Moved to Murder is the first cozy (and debut novel) by Gianetta Murray to feature Vivien Brandt, an anglophile expat American living in England. Released 5th June 2024, it's 305 pages and is available in paperback 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.
This is an Anglophile American cozy with the usual ensemble cast of small town eccentric characters, ... and an unlikely amateur sleuth in the form of a perky, likeable, brash American (married to an Englishman and living in England). The story is character driven and the author has an affinity for descriptive prose.
For readers who are already comfortable with the spelling and vernacular differences between US and British English, the authors *constantly* referencing the differences (in the form of MC Vivien's internal monologue) will probably be somewhat annoying. It's certainly pervasive. The pacing is slow, but not unnecessarily so; the first murder appears at about 30% through the story.
The resolution and denouement are over-the-top (even for the genre), and there's quite a lot of posturing. Given the current political climate in the USA, it might be more believable if set there, but not so much in the UK.
There is no current publishing info available for book 2 in the series. Working title: Dug to Death.
Three and a half stars. Quite readable and engaging. The constant spelling references are intrusive. The author has included a handy reference guide at the end of the book for the references and name-drops throughout.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment