozy series by Isabel Rogers. Released 14th Jan 2021 by Farrago, it's 288 pages (print edition) and available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is such a comfortably written and engaging cozy series. It's a "slice-of-life" story written simply and appealingly, with well developed characters who go about their daily lives and interact with the sometimes inexplicable world in which we all live. There are a lot of behind the scenes from the daily life of a not-quite-famous classical orchestral performer.

I was a woodwind player for many years and kept up with orchestra performance through university level. This was a nostalgic revisit of those years for me and brought back so many fun memories. The author is clearly musically educated and the book is redolent with affectionate scenes from rehearsals and performances, as well as comments about the music itself.

I haven't read either of the previous books, and had no trouble following the plot. I intend to remedy the situation as soon as possible. This book is gently meandering, 100% character driven, engaging and I would heartily recommend it to fans of daily-life series (like small town cozies). Language, spelling, and slang are British English, but won't pose a problem for anyone in context. There is some rough language (the "f-bomb" for example) but nothing truly egregious.

Four stars. I really enjoyed this one.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.