The Brewery Murders (A Yorkshire Murder Mystery, #9)

by J. R. Ellis

An award-winning beer worth killing for. Can DCI Oldroyd find the killer before last orders?

Steeped in a history of award-winning Yorkshire ale, the town of Markham boasts not one but two breweries. Richard Foster runs one; his sister, Emily, along with her partner, Janice, runs the other. And not without some resentment.

The unwelcome return of the town’s former bad boy, Brendan Scholes, threatens to ignite the sibling rivalry further. Scholes claims to have found the long-lost secret recipe to the beer that made Richard and Emily’s father famous, and he wants money.

But it isn’t long before Scholes’ body is found floating in a fermentation tank at one of the breweries, his head caved in by a hammer. DCI Oldroyd and Andy Carter are called in to investigate the murder, and there’s no shortage of suspects.

As rumours of the possible existence of a recipe for the famous beer spread against a backdrop of growing homophobia and misogyny, tempers run high. With Markham’s beer industry at stake, a killer on the loose and the town’s residents out for blood, Oldroyd needs to solve the murder before someone else is killed…

• ISBN10: 1542031397
• ISBN13: 9781542031394
• Publish Date: 28 September 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas & Mercer
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 268
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Brewery Murders is the 9th book in the Yorkshire murder mystery series by J. R. Ellis. Released 28th Sept 2023 on Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint, it's 267 pages and 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. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book and the rest of the series are currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.
These books are well written engaging procedurals which are tightly plotted, set against the Yorkshire countryside: hills, moors, and fells. Although it's part of a series, it works quite well as a standalone. There are references to occurrences from previous books in the series, but they don't play a central role in the action and readers new to the series won't have any troubles keeping up. Although most of them are straight procedurals out of the local police department, this one sees Oldroyd and his team in nearby Markham trying to sort out murder and mayhem between competing breweries with a long ago lost ale recipe cold case in the mix. There are some themes of homophobia, sexism, and misogyny included, but not to a degree or handled in a way to offend or shock sensitive readers.

I enjoyed the writing and I really liked Oldroyd's relationship with his family and colleagues. He's an honest and compassionate officer and the development of the plot and denouement were satisfying and well written. Looking forward to more in this series which compares quite favourably with P.D. James' wonderful Adam Dalgleish books. This would be a fine selection for public library acquisition, and for fans of English procedurals. With 10 books now extant in the ongoing series, it would also be a great choice for a long binge or buddy reading project.

Four stars.

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