There are few things more reassuringly British than a village fête.
Bunting flaps between trees, homemade cakes sag gently beneath plastic covers, someone is taking the jam competition far too seriously, and the village dog has somehow found the refreshment tent despite being specifically told not to.
In Bramblewick, however, village fêtes have one additional attraction.
Murder.
The Body at the Village Fête is Book Two in The Bramblewick Bookshop Mysteries, returning readers to the picturesque Cotswold village where secrets travel faster than the parish newsletter and practically everyone knows considerably more than they are prepared to admit.
Welcome Back to Bramblewick
Clara Bellamy had hoped that owning a second-hand bookshop would provide a peaceful new chapter in her life.
She has already discovered otherwise.
After the events surrounding The Murder at Bramblewick Bookshop, Clara is determined to concentrate on running The Crooked Bookmark, selling books, drinking tea and avoiding further involvement with suspicious deaths.
Unfortunately, Bramblewick has other ideas.
Summer has arrived, bringing with it the annual Bramblewick Village Fête: flower displays, cake stalls, preserves, second-hand books, competitive gardening and the sort of cheerful local rivalry that has apparently been simmering since the reign of Queen Victoria.
Clara agrees to run the fête's second-hand book stall.
What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, as it happens.
A Very Competitive Village Fête
At the centre of the festivities is the prestigious Bramblewick Rose Cup, an award that inspires levels of competitiveness normally associated with international sport.
Two rival gardening societies are determined to win.
Presiding over the judging is Sir Julian Marlowe, celebrated horticultural expert, former television personality and a man apparently incapable of offering an opinion without insulting somebody.
Julian may be charming when the cameras are watching, but away from them he has accumulated grudges with remarkable efficiency.
Before lunch, he has criticised half the exhibits.
By early afternoon, he has offended most of the serious gardeners in Bramblewick.
And before the fête is over, somebody has decided that Sir Julian's judging career should come to a very permanent conclusion.
Clara Bellamy Would Prefer Not to Investigate
Clara has absolutely no intention of becoming involved.
She tells herself this repeatedly.
Unfortunately, Clara has an inconvenient habit of noticing things.
A conversation that stops when she approaches.
A flower display that has been moved.
A missing entry card.
A suspicious disagreement behind the produce tent.
And several villagers who suddenly seem remarkably keen to explain exactly where they were when Sir Julian died.
The police have their own investigation.
Clara has questions.
And in Bramblewick, questions have an unfortunate tendency to produce even more questions.
Mabel Finch Is Also Involved
Naturally, Clara is not investigating alone.
Mabel Finch has entered the preserves competition while loudly insisting that she does not care whether she wins.
Nobody believes her.
Mabel also possesses an unrivalled knowledge of village gossip, although she strongly objects to the word gossip and prefers to describe it as being properly informed.
Meanwhile, Tom Arkwright is helping with tea and cakes.
And Monty has already been banned from the refreshment tent following an unfortunate encounter involving several sausage rolls.
All perfectly normal for Bramblewick.
Apart from the corpse.
A Cosy Mystery With Plenty of British Humour
The Body at the Village Fête combines the traditional pleasures of the British cosy mystery with a generous helping of village eccentricity.
Expect suspicious gardeners, competitive preserves, old grudges, missing clues, cups of tea, second-hand books and entirely too many people who insist they have nothing whatsoever to hide.
The mystery sits at the centre of the story, but Bramblewick itself is just as important.
This is a village filled with people who argue, interfere, speculate and occasionally drive one another completely mad — yet somehow still turn up when somebody needs help.
That mixture of mystery, humour and community lies at the heart of The Bramblewick Bookshop Mysteries.
For Readers Who Like Their Murder With Tea
If you enjoy traditional British cosy mysteries, eccentric village characters, amateur sleuths, bookshops and mysteries where the clues matter as much as the body count, The Body at the Village Fête should feel comfortably familiar.
Well, almost comfortably.
There is still the small matter of the murder.
Clara Bellamy once again finds herself trying to discover the truth while half the village appears determined to hinder, help or accidentally complicate the investigation.
Because in Bramblewick, everybody knows everybody.
Almost nobody knows the whole truth.
And somebody at the village fête has committed murder.
Comments
Post a Comment