Murder at the Funeral

The Violet Carlyle Mysteries #42

by Beth Byers

In this short sequel to Murder on the Downs, Vi and Jack and friends return to the downs. This time to see the body of their friend interred. His killer has been found. Justice has been served. It's time to say goodbye.

Or is it?

When they go to bury their friend, they discover the body of another man. Someone else is in Daniel Poole's casket, and his body is still warm. What happened to their friend? Who is the killer? And who would do such a thing?

Genres: Historical Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Mystery

89 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 31, 2023

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to read

I have read all the Violet Carlysle and Smith books and I truly love both series. I am having trouble with this one. Not the story itself, but the misplaced, leftout and wrong or to many words in sentences. It makes it really hard to read. I don't remember ever having this problem before with any of Beth Byers books. I'm going to keep reading and hope it gets better.

[Eva-Lynne Leibman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agatha

I've truly enjoyed the series from the beginning. Interesting characters and relationships. This quick story however, seems too rushed. And the lack of editing was very frustrating: Thewrong person speaking, wrong tense used. The previous book also had problematic editing. I keep coming back because I've become family with Vi and the rest. Love meeting Agatha, but missing Ginny, the 'wort', and truly cannot keep up with all the babies. Jack and Victor need some better thing to do than punch walls tho.

I highly recommend the series, errors and all!

[Margaret Laubach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Short Story but…

I was very disappointed with the number of misspellings and mistakes. I would rather Ms. Byers take the time to ensure that the book was correct than get a sloppy book quickly.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her books keep getting shorter and shorter. At least this was called a short story. The editing was horrible, it seems like she is just rushing something in to publication for the money. If I didn't have Amazon Prime, I wouldn't even bother reading them anymore. I think she should just get Vi's pregnancy over and finish the series. They all are married and have lots of kids and aren't that interesting now. I see the next book is focused on Denny and he is my least favorite character, so I think I'll skip it. Ms. Byers is a good writer but she needs to get away from the whole Vi universe and start with a totally new character.

[GARY PAUL W FLYNN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Story, Very Poor Editing

I am a huge fan of MS Byers stories. I have read all of the books in this series as well ad the ones in which Smith and Beatrice are the main characters. All have been great reads. I have never encountered one of her books being so poorly edited; perhaps because this is only a short novella the regular proofreaders were not made use of.
Double words, wrong pronouns, and a few sentences badly in need of grammar review still could not ruin my enjoyment of this little story. I, however seem to have missed a Smith story because Agatha and the talk of a bunch of new babies had me puzzled.

[Susanna]

The books in this series are getting shorter and sloppier. This one (I read the Kindle edition) was riddled with errors ranging from typos to incorrect pronouns (her instead of him!), and was just generally sloppy and disorganized. There’s not much in the way of plot, and it relies on the reader having read previous books in the series and knowing the main characters already. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of the Violet Carlyle books.

[Michele M. Sales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short story, but....

I love these books, but the Kindle version I just read needed some serious proofreading. Sentences didn't make sense (first paragraph of Chapter 5), words were just wrong in sentences ("we're " when the correct was "he" in reference to the vicar speaking up on the last chapter), etc.

[Elizdos]

Too many typos

I have read all these books so far and I have never come across so many typos in one book in all that time. I know this was only 10 chapters but did nobody proof read it? Also I think this was the weakest story so far except for introducing Agatha more into the group.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good short story

I have truly loved these stories and the characters, all of them, are beloved to me. The time might be set in the years before World War 2, but friends are still beloved and loyalty is strong among this group. They are more intelligent as a group than they are, individually. I definitely recommend this book.

[Sue Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad Editing

There were many sentence structure errors, usage of wrong word in a sentence, spelling errors. And non sequiturs. It was an interesting story, but it wasn't necessary for the series. I think it was a rush job to satisfy the publisher.

[Judith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love these little stories but the editing is getting so bad they are becoming difficult to tolerate. There are spelling mistakes and missing or wrong words about every three pages. Wish they would do a better job.

[Robyn Yates · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were so many errors in the manuscript that it was, at times, difficult to read. Typos, mixed up wording, wrong tenses, switched pronouns were in abundance. Not sure if a “non-proofed” copy was accidentally released.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sufficiently proofread

The characters were as usual, but inner dialogues were scattered. The story contains too many sentence fragments and other errors, so much so that they were a distraction. It appears this was sent to press before it was properly proofed.

[Mike Watson · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a farce. Ninety percent of the book is Violet moaning and whining about being pregnant and having the baby. Jack and Ham are drunk most of the time. The killer never appears until the last few pages and Violet, without amy evidence, decides he's the murderer, then they all go home.

Finall, this isn't a novel sized story. At best, it's only a novella.

[Elizabeth S Ginsburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barely proofread!

Plot decent but this is book full of typos, wrong words, wrong pronouns etc: was clearly not edited. The writing is overall very good butl the errors are sadly distracting.

[Randi Fass · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love these stories but...

Whoever edited this one failed miserably. So many misspe!!ed or incorrect words! "Unclear Hargreaves"! Through instead of threw. Many more. So distracting. I do like the new Agatha character. She has potential!

[KELLY A JACK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder at the Funeral book 📕 42

This is a fun little murder mystery with insightful characters with deep friendships/chosen family. If you love dry humour,banter, and mischievous characters, then you’ll love reading this book.Author is a great storyteller.❣️💃🏻😉

[Peggy Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great follow up.

Great follow up to Death on the Downs. The group travels to the funeral of Ham and Jack's friend who was poisoned. A body is found in their friend's coffin. They are able to solve the crime before they leave the cemetery.

[Gillie Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sloppy editing. Very short “book”

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Poole!

[kathleen keeny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great short story

I chose this rating because of bad proof reading which slows down the story line. The plot was great and very enjoyable.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor editing. Tired of Poole. Think this series has run it's course, which is sad because I used to love it. I do still like the smith series.

[Anne B Burn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caution!

Yet another winner from Ms Byers but her editing team is letting her down. A lot more attention to detail is required as the errors make it look rushed.

[Juanita R. (Bunny) Autrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder at the funeral

Loved the new addition to the family. Agatha. She adds another dimension to the plots. Love all the adoptions mixed kin with the suspense.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha is the star!

I thought I read all the books in the series. But I must have missed one. Where did Agatha come from? A great addition to the cast……a junior Smith?

[m.e.lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spelling and punctuation

I love allBeth’s stories, her insight into characters, the plots etc. But her spelling and grammar and punctuation are awful.

[Shayne Fifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is fine

The story is fine typical Violet, short, but fine. The nonsensical sentences, grammatical errors and the typos though...wow, really bad.

[Jakelyne Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read

I just love this series and like the rest, I enjoyed this story and the way it was solved with a slightly different ending.

[Patricia Moran · Rating 2 out of 5]

a mess

I just wasn’t in the mood for a novella full of errors. Between the errors and VI’s continued worries about “what if” I just stopped reading. Please, please, please get an editor or a proofreader.

[Purlwise · Rating 5 out of 5]

short but sweet

Shorter than the usual novels. Not a good choice for a first introduction to the series.
Sweet in that in provides more insight into the relationships between the detectives and friends. We also learn more about Agatha Hargreaves, who is likely to appear more in future books.