Miss McMurray rechnet mit dem Schlimmsten: Kriminalroman (Ein Fall für Miss McMurray 1)

Una McMurray Mystery #1

by Jo Cunningham, Ruggero Leò (translator)

Der erste Fall für Hobbydetektivin Una McMurray

Una McMurray arbeitet bei einer Lebensversicherung und kann mit Zahlen mehr anfangen als mit Menschen. Dass die Menge der Todesfälle in britischen Küstenorten gravierend von ihrer Statistik abweicht, ist ihr unbegreiflich. Bei einem Besuch im beschaulichen Eastbourne, dem Heimatort ihrer Mutter, stößt Una gleich auf zwei eigentümliche Vorfä Eine ältere Dame wurde von einem Blumenkorb erschlagen, und ein Rentner starb nach der Kollision mit einem Einkaufswagen. Zu Unas Entsetzen waren beide Opfer mit Ken befreundet, dem neuen Mann an der Seite ihrer Mutter. Sie beschließt, Ken und die rätselhaften Vorfälle in Eastbourne genau unter die Lupe zu nehmen ...Ein großartiges Cosy-Crime-Debüt mit unvergesslicher Heldin und herrlich britischem Humor

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Adult

369 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2024

About the author

Jo Cunningham grew up in Birkenhead and at age eight, as part of a school team, she became Wirral Road Safety Quiz champion after an exciting buzzer round about box junctions. Having peaked, she left the North and has worked for many years in IT jobs to pay the bills while she got to grips with writing comedy novels.

If you like cosy murder mysteries that are a little quirky, with humour and heart, then please check out the Una McMurray Mysteries featuring an anxious actuary and usually a cat or two.

Reviews

[Sonja Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Cozy-Krimi wie aus dem Lehrbuch. Schrullige, liebenswerte Charaktere, ein kurioser Kriminalfall, ein paar nette Gags und niemals eine wirklich bedrohliche Situation für die Ermittlerin Una.
Ich hatte wirklich Spaß mit der Geschichte und hoffe, dass Una nochmal als Detektivin agiert.
Einzig ihre "Freundin" hat mich etwas gestört bzw. diese "Freundschaft".
Eine alte Studienfreundin, mit der Una streng nach Kalender jeden 4. Sonntag im Monat Videocalled. Für den Fall hat Una sie auch mal aus der Reihe kontaktiert. Es ging immer um Una, ihre Probleme usw. und die Gespräche waren nur ein Mittel der Autorin um Una weiter zu führen. Ne sehr unglaubwürdige Freundschaft ist das.
Dagegen hatte ich in dem 5 Minuten Gespräch mit Rosa schon viele "Bestie" Vibes gespürt. Und von ihr hab ich mir auch den Namen gemerkt, das sagt wohl schon alles 😅
oh man, jetzt bin ich etwas abgedriftet .
Also wer leichten Krime mit einer Extraportion Feelgood lesen möchte, dem kann ich das hier nur wärmstens empfehlen

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death By Numbers is the first book in the Una McMurray Mystery series by British author, Jo Cunningham. It’s the first time Una McMurray’s algorithm has failed, and she needs to find out why. Suddenly, inexplicably, the accidental deaths at British seaside resorts have exceeded predictions and that puts her reputation as a reliable actuary for Katapult Insurance on the line, and her promotion to team leader in jeopardy. Her boss suggests she team up with her rival for promotion, Tim, but Tim will always be looking after Tim first and foremost.

On a weekend visit to her widowed mum in Eastbourne, Sussex, Una is dismayed to learn that Sheila McMurray is planning to marry her boyfriend of six months, Ken McNamara. Ken, too enthusiastic, too chatty, just too everything. What else piques her interest is two unusual pensioner deaths in the town that were noted in her raw data: death by hanging basket and death by shopping trolley. Both, it turns out, were friends of Ken; both occurred after an event organised by Ken. Una begins to worry for her mum.

Una does a bit of covert investigating, discovering more commonalities between the two, including some stick-on black-on-gold numbers, and she sees the start of a pattern. Then a third death occurs, but Ken has an ironclad alibi: Una was with him when his best man, Tommo was skewered by a scythe. So she begins to worry that Ken will be next, and on his wedding day.

But there are too many potential suspects, too many possible motives, to pin down the murderer, what with a book club row, ageist comments on a charity shop website, petty jealousies about who gets to call the bingo, and a lottery syndicate disagreement. Meanwhile, there’s still a wedding to organise.

As an actuary, Una never expected to be doing covert surveillance, tailing suspects, or interrogating witnesses. Before matters are resolved, there’s an attack by a cat, a near miss with a falling foot-spa, self-defence with a planter pot, and a potentially deadly knitting needle. And Una gets the wrong end of the stick quite a few times before she finally gets it right.

Cunningham’s portrayal of Eastbourne residents is very well done: everyone has met people like Sheila, Ken with his banter and gadgetry, Jean and John, Tommo and Arthur, all fairly normal but with a quirk or two. And then there are the others: Cassie, with her predictions; synaesthetic Anton with his unique bingo calling; Tim with his favour spreadsheet, described as the ego with the handshake; ageist birdwatcher, Dr Raj, and Una, more comfortable with numbers than people, an expert on the worst-case scenario, and assessing the risk of everything she encounters. More of this cast and setting are definitely welcome. Excellent British cosy crime.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK.

[Anna Catharina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 Sterne

Das Buch hat mich sehr gut unterhalten. Auch wenn es ein typischer Cosy ist, sticht die Hauptperson aus der Masse heraus. Und, Statistikerin bei einer Lebensversicherung, ist penibel, humorlos und rechnet immer mit dem Schlimmsten. In der Realität wäre sie eine Person, die wahrscheinlich ziemlich unbeliebt wäre, doch die Autorin schafft es, dass ich sie trotzdem mochte. Die Geschichte hat einen ganz eigenen Humor und zahlreiche unterhaltsame Wendungen. Ich würde gerne eine Fortsetzung lesen.

[Steph Ollman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant cosy crime read with interesting characters and gentle humour. I will look forward to reading the next in the series.

[Tilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly written to piggyback off the success of the Richard Osman series but is unfortunately not funny, and the characters were unlikeable and without depth.
Plot was ok.

[Imke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unterhaltsam, cosy und kurzweilig.
Ich hatte mit typisch britischem Humor gerechnet, der auch streckenweise durchkam.
Einige der Charaktere haben mir nur leider nicht so gut gefallen, da sie doch sehr oberflächlich daherkommen.

[Heather W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good solid 4 stars, amusing in places and I think an excellent start to a new cosy series.

[cloudyskye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite my cup of tea, to be honest. A little fussy. If I want the control freak detective experience, I prefer the Miss Zukas series (Miss Zukas and the Library Murders), being a librarian myself and not all that much into numbers and statistics.
I'll give volume 2 a chance, though.

[Amy Leitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the characters in this book. It was nice to see a heroine that is a but awkward and not exactly cut out for solving the crime that she is looking at. There was something about the story that just didn’t work for me and I can’t place exactly what it was. I did enjoy the book and the characters.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jo Valentine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book confused me, wasn’t sure if it was actually meant to be funny, in a Hot Fuzz (Simon Pegg film) way, or whether it was meant to be clever…. Whichever it was, I don’t think it achieved either.

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death By Numbers is the first book in the Una McMurray Mystery series by British author, Jo Cunningham. The audio version is narrated by Rose Robinson. It’s the first time Una McMurray’s algorithm has failed, and she needs to find out why. Suddenly, inexplicably, the accidental deaths at British seaside resorts have exceeded predictions and that puts her reputation as a reliable actuary for Katapult Insurance on the line, and her promotion to team leader in jeopardy. Her boss suggests she team up with her rival for promotion, Tim, but Tim will always be looking after Tim first and foremost.

On a weekend visit to her widowed mum in Eastbourne, Sussex, Una is dismayed to learn that Sheila McMurray is planning to marry her boyfriend of six months, Ken McNamara. Ken, too enthusiastic, too chatty, just too everything. What else piques her interest is two unusual pensioner deaths in the town that were noted in her raw data: death by hanging basket and death by shopping trolley. Both, it turns out, were friends of Ken; both occurred after an event organised by Ken. Una begins to worry for her mum.

Una does a bit of covert investigating, discovering more commonalities between the two, including some stick-on black-on-gold numbers, and she sees the start of a pattern. Then a third death occurs, but Ken has an ironclad alibi: Una was with him when his best man, Tommo was skewered by a scythe. So she begins to worry that Ken will be next, and on his wedding day.

But there are too many potential suspects, too many possible motives, to pin down the murderer, what with a book club row, ageist comments on a charity shop website, petty jealousies about who gets to call the bingo, and a lottery syndicate disagreement. Meanwhile, there’s still a wedding to organise.

As an actuary, Una never expected to be doing covert surveillance, tailing suspects, or interrogating witnesses. Before matters are resolved, there’s an attack by a cat, a near miss with a falling foot-spa, self-defence with a planter pot, and a potentially deadly knitting needle. And Una gets the wrong end of the stick quite a few times before she finally gets it right.

Cunningham’s portrayal of Eastbourne residents is very well done: everyone has met people like Sheila, Ken with his banter and gadgetry, Jean and John, Tommo and Arthur, all fairly normal but with a quirk or two. And then there are the others: Cassie, with her predictions; synaesthetic Anton with his unique bingo calling; Tim with his favour spreadsheet, described as the ego with the handshake; ageist birdwatcher, Dr Raj, and Una, more comfortable with numbers than people, an expert on the worst-case scenario, and assessing the risk of everything she encounters. More of this cast and setting are definitely welcome. Excellent British cosy crime.

[Paromjit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jo Cunningham writes about a London based actuary who struggles to relate to people but who is obsessed by numbers, Una McMurry, employed by Katapult Insurance. Una cannot understand why her figures for accidents and misadventures for seaside resorts are out, something she worries about as her boss, Ajay, is planning to either promote either her or her colleague, Tim, to team leader, so this is going to jeopardise her chances. Ajay thinks her methods are dated and could do with improvements. Una does not agree, as she makes a rare trip to visit her widowed mother, Sheila, in Eastbourne. On arrival, she learns some unwelcome news, her mother is going to marry the suspiciously over-generous Ken, and she will not be dissuaded.

Una finds out there are connections between Ken and a crowd of elderly bingo players and the 2 strange deaths by hanging basket and shopping trolley. She spots an opportunity, to innovate her practices by looking into these specific seaside accidents, and hopefully her investigations could aid her attempts to win promotion. As Una spends time at her mother's, she gets drawn helping with the wedding plans, including working hand in hand with Ken's son, Anton, in putting together a photo montage for the wedding. There is more murder, and Una is convinced it all revolves around numbers associated with the victims, and arriving on the scene is Tim, who is determined to get involved in her investigation, and her predictions of death, but is she right?

This is an okay crime read, but the humour did not always chime with me, whilst the plot and storyline might work better for other readers. I am not certain but I think this may be the first of a series, but Una as a central character, in my opinion, might not lend herself as successfully for future adventures and crime, given what we already know about her. I think this was a light, occasionally entertaining, mystery read that will probably appeal to others more than me. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining, definitely a page turner and a book where all the over cautious people can feel vindicated.

Una is an actuary, living the dull and over-analysed life you would expect for an actuary. Until her mum announces she is getting remarried to a new partner in Eastbourne. Una is immediately wary of the bridegroom to be, the over cheery and hyperactive Ken, but when it turns out that two of Mum and Ken's friends have died recently in bizarrely tragic accidents, and that those same accidents are the ones that have thrown out Una's actuarial assessments, putting her promotion at risk, Una's risk assessment faculties go into overdrive.

Is Una over thinking everything, moving from caution to paranoia, or do the numbers really mean something? It's a twisty tale, with an Agatha-Christie-esque helping of red herrings to let you think you've cracked it, only to find you haven't, about half a dozen times.

Death by Numbers is peopled with a set of pensioners that fall just this side of stereotypes with some delightful characteristics - Raj who is 68 and a half, Jean who judges everyone on their grammar, Cassie DJ-ing an Ibiza dance set at the wedding, John with his rainproof poncho and of course Ken, sticking with his fifties quiff and asking the smart speaker to play The Clash.

It's a quirky tale of misunderstandings and preconceptions as Una tries to work out how she is going to deal with this problem, that can only be solved by talking to people, not by pivot tables. A desperately uncomfortable situation for her, but very funny for us.

Una progresses from being the rather irritating colleague you hope to never have to the friend who's a bit odd, but you can make allowances for that. As indeed her friend Amara does, on schedule, every Sunday evening,

My favourite laugh out loud moment (there are a lot of laugh out loud moments!) is Una assuming the airline brace position every time someone opens a bottle of champagne. Or possibly when she jumps out from behind the paint racks in the DIY shop.

[The Cookster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.2/5

Its is increasingly difficult for cosy crime writers - or crime writers in general - to come up with original settings or backgrounds for their central protagonists. So, congratulations to Jo Cunningham for coming up with the idea of having Una, a risk averse insurance actuary as her amateur sleuth at the heart of "Death by Numbers". As far as I am aware this is a novel scenario that has not been used previously. Una is puzzled when the numbers of actual accidental seaside deaths varies significantly from her calculated projection, so she decides to look into things more closely. In doing so, Una finds herself investigating a series of freak deaths, but weirder still, they are all in Eastbourne and involve people known to Una's mother and her second husband-to-be, Ken.

The mystery itself is decent enough, but the story is really driven by the characters and especially by the central protagonist, Una. There is plenty of gentle humour throughout that relies heavily on Una's obsession with statistics and safety-first attitude towards life. I did fear that the joke would run out of steam quite quickly and become tired well before the book reached its conclusion, but credit to the author for ensuring that this was not the case. That said, I don't think there is sufficient mileage left in the scenario for there to be second book featuring Una, let alone a series, but as a standalone, light-hearted cosy mystery this works perfectly well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

[Kath · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a slew of books of this ilk starring amateur detectives in interesting jobs. My favourite being an obituary writer. Una, the main character in this book, is an insurance actuary. I am not sure if it is her job or her personality (maybe the two are intrinsically linked) but I did find her to be a funny fish, dry as old boots as my mum would have said. This, I do believe marred my enjoyment of what could have been a interesting plot...
Long story short... Una and a colleague are both up for promotion at work. Her chances are cut when her predictions about number of deaths in seaside towns fails to match the actual figures. She believes her numbers are accurate and, as chance would have it, her mum lives in such a town, and is always on at her to visit, so off she goes, determined to get to the bottom of things...
Things don't go as planned when she finds out that her mum is getting re-married. But also, more worrying is the number of their "friends" who have died in "accidents"... could this be why her figures are out...
Now, the plot is interesting and intriguing enough, and would probably fly better (for me anyway) if the main character had been more engaging. Even the attempt at humour fell flat for me.
It looks like this might be a series opener. Although I am not sure how well Una will stack up in further escapades and, given that we didn't really get on, I will probably not pursue the relationship further...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una is an insurance actuary who realises during her latest research that something isn’t adding up about the number of unusual deaths happening in a seaside town. She has to travel to her mums wedding and is reluctant until she realises that the unusual deaths are friends of his mums new husband. She decides to look into this mystery and finds a pattern emerge. It is down to her to find the truth in the numbers.

I wanted to read this as I loved the concept. I have never read anything quite like this before and found an intriguing cosy crime novel involving a fun mystery. I am in mixed minds about my overall thoughts on this one. Although this was an easy, lighthearted read, I did find it difficult to connect with Una and found the story quite slow and repetitive. Although there were some funny moments, I found that at other times some of the humour did not work so well. I am unsure how this would work as a series but would be interested to find out. I appreciate the author’s creativity in producing something different as a lot of cosy crime books have become quite similar. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

[zoe Hitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una the main character is an insurance actuary and numbers , probability , risk and statistics are what she deals with everyday.
Una is working on the figures of deaths in a seaside town and the research isn’t adding up and Una’s mum wants here to visit as she has some news to share with her .
Una is reluctant to visit she is a socially awkward character who is absorbed by her work and social interaction outside of work is not one of her favourite past times .
Una decides to visit her mum in Eastbourne and his upset to learn her mum is to marry her partner Ken .
However she learns that two of Ken’s friends have recently died and this piques her interest this could help her solve the anomalies in her data.
Una turns into amateur detective which results in some funny moments but she eventually gets the answer she is looking for!
This book started slowly but soon picked up it’s a mixture of cosy mystery with a hint of humour and self discovery from the protagonist.
A different and unique read!
Enjoyable!
Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK.

[David Deogracias-Guevara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just when you thought (some) British crime writing could not sink any lower, along comes Jo Cunningham with a novel that has not only reached the bottom of the barrel but has actually broken through. Fiction does not come much worse than this unadulterated tripe - Tom Hindle possibly excepted. Word play on chapter headings alone does not great reading make. If ever there was a book of which you could say, your time would have been much better spent having a lobotomy or slashing your wrists, then this novel is it. The characters are all completely unlovable. The female protagonist is egotistical, completely absorbed in her work and a completely unsupportive daughter are not great characteristics. You end up praying that she will be the next vicim if only to put this book out of our misery. Zero would have been too high a score for this. I thought Little Brown would have set higher standards than publishing this crap but obviously I was wrong.

[Cora · Rating 1 out of 5]

At best I found this boring and repetitive and at worst I find it offensive. The 'quirky' character did not work for me and so her humor about a high BMI or about constant danger was lost. Her father was mentioned a few times and it seems like Una could do with counseling both on his death and on her childhood / general anxiety. The Indian character was ageist and the gay character was portrayed as an asshole. For future installments, I would advise the author to seriously rethink such representation, as all the 'good guys' were wealthy, White, and heterosexual.

[Stephanie Mar-Fan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid read. Although it didn’t give me the 5 star feeling, I did thoroughly enjoy the book and the characters. I really liked Una and all her quirks. However, in the end I must admit I was wanting more from this book.
I had the pleasure of meeting the author (whom was lovely!) and have a signed copy of this book, and I’m glad I do because now when I look at this book, I remember how much I liked the writing style, the humour and most of all, Una.

[Sharron Mussack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una, a number obsessed actuary goes to visit her mum and whilst there spots a pattern that could have an impact on her mums life which she decides to investigate.
I found this book quite slow to start with but once I got unto it it was an easy read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

[Suzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actuary Una is frustrated that her numbers are out. There have been more than expected accidental seaside deaths As she heads to visit her Mum in Eastbourne she becomes amateur sleuth examining the deaths of some of her mum’s friends.

A gentle crime novel with some sweet characters. I enjoyed the humour in it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy to review.

[Isabel Canhoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engaging and hilarious cosy crime novel. Una, the actuary-detective is delightfully flawed as a detective and utterly unusual in her OCD-risk-obsessed approach to life. I loved it, and looks forward to the next installment.

[Johnboy Somerville · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great slice of escapism. Really easy to get into and not overly heavy reading - a great debut novel.

Very similar style to that of Richard Osman

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, I wish I had never bought this book!

I tried very hard to like it but it was just so incredibly boring, I managed almost 200 pages but then I had to give up and skip to the end

[Bookbeard · Rating 4 out of 5]

story line: ***
main characters: ****
side characters: ***
world building: ***
editing: *****
3.5

[Helen Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

a surprisingly good read.

[A K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, if a bit silly

[Asb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, great use of numbers and a nice puzzle

[Anne Grzybowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debut novel and very good. Who knew that numbers could be so interesting and deadly.