A Little Murder

Rosie Gilchrist #1

by Suzette A. Hill

London, early 1950s. Marcia Beasley of St John's Wood is discovered dead in her home, naked and covered with a coal scuttle. Detective Sergeant Greenleaf is tasked with solving the crime and bringing meaning to her gruesome death.

It is a discomfiting matter, not only for the victim's niece Rosy Gilchrist – eager to distance herself from her aunt's fate and raffish reputation – but to all members of the deceased's social circle. The floral Felix and acidic Cedric, awful Vera, self-enamored artist Clovis Thistlehyde, the amiably inane Fawcett family – all, it seems, have secrets to hide and grudges to bear. Reluctantly Rosy is drawn into a mesh of intrigue, encountering those she would prefer to avoid and uncovering facts she would rather not know. Dragged from her ordered world, she is thrust into one of mad uncertainty. Who, for example, is the limping midnight visitor? Is the bibulous priest as ingenious as he seems? And will Mrs. Burkiss ever yield her keys to the broom cupboard? A host of colorful and comic characters leap from the pages in their hurry to identify the murderer, unravel the mystery of Marcia's life, and discover the importance of all that coal.

Hill’s clever and laugh-aloud tales bring a whole new slant to the world of murder mysteries.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Audiobook, Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2013

About the author

Suzette A. Hill was born in Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1941. She is a graduate of Nottingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne Universities. Hill taught English literature all her professional life. At age sixty-four and retired, she tried her hand at a short story - just to see what writing fiction felt like, and to her surprise a quintet of humorous novels (Reverend Francis Oughterard series) was the result.

Reviews

[Jennifer Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

If took me so long to read this book as I just didn’t really care about anyone in it. Despite the long list of characters with apparent ‘quirks’ like always wearing hats with feathers or making floral arrangements for the queen mother, they seemed to have no personalities and were impossible to keep straight in my mind. I had wanted something a bit mindless to read on holiday but this was so mindless I couldn’t remember anything that happened from chapter to chapter.

[Emma Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many suspects and such a convoluted plot! Quite impressive, which is why it gets 5 stars. Amusing too, the author has a good sense of irony.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

This murder mystery was complex and often humorous; it took me longer to read than usual, but I chalk that up to its Golden Age style of writing. Rosie Gilchrist is shocked to learn that her aunt has been found with a bullet between her eyes and a coal scuttle on her head. Despite barely knowing her, Rosie is drawn into the mystery when secrets from her aunt's wartime activities are made known to her by some shadowy individuals who want to keep those skeletons firmly in the closet.

[John Hardy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rosy Gilchrist #1. Set in the early 1950s, there isn't all that much to identify the era. Although the prose and some conversations are rather relaxed, there is a repetitive use of the f-word. No decent young lady would ever have used it in those days. Rosy is supposedly a middle class or upper middle lady. She is highly unsuited to be a detective, being rather credible, and easily manipulated, as well as being almost fatally careless.
The espionage theme is background, the victim had been SOE in the war. Suddenly Rosy starts being a centre of interest of all sorts of people. The queer Felix and his companion Cedric, their associate Mrs. C. an aggressive and unpleasant woman, and then Mr. W, who breaks in to her flat and waits for her to come home - for a chat.
The biggest question of all is why she would bother asking all her questions - and why anyone would bother answering them. Of course, she gets nowhere with the cast of spooks, but bits and pieces of evidence fall into her lap.
Regarding the mystery, the prose is all third person narration, with the focus switching frequently to different members of the large cast of characters. We gradually learn who is involved in any skullduggery, although don't assume too much when these clues drop. Conversations are often tedious, and add to the somewhat excessive length of the book.
Would I pick up #2 if I found it at the library? Hmm, let's wait and see.
Rating 2.3.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely perfect for curling up with at this time of year, this is an immensely fun read. Written in the style of a classic whodunnit, the 1940s setting and style are convincing. The characters are engaging and written with the authors tongue very much 'in cheek'. Rosy as the heroine cum sleuth is by far the least eccentric. Her relationship with Leo, her colleague and initial sidekick sets the ball firmly rolling to start things off, but peters out after the first few chapters. At which point Cedric, Felix and Vera step in to pick up the helm. There is a long cast list of possible suspects to Rosy's Aunt Marcia's undignified murder, which is closely by the demise of two more characters. The plot is played out against a background of espionage, falling apart somewhat as it reaches it's climax and I wasn't entirely convinced by the resolution. With red herrings galore, the police seem rather too incompetent to be plausible, missing all too obvious clues. But overall the story is engaging enough and not to be taken to seriously.

[Sarah Hills · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonable read. The characters are quite confusing at the beginning but I soon got the hang of who was who.
Interesting that the people from the second world war who had to keep secrets were happy to blab quite a bit throughout the book.
It was an interesting plot but for some unknown reason it did not keep my attention and I have read another book in between starting and finishing this book.
None of the characters kept my attention but there were some interesting amusing moments and a few interesting twists to the plot.
I have two more books by this author in my to be read pile so I'll see if they captivate my attention more... I'll let you know.

[Rose A · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent potboiler, with a likeable heroine. I appreciated Rosy’s coolness (Goodreads, please spell her name right!) and independence. However, the plot depended a lot on people whose literal job was to keep secrets... talking a great deal about their secret lives and I found that implausible so overall it didn’t entirely work for me in terms of suspending disbelief. Will probably read the others though!

[Jane Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good book from Hill, not quite as funny as the Francis Oughterard novels. Bit more serious but that was fine. Not terribly pacey and felt it dragged a bit at the beginning but moved on a bit later on which was good. The characters were well drawn as always and her writing is always precise and pithy.

[Lorna Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a while to get into this book as there seemed to be a lot of characters who were quite similar and I kept getting a bit confused as to who was who, but once I'd sorted that out I enjoyed the book. I liked the heroine, and the story, though did guess the outcome quite early on. I will read more of this series of books.

[Emilia Forrest · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enjoying this - until I noticed how each character (as well as the storyline) kept saying i.e. in explanations. It got so annoying I stopped paying attention to the story and started wondering why the editor hadn't picked up on it and if it anyway could be explained as a detail in the unveiling of the murder at the end, it wasn't.

[Sarah T · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be a rather dull read despite the fact that the blurb made it sound to be right up my street. But the pace was glacial and the characters so vaguely drawn that I had trouble keeping track of who was who. Yawnsome.

[Miss · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK. I didn't find the characters particularly likeable, nor did I find it witty or funny.
The plot was ok but was a bit confusing with the characters in places... I found myself going back 3 or 4 chapters to remind myself what was going on and with whom

[Tiina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a story full of intrigue and suspicion, but in a very upper-class setting. Everyone seemed to fall under suspicion, one after another, and one murder was not enough. Rosie Gilchrist is not a typical sleuth character, which was amusing.
The narrator did a super job.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent enough read at the time but rather forgettable once finished.

[Jill Stirling · Rating 1 out of 5]

Found this difficult to read and could not finish it.

[Gemma Stockham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Struggled with this as an audiobook. Could not take in everything like i normally would have reading a physical book.

[Veronica Freeney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - it was a 'spiffing' good read. It verged on farce - like a fun filled Agatha Christie. Hill's characters are delightful and the novel was a welcome escape from reality.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lighthearted murder mystery set in the 50s. Fun characters and dialogue.

[Nancy Boyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very British mystery. Nothing amazing or earth-shattering but nothing awful either. Just a run-of-the-mill post-World War 2 whodunit.

[Dantanian · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the right ingredients except a good sense of time and place. And somewhat dull.. A shame.. Its all there... But fails to please, me at least.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the 1950’s the Murder of Rosy’s Aunt Marcia seems to be connected to wartime. Rosy keeps getting caught up in the aftermath.

[Linda Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosy crime set in the 1950s. Secrets which go back to the war and SOE are revealed by a disparate group of characters. Great fun and an easy read.

[Ken Gorst · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me this one I'm afraid. It was like a Noel Coward farce, but without the comedy.

[Kelly Moran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun. I enjoyed this more than I’d expected and am interested to see if the author’s other books continue with the main character or take the story to one of the side characters.

[Teddi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle mystery with a classic feel. I listened to the audible version.

[Ladie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in post-war England, this is quite an enjoyable little cozy mystery with a lot of historical espionage thrown in. Well written and narrated on Audible.

[Frieda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a tad too many characters for my liking, I got confused at a point. Otherwise a compelling story. At some point I was convinced almost all of the others had done the deed.

[Robyn K · Rating 3 out of 5]

take a shot every time there’s a new character introduced

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very pleasant surprise. Fantastic dry humour, would have been 4 stars if it didn't overstay its welcome by about 60 pages.

[Sadie Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alot of suspects with motives, but was the coal scuttle important? Went on a little too long, but I enjoyed it. Did we really need to know every thing?