Novel set in ICELAND
Cozy crime set around DARTMOOR
30th October 2024
Death on Dartmoor Edge by Stephanie Austin, cozy crime set around Dartmoor.
This is no.8 in the Dartmoor mystery series, and the first I have read. It feels perfectly entertaining to read as a standalone although I am sure the characters, which are familiar to readers from the preceding books, make their appearances here and it might just be a richer experience to have a sense of their backgrounds and connections.
The novel opens in Ashburton, just a stone’s throw from Bovey Tracey (colloquially known as “Buvvy”, with a level of cuteness that underpins the cosy crime genre). There is a mix of colourful characters, where people keep an eye out for each other and drink tea, and there is a multitude of nice-sounding place names (Honeysuckle Farm for one – which happens to be an animal sanctuary) that draw the reader in. Enter the central protagonist, Juno Brown, who has domestic goddess duties, and who helps out 97 year old Maisie (who lives at the idyllic sounding Brook Cottage) and who walks dogs – she is basically an all-round good and competent (though chaotic at times) egg.
She also owns the shop, Ashburton Antiques, which is proving to be an administrative nightmare on the staffing front. Thus already we know that she is a woman of many talents and when she finds herself sleuthing (I assume, not having read that others in the series, that this is her talent and destiny) she has her hands full. A murder, a case of blackmail and the drama around the nephew of a dear friend on the run from criminals, are all in a day’s work for the inestimable Juno.
A delightful story set in a beautiful part of England.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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