MoonglotexasKa’s Review:
The beautiful countryside of Cornwall was a great backdrop to this mystery. There was so much I didn’t know about the history and I really enjoyed how the WW2 history and the mystery wove together so beautifully. This thread kept me interested throughout (and improved my general knowledge) despite my working out the motive and the plot fairly early on. The ‘guest appearance’ by the local witch added another dimension to the story. Well done!
I definitely related more to this novel than I did to Book 2 in the series. And I enjoyed that one!
Jack’s struggle with his career as an author and the wrap up to this conundrum towards the end was a little surprising! I am wondering where this unlikely duo will get up to next.
It’s four stars!
Kel’s Review:
Flora and Jack are off together to Cornwall, Jack to write his book and Flora to research and relax, it should be a great time…until they stumble over a body at the home they have rented. Merryn Allingham has done it again in book three of this series, Murder at Primrose Cottage, the mystery is interesting and the characters are enjoyable!
With no one in the village having any idea why the victim was murder, Flora can’t resist starting to dig a little deeper. On the journey, there are fascinating historical tidbits built in from the war years and what followed. The time they spend in Cornwall allows them to bond to the neighbours and other villagers, seeing the friendships build and guessing who is and isn’t suspicious is such fun!
It is a delightful cosy mystery with twists and humour, I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward the next in the series! It’s a five out of five on the enJOYment scale and highly recommended!
We received complimentary copies of the book from Bookouture through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in these reviews are completely our own.
From the back cover:
Join Flora Steele – bookshop owner, bicycle-rider, daydreamer and amateur detective – in her quest to solve a brand-new murder mystery!
Cornwall, 1956: When Flora Steele sets off for a peaceful vacation with crime writer Jack Carrington in his little red Austin, the last thing she expects to find is a body at their pretty rental cottage!
Shocked by the discovery, inquisitive Flora joins forces with handsome Jack to find out how the poor man came to such an untimely end in the overgrown orchard of Primrose Cottage. They discover Roger Gifford was a man with plenty of friends and the villagers seem devastated by his sudden death…
So why was he murdered? And who has blood on their hands – his estranged wife Beatrice, his wayward younger brother Lionel, or the suspicious newcomer Mercy Dearlove?
The baffling case gets even more complicated when a second man is found dead and a set of puzzling clues lead them to an intriguing wartime mystery connected to Jack’s estranged father.
As old secrets emerge and Jack receives an unsettling letter, it seems the crime writer is in danger of a fate befitting his fictional characters. Will Flora be able to crack the case and save Jack? Or will this be one murder too many for Flora Steele?
