Calamity in Camberwell

(The London Murder Mysteries Book 3)

by Alice Castle

Goodreads

Amazon US/ UK  / B&N

Beth Haldane, SE21’s answer to Miss Marple, worries she is losing a kindred spirit when her friend Jen, the only other single mum in the playground, suddenly gets married and moves to Camberwell.

Soon Beth has to face much more pressing fears. Has something gone horribly wrong with Jen’s marriage? What is her husband really up to? Why is her daughter leading Beth’s son astray? And where on earth IS Jen anyway?

As Beth’s friends push her to start dating again, Beth turns to Met Police DI Harry York for help. But will they solve the mystery in time, or will it turn out that in south-east London, not everyone gets to live happily ever after?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

To onlookers, her long fringe, sturdy build, and diminutive stature might say adorable little Shetland pony, but inside, Ben’s exams made her feel like an overbred dressage horse, nostrils flaring, quivering with nerves before going into the ring to do utterly impossible things with her hooves.

 

Puberty was lurking round the corner, like the bad fairy at the Christening. It would change her soft-skinned, gorgeous boy, with his luxuriant eyelashes and ready smile, into a gangling, bristly, spotty giant that she would scarcely recognise or want to acknowledge.

 

‘What happened? Not a pervert? What was he, a boob man?’ Sam leaned in to get all the details. ‘Toe sucker?’ said Lily understandingly.

 

Oh come on, don’t you recognise Ryan Gosling when you see him? Someone’s just using his picture. You can bet he looks nothing like that at all.

 

‘I should go to the movies more. The only things I see now are superhero films with Ben. He’s ten… I don’t think I’ve seen a man who isn’t wearing a mask and a Lycra bodysuit for years.’ ‘Well, you can probably find loads just like that on Tinder,’ said Sam.

 

What do you call it when you’ve had déjà vu twice? Déjà vu-vu? Or déjà déjà vu?

 

 My Review:

I have become quite a fan of Ms. Castle’s wry and sardonic humor and cleverly amusing depictions of her characters’ appearance, temperament, and contemplations. Her vivid and evocative descriptions never failed to call forth keenly sharp and smirk-inducing visuals. This installment had a lighter tone than the first two volumes as the focus was not on solving a murder (until much later in the book) but rather on the characters themselves.

Widowed for eight years, Beth felt under pressure from her friends and co-workers to return to the social minefield of dating. Her colleagues even introduced her to Tinder – oh my. And being a world-class procrastinator, Beth did what she did best – she dithered and ruminated – over everything. I adored the little pixie boot-wearing sprite but there were times I wanted to give her a good pinch, or ten.

My curiosity was quickly piqued and remained alert to something rather foul and troublesome occurring in the home of her friend Jen, although the discovery of what exactly was always thwarted by Beth’s scatty dithering. I was beginning to despair that the wily author had forgotten to include my favorite Detective Inspector, the Inscrutable Harry York, although he was just busy elsewhere until midway through the book. I look forward to more pairings and hopefully sparks flying for this somewhat recalcitrant duo in future installment as I am totally grooving on this author’s lush word skills. My latest extra fun bonus word addition to my Brit List was “goolies,” which are those rather useless appendages that my coy and genteel Grandmother called the family jewels, but of course, only when absolutely necessary.

Author Bio –

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks.

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, Canada, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, will be published this summer, with Homicide in Herne Hill due to follow in early 2019. Alice is currently working on the fifth London Murder Mystery adventure. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary?lang=en

Links to buy books: MyBook.to/GirlintheGallery

myBook.to/1DeathinDulwich

myBook.to/HotChocolate

She lives in south London and is married with two children, two step-children and two cats.

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