A review by ljwrites85
Calamity in Camberwell by Alice Castle

4.0

(rounded up from 3.5)

We are back with Beth in the third instalment of London Murder Mystery series. I’m a huge fan of this series having read both Death in Dulwich and The Girl in the Gallery. I would recommend you read both or at least the previous book before you read Calamity in Camberwell because this does contain slight spoilers for The Girl in the Gallery.

After seeing her friend and fellow single mum Jen remarried after a particularly nasty divorce, Beth’s friends try to convince her to start dating again. But Beth is reluctant, as she feels something is off about Jen’s new marriage.

Her fears start to grow and Jen and her husband disappear. Unsure of what to do, she turns to DI York to help her.

Calamity In Camberwell has a different feel to it than the first two books, because it doesn’t involve Beth stumbling across a dead body or nearly dead body like in The Girl In The Gallery, instead it focuses a bit more on Beth, her life and her friendships.

Having read the previous novels, I feel like I know Beth so well now yet still I’m finding out new things about her, like more about her marriage to Ben’s dad (his name has escaped me as I’m writing this) who died eight years earlier.

The book is fast paced, well written and has a surprising twist at the end but I have to be honest I felt the mystery aspect of the book was overshadowed by Beth’s fears about her son’s new tutoring and Beth’s attempts at dating which was a shame.

I still massively enjoyed this book and I’m happy to see there will be at least two more in the pipeline, I can’t wait!