The Hurtwood Village Murders - Marius Quin Mystery #2

 

The Hurtwood Village Murders is the second book in Benedict Brown's Marius Quin historical cozy series. Released 22nd Feb 2024, it's 294 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The two other volumes in the series are also currently available on KU.

This is such a quirky fun cozy read. The characters are very well rendered, with witty dialogue and sparkling repartee and the author does a good job of the closed suspect pool mystery format. Oddball pair Marius and Lady Bella are back on the case when they arrive too late to save Marius' friend, and join forces with Inspector Lockwood, and Marius' intrepid hound Percy, to uncover the killer before more deaths occur.

Really humorous, well written, eminently readable. Pure golden age classic fun. Fans of Sayers, Allingham, and the others will likely find much to enjoy here. 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 28 minutes and is capably narrated by George Blagden. He has a classically trained, nuanced tenor voice and manages the varied accents without a stumble. His reading is pleasant to listen to an neutral enough not to be annoying or intrusive.Sound and production quality are high throughout the read. 

There are three books extant in the ongoing series. It would make an excellent series binge/buddy read. 

Four and a half stars. Well written and eminently entertaining. Highly recommended for fans of classic golden age British cozy crime with a definite dollop of P.G. Wodehouse at his irreverent best in the mix.