The Murder at Redmire Hall (A Yorkshire Murder Mystery, #3)

by J. R. Ellis

An impossible murder behind a locked door. Can DCI Oldroyd find the key to the mystery?

Lord Redmire’s gambling habit has placed him in serious debt. Determined to salvage his fortune by putting Redmire Hall on the map, the aristocrat performs an impossible locked-door illusion on live TV. But as the cameras roll, his spectacular trick goes fatally wrong…

Special guest DCI Jim Oldroyd has a front-row seat, but in all his years with the West Riding Police he’s never witnessed anything like this. He sees Redmire disappear—and then reappear, dead, with a knife in his back.

As Oldroyd and DS Stephanie Johnson soon discover, nearly everyone at the event had a reason to resent the eccentric lord. But how did the murderer get into the locked room—or out, for that matter?

When the only other person who knew the secret behind the illusion is brutally silenced, the case begins to look unsolvable. Because as Oldroyd and Johnson know, it’s not just a question of who did it and why—but how?

• ISBN10: 1503904946
• ISBN13: 9781503904941
• Publish Date: 13 September 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas & Mercer
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 300
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Murder at Redmire Hall is the 3rd book in the Yorkshire murder mystery series by J. R. Ellis featuring DCI Jim Oldroyd. Released 13th September by Amazon imprint Thomas & Mercer, it's 300 pages and available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats.

There is impressive writing continuity between this and the previous books in the series. They're all solidly readable and engaging books. This book explores some golden age tropes such as locked door murder mysteries, stately home murder with a seething dysfunctional family and class resentments aplenty. Though it's the third book with several recurring characters, it would be perfectly fine as a standalone.

I do feel that the author took too many liberties with the golden age amateur sleuth techniques (Poirot), up to and including a denouement with everyone gathered together in a room for the murder reveal. It was intentional (including Poirot references written into the book itself), but it seemed a trifle over the top, given that DCI Oldroyd is not an amateur and the setting isn't the interwar period. It just came across as unnecessarily clunky. The mash-up of ALL the Christie plot devices was cheeky, but I think it worked in this particular case.

That being said, it's a very enjoyable read and although Oldroyd's personal life is something of a downer, he's an appealing character and the book is very well written, and I am looking forward to the next book(s).

Three and a half stars, rounded up for the writing. Definitely a worthy read for classic procedural mysteries with a touch of the golden age.

Possibly worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is included in the KU subscription.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.