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Verity Long #3
Scouting For Murder
Be Prepared…for murder!
When Verity Long agrees to take a friend's daughter to Brownies, what she expects is to drop the child off and spend a quiet evening in her favourite wine bar. Instead she finds a hysterical Brown Owl and a corpse in the Scout hut.
But Verity, researcher for a best-selling crime novelist, has made a career out of being curious. Determined to investigate, Verity seizes the chance to cook for the Brownies' imminent holiday at a nearby Scout campsite in her search for the truth.
Sacrificing her customary gourmet diet to serve up sausages and pizzas might be tough for the amateur sleuth with a fondness for murder, men, and Merlot; it is child's play compared to unravelling the dark secrets of the Scout group.
With dead Scout leaders piling up around her and a killer still keen to earn their Murder badge, Verity is about to become the next victim of a madman Scouting For Murder.
When Verity Long agrees to take a friend's daughter to Brownies, what she expects is to drop the child off and spend a quiet evening in her favourite wine bar. Instead she finds a hysterical Brown Owl and a corpse in the Scout hut.
But Verity, researcher for a best-selling crime novelist, has made a career out of being curious. Determined to investigate, Verity seizes the chance to cook for the Brownies' imminent holiday at a nearby Scout campsite in her search for the truth.
Sacrificing her customary gourmet diet to serve up sausages and pizzas might be tough for the amateur sleuth with a fondness for murder, men, and Merlot; it is child's play compared to unravelling the dark secrets of the Scout group.
With dead Scout leaders piling up around her and a killer still keen to earn their Murder badge, Verity is about to become the next victim of a madman Scouting For Murder.
- GenresMystery
193 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 26, 2013
About the author
Lynda Wilcox
27 books90 followersLynda Wilcox's first piece of published writing was a poem in the school magazine. In her twenties she wrote Pantomime scripts for Amateur Dramatic groups and was a founder member of The Facts of Life, a foursome who wrote and performed comedy sketches for radio. Now she concocts fantasy stories for older children (10-13) and writes funny whodunits for adults.
Lynda lives in a small town in England, in an untidy house with four ageing computers and her (equally ageing but very supportive) husband. She enjoys pottering in the garden where she grow brambles, bindweed and nettles along with roses and lilies. Oh! And slugs! Slugs that feed well on everything but the brambles and weeds.
Most of all, she loves to write — it gets her out of doing the housework. She also reads a lot and enjoys good food and wine.
Lynda lives in a small town in England, in an untidy house with four ageing computers and her (equally ageing but very supportive) husband. She enjoys pottering in the garden where she grow brambles, bindweed and nettles along with roses and lilies. Oh! And slugs! Slugs that feed well on everything but the brambles and weeds.
Most of all, she loves to write — it gets her out of doing the housework. She also reads a lot and enjoys good food and wine.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 29, 2013
This is the next instalment of Verity Long's murderous adventures. In saying that, you don't need to have read her previous outings, any filling in of characters is quickly done. If you have read the previous stories, you will feel at home in Verity's world.
This story takes her into the world of Brownies and Scouts, even though she doesn't particularly like children, she's the "love them and leave them quickly" type of woman, a bit like me, lol.
The story flows along quite nicely. I didn't bother trying to guess who the murderer might have been until some way through the story as my guess would chop and change many times as more information comes to light. Oftentimes I'd shout at Verity to go and talk to the Inspector, the mystery would be solved quicker, but of course, that would make a short and boring story. I do think Verity drinks an awful lot, she's always cracking open a bottle of wine or going to visit her lovely mates at the Wine Bar,
Again, a very enjoyable easy read.
This story takes her into the world of Brownies and Scouts, even though she doesn't particularly like children, she's the "love them and leave them quickly" type of woman, a bit like me, lol.
The story flows along quite nicely. I didn't bother trying to guess who the murderer might have been until some way through the story as my guess would chop and change many times as more information comes to light. Oftentimes I'd shout at Verity to go and talk to the Inspector, the mystery would be solved quicker, but of course, that would make a short and boring story. I do think Verity drinks an awful lot, she's always cracking open a bottle of wine or going to visit her lovely mates at the Wine Bar,
Again, a very enjoyable easy read.
August 29, 2016
Entertaining
This is a funny and entertaining series. I enjoy the characters and how they interact with each other. The plot is always interesting and flows nicely. I recommend this book and series to anyone who likes to read cozy mysteries.
This is a funny and entertaining series. I enjoy the characters and how they interact with each other. The plot is always interesting and flows nicely. I recommend this book and series to anyone who likes to read cozy mysteries.
April 24, 2021
Checked it out while researching on brownies and scouts. I can see great potential in Lynda Wilcox. My only off put was the front cover was misleading; beautifully done but with that I was expecting a illustrated story for children rather than normal text adult fiction. Very good nevertheless.
February 27, 2017
I love the Verity Long Mysteries series. There are some cozy mysteries that take me a while to go through but this isn't one of them. The characters are all entertaining and there is always a good story to it. I will be reading Book#4 for sure.
September 6, 2013
This is the third in the Verity Long series of crime stories, though I first met the character in the novella A Novel Way to Die. I knew I wanted to read more and have been working my way through them. I think this is my favourite. The hapless Verity is once again early on the murder scene and feels compelled to try to find out who the culprit was. She is not involved with the police (except for a given value of ‘involved’) and her on-off relationship with Inspector Jerry Farish makes me want to slap her into seeing how good he is. If she doesn’t want him, I’ll have him!
The story is a gentle murder mystery, you might say, and a great read. As suggested by the title, Verity is helping out at a Brownie Camp after having found one of the scout leaders shot in the throat with an arrow. Her involvement puts her own life in danger but it takes more than that to deter her. If you’ve read and enjoyed the others in the series, as I have, you really must read this. It’s excellent.
The story is a gentle murder mystery, you might say, and a great read. As suggested by the title, Verity is helping out at a Brownie Camp after having found one of the scout leaders shot in the throat with an arrow. Her involvement puts her own life in danger but it takes more than that to deter her. If you’ve read and enjoyed the others in the series, as I have, you really must read this. It’s excellent.
November 1, 2015
Another unfortunate involvement in a murder for Verity Long
This time she gets involved with the local Brownies & uncovers a plot involving the Scout leaders ... It's all a bit far fetched yet you can sort of see that it *could* happen ...
At the end the author notes that she was a Brownie leader for several years & I think you can really tell - there are times when you wonder what exactly she is referring to, using some "in phrases" like District Commissioner
I like the way that the author intertwined Verity's day-job research with the murder case that Verity shouldn't be working on but invariably is!
Overall it was an easy read & the author is very much developing her style
I will read more but they will never be literary classics!
This time she gets involved with the local Brownies & uncovers a plot involving the Scout leaders ... It's all a bit far fetched yet you can sort of see that it *could* happen ...
At the end the author notes that she was a Brownie leader for several years & I think you can really tell - there are times when you wonder what exactly she is referring to, using some "in phrases" like District Commissioner
I like the way that the author intertwined Verity's day-job research with the murder case that Verity shouldn't be working on but invariably is!
Overall it was an easy read & the author is very much developing her style
I will read more but they will never be literary classics!
April 22, 2015
Enjoyed all the Brownie camp stuff - painfully familiar! Good fun as usual - straight on to Murder by the Glass.
February 11, 2014
review to follow
August 22, 2016
A fun Verity Long novel. Mystery, romance, curiosity and hilarity.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews