Murder for Good

​This is a "cosy" mystery story about what happens when good intentions come up against an individual who is either just psychologically disturbed or is very artful with their own evil agenda hidden behind a mask. 

Ellie Quicke is married to Thomas, a retired minister. Both of them become alarmed and suspicious when Thomas starts receiving a series of bequests from deceased people he barely knew. Ellie investigates to see if there is some link that ties them together. 

Meanwhile, Ellie has another problem with a homeless woman, Hetty, whom she has taken in only to realise she forebodes serious trouble (not least her terrible cooking, hence the reference to a pie on the book's cover). And then there's the truly awful Diana, Ellie's daughter, who starts making onerous demands for money. Ellie has some difficult, even dangerous, issues ahead of her.

When an author is new to me, I prefer not to know anything about them until after I have read their book. Since reading this title, I've discovered Veronica Heley is multi-published and Murder for Good is the 20th in a series featuring an older woman sleuth. This is a bit of a disadvantage as is the case with many such series you need to be up with the back story to really get a grip on the characters and their motivations.

That said, I still managed to enjoy this for its slightly quirky plot line and its human qualities, although there are unpleasant aspects too. I couldn't abide Ellie's daughter, Diana, and the way she terrorised her mother, so that ended up spoiling the book for me. Ellie struck me as a bit of a ditherer but being unfamiliar with all that she has been through previously, or why she tolerates receiving such treatment from her daughter, I never quite "got" her. I also thought the ending rather abrupt with no real comeuppance for the culprit.

An entertaining read with a lot of positives, but if that awful Diana features in all the other books in the Ellen Quicke  series it has put me off reading any others.

(With many thanks to NetGalley and Severn Books for the ARC)

Three stars

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