The Bingo Hall Detectives

The Bingo Hall Detectives #1

by Jonathan Whitelaw

Winner of The Gilpin Hotel Prize for Fiction 2023 Eyes down to find a killer who’s playing to win…

An irresistible slice of murder and mystery – there’s a killer on the loose in the Lake District, and the members of the Penrith Bingo Club have decided they’re the ones to catch the culprit…

Jason Brazel is an out of work journalist who lives in Penrith with his family and mother-in-law, Amita. She knows everyone and everything that’s going on in this corner of the Lakes.

So when it’s discovered that Madeline Frobisher, one of Amita’s fellow regulars at the bingo club has died, found by the postman outside her crumbling country home close to Ullswater Lake, she senses immediately this is no accident. The trouble is, no one else seems to take her suspicions seriously.

That is, until she enlists the help of her friends at the Penrith Bingo Club. Dismissed by many as eccentric, over the hill or out of touch, it turns out that it’s unlucky for some that these amateur sleuths are on the case…

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Mystery Thriller

Audible Audio

First published April 14, 2022

Reviews

[James Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a murder mystery where there’s a death ruled to be accidental, but our heroine is determined to prove otherwise.
The positives: the relationship between Amita, our heroine and her son-in-law Jason is enjoyable.
Unfortunately that’s all. The book is 374 pages and could be, (and should have been) easily edited down to a lot less. Considering the books length, nothing much happens. The plot is thin, plodding along without moving forward for the majority of the read. There’s only a handful of suspects and as such, it is easy to identify the guilty party.
My main gripe is the book’s title and blurb. “The Bingo Hall Detectives” implies a group of pensioners solving a crime. The back of the book reads, ‘the members of the Penrith Bingo Club have decided they’re the ones to catch the culprit…’ and ‘dismissed by many as eccentric, over the hill or out of touch, these amateur sleuths are on the case.’
Sounds great but it doesn’t happen. The detectives are Amita and Jason. The others range from bit parts to wholly in the background. Disappointing.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bingo Hall Detectives by Jonathan Whitelaw

The thing that really struck me about this book was that it was written with love, there is a fondness for the characters and the story itself and that shone through. I really enjoyed meeting Jason and Amita and frankly I want more!!!!

Jason is a journalist who has been made redundant as his newspaper job and is now chauffeuring his mother in law to bingo.. boring but on this particular visit they are met with the news that a member of the bingo club has sadly passed away, the news does not sit right with Amita and she ropes Jason into help her investigate…


A Great mystery and it is really funny…a novel with a lot of heart.. I loved Jason and Amitas relationship its a love hate relationship at the start but it then blooms into a respectful mother /son in law who are on the same side. This is a complete cosy mystery it feels very cosy to read..

I hope to see more of Jason and Amita and I want to see more of their worlds.. so more family and more bingo club..

#Netgalley #TheBingoHallDetectives #cosy #England

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.
Made redundant some months earlier, Jason Brazel sits at home, unable to look for work, and plagued by depression and indecision, preferring to spend the days watching tv and disliking himself. He's a journalist, and had been employed by the local paper for many years before it closed down.

His mother-in-law Amita is frustrated with him, thinking he's wasting his potential, and a little angry that he's not doing anything to get a new job.

When a member of her circle of bingo friends dies unexpectedly, Amita feels something is a little weird, and she begins poking around, asking questions of people in town, and dragging Jason along with her. He's convinced Madeleine died an accident, and drags his feet, refusing to fully believe the death was due to anything nefarious, and also argues against Amita's instincts because of their not terribly warm relationship.

The two stumble around, but actually find out a bunch of useful things about the dead woman, and incur the wrath of the detective in charge of the case, who isn't interested in anything they say -- this character is basically a caricature.

Jason irritated me repeatedly, and I frequently wanted to smack him for dismissing Amita's ideas. At the same time, I could empathize with him because he's depressed at being laid off.

Amita's wonderful, and her gung ho attitude, as well as her energy made the book for me. I was glad that both characters were a little closer and more respectful of the other byt this book's end. And I hope they work even better together in the next book.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, a bit different, although I was expecting more from Bingo players and less from son in law.

[Samrickless · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, and there were some good elements to it: the interplay between Jason and Amita in particular. But the plot was flimsy, the characters were underdrawn, and the book was long, filled with a lot of filler. It’s really difficult to write a compelling, well plotted, well drawn mystery; and this wasn’t it.

[Medollga · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best thing about this book is the uncommon "detective" pairing of the elderly lady with her unemployed son-in-law😂👌

I've never previously read about such a dynamic in a mystery novel, so points for that.

The worst thing about this book however is the protagonist. He's whiny, insecure, has a horrible sense of humor (I rolled my eyes every time he tried to "joke"), is resistant to participate in the mystery solving, and when he finally DOES AGREE to participate, he forgets about it in the next chapter and is hesitant AGAIN! 🤡🤬 Plus, the way he was described as a husband and father was severely disappointing and I don't know how anyone can empathize with him...

The plot was severely lacking in interesting developments. Nothing really happened in the "solving a mystery" department and everything just sort of happened out of nowhere.

Anyway, the atmosphere was okay and Amita, the elderly lady-main heroine, was carrying the whole book on her tiny shoulders! 💕

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

An enjoyable and cosy read, not quite up there with Thursday Murder Club but still a good book which is worth a read.

The story follows a mother and son in law who become an unlikely detective duo following the death of a regular at their bingo hall. I loved their relationship throughout the book and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion.

My only criticism would be that I expected the book to be set in a bingo hall however, it’s in a church and the setting isn’t mentioned much at all. Given the title I was expecting part of the book to feature around a bingo hall and include all of the fun and going ons within it. The book is also set in the Lake District which is one of my favourite places and got me personally I’d have liked more descriptions about the beautiful settings and landscapes.

All in all a good read and perfect if you enjoy a cosy murder book.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept behind this - Jason and his mother-in-law, Amita, discover that one of Amita's friends has died and she gets it into her head that it wasn't an accident. The two of them investigate and between snarky comments to each other and run-ins with the police, they discover the truth.

But it's over-written and full of exposition that feels heavy-handed. There is no subtlety at all and character growth feels slow and tedious. Amita and Jason don't get along and honestly, with the way they speak to each other, I'm surprised there's been no WW3 yet. They are NASTY to each other and Amita in particular is very unkind. And then suddenly, they're getting along towards the end and it's all sunshine and roses somewhat.

I finished it only because I hate-read to find out what happened. I'm sure some people enjoyed it but it wasn't for me.

[Tania · Rating 1 out of 5]

About halfway into this book I gave up. I really wanted to like this cozy style mystery. But, I was fed up with Jason and the set up that after six months he was still moping around. His mother-in-law is a great character but why would anyone (his wife, mother-in-law) put up with his selfish & immature behavior? Nothing yet had happened to move the plot forward to keep me reading. I wasn’t invested enough in the possibly suspicious death, since the focus remained on poor unemployed Jason being a man child.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so much fun to read! I love reading amateur sleuth stories but what made this one unique is the pair of amateur sleuth’s and the amount of levity woven throughout the story. Jason, an out of work journalist, and Amita, Jason’s mother in law, embark on finding justice for Amita’s friend and fellow bingo hall comrade who was murdered. The banter between the two was comical and led to some interesting and eye opening discoveries about them and the evolution of their relationship as the book went on. The pace of the book was good - there was one part I kind of wondered why the momentum decreased instead of ramping up, but overall an enjoyable book to read that I will definitely be recommending.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and fast read, The Bingo Hall Detectives was an enjoyable book. A story that has plenty for you to get stuck into with twists along the way, its familiar characters and quaint setting allow you to feel immersed.

The main plot of this book was the death of an elderly lady who attended Penrith’s weekly bingo every Wednesday. Many see the death as an unusual accident, but plausible. Not Amita. She ropes her son-in-law, Jason, into her wild theory as they explore the possibility that her death wasn’t an accident.

The story was good, fun and engaging with plenty going on to keep you entertained. My only real issue here would be how quickly we would go from A to B with no real explanation. Not always the case, but at certain points, it felt like I’d skipped a chapter. For example, how quickly it was considered murder with no real evidence.

It has a core group of quirky and eccentric characters, all of who make appearances throughout. With many filling roles you’d find in a real-life town, from the know-it-all to the wannabe sheriff. Everyone has a place. All tied to the same bingo group, there are plenty of interactions and most of which lead to some funny dialogue. Probably typical of your usual bingo goers. The character work is, without doubt, this book's best asset.

Once fully into the story, it will have you hooked, and waiting to see the reveal. At times parts of the story did seem irrelevant, especially looking back. Maybe these could have been cut and added to parts that did matter more. The big reveal was a little underwhelming. I saw it coming a mile off.

Still very enjoyable to read with a nice few chapters at the end to tie everything together. I can’t complain too much. Not a masterpiece, but a book that has plenty to offer in multiple departments. With humour throughout and a great story to keep you reading on.

Overall a good book. Perhaps personal preference plays a part in my faults with it. With a tremendous cast of characters with a fun and flowing story, I’d recommend The Bingo Hall Detectives.

[Thebooktrail · Rating 4 out of 5]

link: Discover the setting of The Bingo Hall Detectives

I feel the cosy mystery crime genre is getting a lot more love recently and that makes me happy. I LOVE a lot of cosy crime although why it’s called that is a mystery in itself given that it is often a lot more disturbing than hard-boiled crime fiction.

The setting appealed immediately – a nice community In Penrith, in Cumbria and very close to the Lake District. A lot of cute and cosy images came into my head with this and the image on the cover. I immediately wanted to play bingo using corn kernels instead of pens or wooden markers!

The Bingo Club is somewhere I aspired to go. Jason in the novel takes his mother-in-law there so maybe he could pick me up one night and I could join them. I’d bring the snacks! Anyway, I digress, as this time Jason goes, he finds out that someone in the club has died. Amita, another Bingo aficionado, thinks something is up and that the death might not be totally innocent. Enter the Bingo Hall Detectives with a cracking mystery to solve.

Premise established, the writing is fun and fresh and very heartwarming. I loved the changing nature of the relationship between Jason and Amita and the very idea that they go to bingo and get roped into a mystery like this, just makes my heart sing.

[Elliot · Rating 1 out of 5]

i do not understand the high ratings on this book. i finished it because i was by the pool and i thought i might as well, but that’s the only thing that kept me going. amita was cute, jason was a dick, that’s about it. dialogue was super weak. people would be talking normally and then suddenly shouting for no reason, or they would be described as angry or upset with zero indication of that in their speech. the writing felt very lazy in parts: “the warmth of the heated seat warmed her”, for example. several words used incorrectly too, which i feel like editing really should have picked up on. ‘pious’ does not mean conceited. also, and this a minor niggle among the rest, it was riddled with copy editing errors. so much missing punctuation! why was digestive biscuit and t-shirt capitalised?

the murder mystery felt pretty standard and mundane. it was solvable by me, which isn’t exactly a compliment given that i a) am an idiot and b) actively try to avoid solving them because i like the reveal.

two more very minor things:
- i grew up in cumbria and now live in scotland. the author is very obviously scottish and put a lot of scottish things into the book that were out of place (fritters, caramel logs, teacakes).
- they are not the bingo hall detectives!!! there are only two and only one of them goes to the bingo!!

[Scarlet Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would love this one but was disappointed. It’s unfair to compare it to another similar style book, but for me, in this one the characterisation just wasn’t there. Neither of the two main characters were endearing, in fact Jason seemed like the worst trained journalist in the world, and lazy too. My patience had completely grown thin with him after the first third of the book. Won’t try another.

[Chloe Pounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was slow to begin with and honestly quite dull then about half way it started to pick up and it got better after that. the plot line and the shocking plot twist is not something you will want to miss. i would recommend this book to a friend but you just need to be patience because it isn’t the best at the beginning but i promise it does get better and the plot twist made my jaw dropped. it was very secretive. you can’t guess the murderer until the very end just before they are revealed. if i had to describe the story in three words they would be wholesome, heartbreaking and shocking.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason is an out-of-work journalist (the newspaper closed) living in the Lake District with his wife, two kids, and his sometimes bossy mother-in-law Amita, who is convinced that one of her bingo-playing buddies died of murder, rather than the accident everyone else accepts. When Jason learned that the dead woman used to be a famous singer, he realizes that a suspicious death would make a great story , but his main concern is to keep Amita and himself safe. A hostile police detective inspector, a flashy property developer, and a flock of characters who raise Amita's suspicions keep Jason busy trying to keep her out of trouble.

[Rebecca (booksandbreggs) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Triggers: murder, rape, mental illness, language. I wouldn't consider this a cozy but more of a suspense mystery. (Not for young readers)

I received this book for Christmas in 2022 but added it to my tbr stacks. I should've picked it up right away because I really enjoyed the story. The relationship between the main characters was precious, and I loved to watch them grow to care for each other during their investigation. 5/5 stars

[ghostly_bookish · Rating 3 out of 5]

CAWPILE 6.29
3.5 STARS

This has been languishing on my kindle for a while and I was in the mood for a cozy mystery.
I loved this setting- Cumbria is a beautiful part of the world and I also loved the mixed race family. The relationship between mother in law and son in law was really interesting and I found myself really rooting for them both- I loved the rural environment and bingo club.
I also really liked the writing and am eager to continue the series.

[Syl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot decide if this is 2 or 3 stars. I did find it laborious to read, however the characters were likeable.

[Joe Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's literally about a murder of a eurovision singer, but, somehow it's still so dull. The main characters have the same argument every chapter and the big twist could be seen a mile away.

[Lisa M · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Linda Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bingo Hall Detectives is enormous fun with a cracking plot and some serious underpinning themes that I thoroughly enjoyed. My full review is on the My Weekly website.

[Si Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fresh, fun take on the cosy mystery genre, led by an original duo.

[Margi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good cozy mystery with an unlikely pair of detectives.

[Helen Pitt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

[Rosalind · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty awful. An unlikeable main character who was lazy and not very clever, and writing that was trying hard to be funny and failing.

[Lisa N Martinsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐️

[Jo Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great characters, great storyline. Loved it! Really good read.

[JJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did find the two main characters, mother-in-law Amita and her son-in-law Jason, different from the usual mix of ‘detectives’ but their childish bickering was a bit silly and Jason’s inability to face his future, or anything else out of the ordinary, was a bit tedious.
So we have Amita, who is about 70, running around fearlessly trying to find out who had murdered her friend. Though the police line is it was accidental. We have thirty something Jason, ex journalist, finding life difficult, lying in bed too long or sitting in front of the telly, not finding work. He drives Amita to her bingo one night and they learn of the death of one of her friends.
We also have an annoying, bullying and rude Inspector who at one stage drags Jason down to the station when he’s still in his pyjamas because he used to work at a place where there have been thefts.
Still the plot was not bad (a bit meandering) especially as for a long time only Amita thinks it is a murder they are looking at.

[Mez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun cozy mystery.
Loved the mother in law/ son in law dynamic