Dying In The Wool: Book 1 in the Kate Shackleton mysteries (Kate Shackleton Mystery, #1)

by Frances Brody

The first mystery in the bestselling Kate Shackleton crime series! A Golden Age murder mystery set in 1920s Yorkshire, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T E Kinsey and Verity Bright.
Take one quiet Yorkshire Village, add a measure of mystery, a sprinkling of scandal and Kate Shackleton - amateur sleuth extraordinaire!

Bridgestead is a quiet village: a babbling brook, rolling hills and a working mill at its heart. Pretty and remote, nothing exceptional happens, except for the day when Joshua Braithwaite, goes missing in dramatic circumstances, never to be heard of again.

Now Joshua's daughter is getting married and wants one last attempt at finding her father. Has he run off with his mistress, or was he murdered for his mounting coffers?

Kate Shackleton has always loved solving puzzles. So who better to get to the bottom of Joshua's mysterious disappearance? But as Kate taps into the lives of the Bridgestead dwellers, she opens cracks that some would kill to keep closed . . .

Praise for Frances Brody:

'Frances Brody has made it to the top rank of crime writers' DAILY MAIL

'Brody's writing is like her central character Kate Shackleton: witty, acerbic and very, very perceptive' ANN CLEEVES

'Kate Shackleton is a splendid heroine' ANN GRANGER

'Delightful' PEOPLE'S FRIEND

'Brody's excellent mystery splendidly captures the conflicts and attitudes of the time with well-developed characters' RT BOOK REVIEWS

'Kate Shackleton joins Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs in a subgroup of young, female amateur detectives who survived and were matured by their wartime experiences' LITERARY REVIEW

• ISBN10: 0749941871
• ISBN13: 9780749941871
• Publish Date: 1 October 2009
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 11 March 2022
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

A while ago I read Death of an Avid Reader, the sixth book in the Kate Shackleton series. While I quite enjoyed that one, I never felt the particular need to pick up another in the series.

Last week, I noticed to my alarm that I had almost finished both books I brought with me on a trip. Imagine having to travel without reading material?! As this is obviously distressing, I made my way to the nearest book store immediately. The problem is, I wanted some light reading. And it seems as if the trend nowadays is very serious books. Books with difficult stories and heavy messages and bleak outcomes. Truly, not what I was in the mood for for my eight-hour train ride.

It took me over half an hour to find a suitably "light" book, and finally my eye fell on Dying in the Wool. It's a "cozy" mystery, in which people die but where the killer is always caught and the main characters are safe from harm. The mystery was what I was expecting - our sleuthing leading lady is called in by a friend to find her missing father. It was nice to see how Kate develops from helpful friend to professional private detective, and I find Ms Brody balances modern sentiment and historical attitudes very well. Kate is plucky, independent, and lovely, but her actions aren't anachronistic for the 1920s.

While I enjoyed Dying in the Wool, I did think the book didn't flow all that well during the first half. I'm not sure whether this is Ms Brody's debut novel, but it did read like one at times. Luckily, I already know that her writing much improves over the course of the next few novels. If I ever feel like a cozy mystery again, I'll pick up another Kate Shackleton.