A Seaside Murder is the second cozy mystery featuring amateur sleuth and retiree Sarah Vane by Alice Castle. Released 5th Sept. 2024 by Bookouture, it's 286 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, it's currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The other 2 books in the series are also available on KU.
This is a nicely engaging village cozy featuring a retired GP as an amateur sleuth. She's recently widowed and has moved to a new place to make a new start near her quite eccentric friend. Despite being chalk and cheese, they're good together, and it's heartwarming to read about their genuine friendship and how they get on together despite being utterly different.
The village is full of oddball eccentric characters and the "whodunit" part of the book is well constructed and satisfying to figure out. Although it's the second book in the series, it works well enough as a standalone; the author provides the necessary background without bogging readers down or drowning them in details.
The actual solution to the murder was a bit over the top, but not completely heinous for the genre. The language is very clean, nothing worse than an occasional "damn" and no graphic violence or sexual content.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours, 14 minutes and is capably read by series narrator Jilly Bond. She has an -excellent-
command of modulation and accents and she delineates each of the
characters well, with varying regional accents and of a wide range of
ages and both sexes. She does a great job with the read. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.
The plot, denouement, and resolution are self contained in this volume, but there's a short excerpt from book 3 included at the end of the book. With 3 books in the series extant at this point, it would make a great choice for a binge/buddy read.
Four stars for the mystery itself, a strong 5 stars for the narration and audiobook.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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