MoonglotexasOnce more, Mum and I have fallen in love with the same murder mystery series, this time by Katie Gayle! Her latest offering, “Death at the Gates” was most definitely a hit with us!
Kel’s Review:
I’ll admit, I wanted to strangle Pip in the first 25% of the book! Katie Gayle has written the characters SO well, I find myself chatting to them and thoroughly overly involved in their fictitious lives! Soon, Pip hits her stride and, with a mystery afoot, she is in fine form. The anecdotes had me chuckling throughout! Pip as a PE teacher is just marvellous and then there are the llamas, oh the llamas! I can’t help but think of this story every time I hear someone speak of them, it’s turned into a family joke!
The mystery is interesting and I congratulated myself on working it out before Pip and then squeaking at my kindle each time she didn’t talk to the “right” person. The book is full of great characters and I can’t wait to get back to them in the next one in the series.
If you love fun, cosy mysteries, get this one today! If you haven’t read the preceding two, you will want to when you’re done with this one! It’s a five out of five on the enJOYment scale and highly recommended!
Ka’s Review:
This is book three, and in my opinion the best to date, Well done Katie Gayle! There is always so much more going on than just the resolution of the murder and it means that I enjoy every page.
Some of the scenes were described in such a way that I wasn’t just smiling, I was laughing! Then there was just that one scene about the access ‘code’ I rolled my eyes and blushed just a little. No spoilers, but you will know what I mean when you read it.
I did have a strong sense of whodunnit and gave myself a high five when I was proved right. This did not detract at all from the overall story.
I really think that we move forward just a smidge on the romance front. Just how long can Pip keep the status quo? I’m really curious as to how long we’ll be kept hanging?
Looking forward to joining Pip on her next case. It’s going to be swell.
We received complimentary copies of the book from Bookouture through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in these reviews are completely our own.
From the back cover:
Hurlingham House school is a high-achiever’s heaven, full of happy, hard-working pupils. There’s just the small matter of the dead body on the field… Sounds like a case for Epiphany Bloom!
When Epiphany Bloom’s best friend’s sister Claire is accused of trading exam papers for money, Epiphany agrees to see Ms Peters, the headteacher of Claire’s fiercely competitive school, to provide moral support. Claire has always been a model student and is loudly protesting her innocence: surely it’s all just a misunderstanding.
But when Ms Peters hears about Epiphany’s previous sleuthing exploits, she enlists her help to track down the true culprit!
Taking a job as a PE teacher, Epiphany soon realises she has plenty of suspects for the exam scam mastermind. The broke young teacher with a shady past? The father willing to buy his daughter anything – including grades? The school governor desperate to keep Hurlingham House at the top of the ranks?
Then Epiphany finds one of them dead at the school fair, and it becomes clear someone is taking the cut-throat culture of the school too literally – and when mysterious accidents start happening around her too, it seems the killer knows she’s onto them.
Can Epiphany solve the murder as well as clearing Claire’s name, before she becomes the next victim? This is one test she can’t afford to fail…
A charming and totally addictive cozy mystery with a hilarious and warm-hearted heroine. A must-read for fans of M.C. Beaton, Lee Strauss and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.
