ljwrites85's review against another edition
4.0
It’s nice to be back with Beth and the residents of Dulwich, it’s a bit like visiting an old friend as this is the sixth novel in the series.
This time Beth is asked to investigate the death of Alfie Pole, her high maintenance mum’s long suffering bridge partner. She’d convinced that it’s murder but Alfie was in his eighties, why would anyone want to kill of an old man?
I am already a huge fan of this series, they’re fun, quick reads with great characters that I just love catching up with.
Poor Beth, she thinks her life is going to plan, good job, dishy detective boyfriend and her son Ben is finally attending the much sought after Wyatt’s school. Then she has to deal with her mum! You can tell that Beth loves her but her selfishness and old before her time attitude is hard for her to deal with. I completely understood Beth’s frustrations, you’d have to have the patience of a saint to deal with her mother!
There’s also some nice character development in this novel, we also find out a little bit more about Beth’s past and why her relationship with her mother is quite so fraught. It also sets it up nicely for the next novel in the series.
I did feel a little confused by the killer reveal, it felt a little out of the blue but that’s just a small thing.
The body in Belair park is a humorous and fun cosy mystery that you can really lose yourself in for a few hours.
This time Beth is asked to investigate the death of Alfie Pole, her high maintenance mum’s long suffering bridge partner. She’d convinced that it’s murder but Alfie was in his eighties, why would anyone want to kill of an old man?
I am already a huge fan of this series, they’re fun, quick reads with great characters that I just love catching up with.
Poor Beth, she thinks her life is going to plan, good job, dishy detective boyfriend and her son Ben is finally attending the much sought after Wyatt’s school. Then she has to deal with her mum! You can tell that Beth loves her but her selfishness and old before her time attitude is hard for her to deal with. I completely understood Beth’s frustrations, you’d have to have the patience of a saint to deal with her mother!
There’s also some nice character development in this novel, we also find out a little bit more about Beth’s past and why her relationship with her mother is quite so fraught. It also sets it up nicely for the next novel in the series.
I did feel a little confused by the killer reveal, it felt a little out of the blue but that’s just a small thing.
The body in Belair park is a humorous and fun cosy mystery that you can really lose yourself in for a few hours.
stephbookshine's review against another edition
4.0
*I received a free ARC of this book with thanks to the author and Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources blog tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Beth (and Ben, Harry, Katie and Colin) is back, and still doing her bit to make Dulwich safer, although she should really be doing her Wyatt project instead!
With things a bit more settled in her personal life, it looks like Beth might finally get a bit of an easier ride for a while: her relationship with Harry York is chugging along undemandingly; Ben has fulfilled her parental dreams by getting into Wyatts; and work continues to demand little of her time or attention, whilst still paying her.
Of course, such serenity cannot continue in a cosy mystery and this time it is Beth’s mother who breezes in to ruin Beth’s peace and throw a corpse among the cards (not literally!). Beth’s mother, who may be one of the most exasperating women in the world. How Beth manages to keep her cool I will never know… practice I guess! Wendy believes her bridge partner has been murdered and demands Beth solve the ‘case’, whilst being as obstructive and obstreperous as possible.
This is the sixth book in this series of Dulwich-based cosy mysteries, but the story does stand alone. I would recommend reading the whole series, not just for the backstory and character development, but because they are very enjoyable reads: quick, fun, murder mysteries with some interesting sidelines into parenting issues, work dilemmas and financial struggles.
I really enjoyed this instalment of Beth’s sleuthing adventures and the direction that the series is taking, despite knowing nothing at all about bridge (the setting for the murder this time). I did find myself slightly confused towards the end of the story as Beth had an epiphany about the identity of the murder but then managed to withhold it from the reader for a good few chapters (I thought I had missed a bit!), but this just added to the surprise of the reveal, which led to some very interesting revelations about Beth’s family history!
Anyone looking for a quick, humorous UK cosy mystery series will enjoy the London Murder Mysteries series, and this is another great addition to the Dulwich files.
For a moment, she imagined a Dulwich in which everyone was colour-coded according to their income or ambitions. Belinda MacKenzie would be in gold, with go-faster stripes; Katie in sunny yellow. What would she be in? Probably the same dingy grey she was wearing now, she thought, looking down at her uniform of sweater, jeans, and boots. Time to turn her thoughts back to crime.
– Alice Castle, The Body in Belair Park
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/blog-tour-the-body-in-belair-park-alice-castle/
Beth (and Ben, Harry, Katie and Colin) is back, and still doing her bit to make Dulwich safer, although she should really be doing her Wyatt project instead!
With things a bit more settled in her personal life, it looks like Beth might finally get a bit of an easier ride for a while: her relationship with Harry York is chugging along undemandingly; Ben has fulfilled her parental dreams by getting into Wyatts; and work continues to demand little of her time or attention, whilst still paying her.
Of course, such serenity cannot continue in a cosy mystery and this time it is Beth’s mother who breezes in to ruin Beth’s peace and throw a corpse among the cards (not literally!). Beth’s mother, who may be one of the most exasperating women in the world. How Beth manages to keep her cool I will never know… practice I guess! Wendy believes her bridge partner has been murdered and demands Beth solve the ‘case’, whilst being as obstructive and obstreperous as possible.
This is the sixth book in this series of Dulwich-based cosy mysteries, but the story does stand alone. I would recommend reading the whole series, not just for the backstory and character development, but because they are very enjoyable reads: quick, fun, murder mysteries with some interesting sidelines into parenting issues, work dilemmas and financial struggles.
I really enjoyed this instalment of Beth’s sleuthing adventures and the direction that the series is taking, despite knowing nothing at all about bridge (the setting for the murder this time). I did find myself slightly confused towards the end of the story as Beth had an epiphany about the identity of the murder but then managed to withhold it from the reader for a good few chapters (I thought I had missed a bit!), but this just added to the surprise of the reveal, which led to some very interesting revelations about Beth’s family history!
Anyone looking for a quick, humorous UK cosy mystery series will enjoy the London Murder Mysteries series, and this is another great addition to the Dulwich files.
For a moment, she imagined a Dulwich in which everyone was colour-coded according to their income or ambitions. Belinda MacKenzie would be in gold, with go-faster stripes; Katie in sunny yellow. What would she be in? Probably the same dingy grey she was wearing now, she thought, looking down at her uniform of sweater, jeans, and boots. Time to turn her thoughts back to crime.
– Alice Castle, The Body in Belair Park
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/blog-tour-the-body-in-belair-park-alice-castle/
stephbookshine's review
4.0
*I received a free ARC of this book with thanks to the author and Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources blog tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Beth (and Ben, Harry, Katie and Colin) is back, and still doing her bit to make Dulwich safer, although she should really be doing her Wyatt project instead!
With things a bit more settled in her personal life, it looks like Beth might finally get a bit of an easier ride for a while: her relationship with Harry York is chugging along undemandingly; Ben has fulfilled her parental dreams by getting into Wyatts; and work continues to demand little of her time or attention, whilst still paying her.
Of course, such serenity cannot continue in a cosy mystery and this time it is Beth’s mother who breezes in to ruin Beth’s peace and throw a corpse among the cards (not literally!). Beth’s mother, who may be one of the most exasperating women in the world. How Beth manages to keep her cool I will never know… practice I guess! Wendy believes her bridge partner has been murdered and demands Beth solve the ‘case’, whilst being as obstructive and obstreperous as possible.
This is the sixth book in this series of Dulwich-based cosy mysteries, but the story does stand alone. I would recommend reading the whole series, not just for the backstory and character development, but because they are very enjoyable reads: quick, fun, murder mysteries with some interesting sidelines into parenting issues, work dilemmas and financial struggles.
I really enjoyed this instalment of Beth’s sleuthing adventures and the direction that the series is taking, despite knowing nothing at all about bridge (the setting for the murder this time). I did find myself slightly confused towards the end of the story as Beth had an epiphany about the identity of the murder but then managed to withhold it from the reader for a good few chapters (I thought I had missed a bit!), but this just added to the surprise of the reveal, which led to some very interesting revelations about Beth’s family history!
Anyone looking for a quick, humorous UK cosy mystery series will enjoy the London Murder Mysteries series, and this is another great addition to the Dulwich files.
For a moment, she imagined a Dulwich in which everyone was colour-coded according to their income or ambitions. Belinda MacKenzie would be in gold, with go-faster stripes; Katie in sunny yellow. What would she be in? Probably the same dingy grey she was wearing now, she thought, looking down at her uniform of sweater, jeans, and boots. Time to turn her thoughts back to crime.
– Alice Castle, The Body in Belair Park
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/blog-tour-the-body-in-belair-park-alice-castle/
Beth (and Ben, Harry, Katie and Colin) is back, and still doing her bit to make Dulwich safer, although she should really be doing her Wyatt project instead!
With things a bit more settled in her personal life, it looks like Beth might finally get a bit of an easier ride for a while: her relationship with Harry York is chugging along undemandingly; Ben has fulfilled her parental dreams by getting into Wyatts; and work continues to demand little of her time or attention, whilst still paying her.
Of course, such serenity cannot continue in a cosy mystery and this time it is Beth’s mother who breezes in to ruin Beth’s peace and throw a corpse among the cards (not literally!). Beth’s mother, who may be one of the most exasperating women in the world. How Beth manages to keep her cool I will never know… practice I guess! Wendy believes her bridge partner has been murdered and demands Beth solve the ‘case’, whilst being as obstructive and obstreperous as possible.
This is the sixth book in this series of Dulwich-based cosy mysteries, but the story does stand alone. I would recommend reading the whole series, not just for the backstory and character development, but because they are very enjoyable reads: quick, fun, murder mysteries with some interesting sidelines into parenting issues, work dilemmas and financial struggles.
I really enjoyed this instalment of Beth’s sleuthing adventures and the direction that the series is taking, despite knowing nothing at all about bridge (the setting for the murder this time). I did find myself slightly confused towards the end of the story as Beth had an epiphany about the identity of the murder but then managed to withhold it from the reader for a good few chapters (I thought I had missed a bit!), but this just added to the surprise of the reveal, which led to some very interesting revelations about Beth’s family history!
Anyone looking for a quick, humorous UK cosy mystery series will enjoy the London Murder Mysteries series, and this is another great addition to the Dulwich files.
For a moment, she imagined a Dulwich in which everyone was colour-coded according to their income or ambitions. Belinda MacKenzie would be in gold, with go-faster stripes; Katie in sunny yellow. What would she be in? Probably the same dingy grey she was wearing now, she thought, looking down at her uniform of sweater, jeans, and boots. Time to turn her thoughts back to crime.
– Alice Castle, The Body in Belair Park
Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog
https://bookshineandreadbows.wordpress.com/2019/07/01/blog-tour-the-body-in-belair-park-alice-castle/
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