Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Murder doesn’t care if you’re a newlywed.

Detective Chief Inspector Robin Bright and Deputy Headteacher Adam Matthews have just tied the knot, and all they want to do is sink into blissful domesticity. Unfortunately, there’s no chance of that when a chilling murder at a rugby ground takes Robin miles away to help his old boss solve it.

The mystery seems impossible to crack. Everyone with a motive has an alibi, and those without alibis don’t have a motive. Robin’s determined that this won’t be the case he’s unable to unravel. Not when he’s got his old boss to impress and a new team to lick into shape.

Back at home, Adam joins a fundraising choir to keep himself occupied. Surely a case that’s so far away won’t draw him in this time? Fate has other ideas, though, and danger turns up—quite literally—on his doorstep. He’ll need Campbell the Newfoundland for both company and protection this time around.

Book Review

I love British mysteries – it’s probably a good thing that I don’t have access to Brit Box - I enjoy a solid cozy mystery of any kind, and I quite enjoy the m/m romance genre. This book hit all my happy buttons and was a very satisfying read. What I didn’t realize going into this, is this is book five in the ‘Lindenshaw Mysteries’ series. I can safely say this can be read as a stand-alone, there was enough background information to establish the characters and place without being lost in the over all theme of the books. There were plenty of small hints referencing previous plots/books.

I watch a significant number of British TV shows, and even knowing that the lingo or regional slang is kept to a minimum for a general audience, there are a few turns of phrase that I occasionally have to parse out. This book was riddled with them. There are ruby terms, rozzer (cop) lingo, and there was the regional slang. Alas, my poor six-year-old e-reader just couldn’t look those up. What I found was, this helped with the setting – the secondary characters are working blokes who enjoy a good game of rugby to blow off steam.

As I noted above, this is a cozy mystery. A man is found dead in the team bathroom during practice, who is he and who did the deed? There is plenty of speculation as the investigating team teases out bits of information, there is plenty of misdirection as suspects are interviewed and interviewed again, and further mystery as a possible link is found to a cold case mystery. What I particularly appreciated was at no point does our main character go harrowing off after the protagonist on his own, at night, during a thunderstorm, without backup. This was solid police sleuthing done as a team. And I liked that a lot.

The main characters, Adam and Robin, are recently married and enjoying settling into married life when Robin is pulled away on “secondment”. The romance in this case revolves around the two newlyweds missing each other and the routine they’re settling into. This was a lovely departure from many of the m/m romances I read where it’s pages of hot bunny sex and not much emotional connection. The one physical encounter is mentioned in two paragraphs and much is left to the imagination. Very nicely done.

I do have a couple of quirks, one I mentioned earlier with the plethora of British slang. For a mystery, there was almost too much misdirection – I got lost on occasion with the sheer number of suspects and that detracted from the overall story somewhat. I found the secondary plot involving Adam and the Choir Master a bit of a letdown: there were hints of a buildup, something scary might happen, then… pffft! Nothing.  

Overall, a quite good read – an interesting mystery, engaging characters, a big slobbery Newfoundland, and I had no problems reading it as a stand-alone. Based on this installment, I would go back and read the first four. Based on this installment, I hope there’s more to come!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Riptide Pubvlishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 252 pages/95000 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-May-2020
Price	$4.99 ebook, $17.99 paperback, $22.98 bundle
Buy Link	https://riptidepublishing.com/collections/latest-additions/products/a-carriage-of-misjustice