Much like one of the lovely but forgetful characters in this series, I’m starting to worry about myself a little. I don’t prefer to read books in a series out of order, but I somehow signed up for this fourth book in a series without having read the first three. Of course, now I absolutely want to read the other three – so there is that.

About the Book

Harmony is not on the calling card for this group of friends when their holiday camp is disturbed by murder and revenge…

June 1998: Elodie Marshall has committed a terrible crime. But when she’s deemed unfit to plead, she is sentenced to living within the confines of a mental health facility.

Present day: Sleuthing librarian Pru Pearce and her friends from the Winterbottom Women’s Institute are about to embark on their annual getaway. The 1960s Butlins style Harmony Hollows Resort has caught their attention for a few reasons: the northern ballroom championships and the unsolved double murder from 1983.

But what the women thought was just a cold case mystery soon steps into the present when a murderer, dubbed The Grim Sleeper, strikes. Soon, Pru and the other WI women are dragged deeper into the mystery investigating both the 1983 and present-day murders. But this is no evening entertainment, this is real life, and everyone is in danger…

Can Pru uncover the truth before another innocent camper is struck off? And are her friends in chalet 13 destined to meet a grisly end in this killer comedy by the author of The Constable Mavis Upton series.

My Thoughts

Long-time readers here will know that I love a cozy mystery, so I’m always on the lookout for a good one. And there was so much to love with this one. Not one, not two, but six or so delightful lady “detectives” sticking their noses in a case the cop is trying to solve the case, but just a little behind his lovely, untrained wife and her friends. An unreasonably clever plot and witty dialogue that keeps you guessing and on your toes! This particular book felt like it could have been Gilmore Girls fan fiction, where the clan had gotten old and started sleuthing.

The way the clues fit together, the mystery revealed, and the complicated entanglement of multiple generations of murder scenes really built a complex mystery and a fabulous read. In one way, I feel lucky to have accidentally read the fourth book, as it has likely given the author time to find her voice and get her writing really going. While I’m usually very forgiving, especially when stories are good, I’ll be even more forgiving when going back to earlier books.

I am so grateful to the author and LBT for including me in this tour.

Who’s It For?

If, like me, you can’t get enough cozy mysteries, then this is a great story for you. The ladies are hilarious. They really work with each other, no matter how well they like to wind each other up.

Content Warnings: Death, Murder, Alzheimer’s, Child Abandonment, Sexual Assault, Adult Situations, Adult Language. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of subjects that may offend or trigger individuals.

About the Author

Gina was born in the late 1950s to a mum who frequently abandoned her in a pram outside Woolworths and a dad who, after two pints of beer, could play a mean Boogie Woogie on the piano in the front room of their 3-bed semi on the Wirral. Being the less adventurous of three children, she remains there to this day – apart from a long weekend in Bognor Regis in 1982.

Her teenage years were filled with angst, a CSE in Arithmetic, raging pimples, and Barry White. Marriage and motherhood ensued, followed by divorce in her early thirties and a desperate need for a career and some form of financial support for herself and her young daughter. Trundling a three-wheeled trike along a leafy path one wintry day, memories of her favourite author Enid Blyton, ginger beer and solving mysteries along with her lifelong passion to be a police officer, excitedly gave way to an epiphany. And thus began an enjoyable and fulfilling career with Merseyside Police.

On reaching an age most women lie about, she quickly adapted to retirement by utilising her policing skills to chase after two granddaughters, two dogs and one previously used, but still in excellent condition, husband. Having said goodbye to what had been a huge part of her life, she suddenly had another epiphany. This time it was to put pen to paper to write a book based on her experiences as a police officer. Lying in bed one night staring at the ceiling, Gina’s alter-ego Mavis Upton was born, ready to star in a humorous and sometimes poignant look at the life, loves and career of an everyday girl who followed a dream and embarked upon a search for the missing piece of her childhood.

Links

Amazon US: https://a.co/d/3J81GOS
Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/6Q1dtJP
Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/25511/9781917214759
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219108908-murder-at-the-harmony-hollows-resort
Author’s Website: https://ginakirkham.wordpress.com/

As a Bookshop.org (US) Affiliate, I may earn on qualifying purchases. Bookshop.org purchases support local, independent bookshops. My chosen affiliate bookshop is Tubby & Coo’s Traveling Bookshop, a local, queer-owned bookshop in New Orleans.