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Cherringham #1

Morte sul Tamigi

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Un’avvincente serie di misteri per una sorprendente coppia di investigatori, nella cornice dell’Inghilterra del sud.

È mattina presto quando sulle sponde del Tamigi, che attraversa il sonnacchioso villaggio di Cherringham, viene ritrovato il corpo di una donna. Si chiama Sammi Charlton e da anni ormai non viveva più in paese. Per la polizia si è trattato di un terribile incidente: annegamento, magari suicidio. Ma per Sarah Edwards, che la conosceva dai tempi della scuola ed era la sua migliore amica, ci deve essere dell'altro: Sammi non lo avrebbe mai fatto. Decide perciò di provare a indagare e si imbatte in un americano un po' scontroso, che vive su una casa galleggiante, proprio vicino al luogo del delitto.

Jack Brennan, ex investigatore della Omicidi di New York, ha scelto di trascorrere la pensione a pescare e a bere Martini, ma la tentazione di risolvere un mistero è più forte di lui. Dopotutto: detective una volta, detective per sempre. E così, tra barche di lusso, partite di cricket, anziane gemelle che esigono pedaggi, Jack e Sarah uniranno le forze per mettersi alla ricerca della verità.

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2013

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Matthew Costello

299 books370 followers

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5 stars
711 (20%)
4 stars
1,224 (35%)
3 stars
1,204 (35%)
2 stars
242 (7%)
1 star
49 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 315 reviews
Profile Image for ♡ Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡  .
5,652 reviews683 followers
January 19, 2019
Eigentlich ist Cherringham eine beschauliche englische Kleinstadt in den Cotswolds. Eines Tages jedoch wird die Leiche einer jungen Frau aus der Themse gefischt. Ein tragischer Unfall, sagt die Polizei. Sarah jedoch, die die Frau kannte, glaubt nicht an einen Unfall. Gemeinsam mit dem ehemaligen Detective Jack von der New Yorker Mordkommission nimmt sie eigene Ermittlungen auf.

Mein Leseeindruck:

Ich lese sehr gerne solche "gemütlichen" englischen Krimis, wie sie auch Agatha Christie geschrieben hat. Daher war ich natürlich neugierig auf diese Reihe, die ähnlich angelegt sein soll. Dieser erste Teil hat mir recht gut gefallen, allerdings hat mir das gewisse Etwas noch gefehlt. Dennoch konnte mich der erste Band gut unterhalten und es hat auch Spaß gemacht, ihn zu lesen. Ich denke, ich werde noch ein paar weitere Bände der Reihe lesen und schauen, wie sie sich entwickelt.
Profile Image for Todd Ackerman.
53 reviews2 followers
June 18, 2017
People....do not listen to the reviews that say "too easy to follow", "embarrassed to admit...".. here's the deal, it's a serial mystery...think Murder She Wrote, Hardy Boys, etc. In life, not all mysteries are complex with twist upon twist. It's about fun and reading. So if you want a mind challenge, do The NY Times crossword. If you want to be able to lose yourself in a fun, quick read, pick this up.
Profile Image for Ingie.
1,527 reviews167 followers
June 11, 2017
Review written June 11, 2017

3.4 Stars - A first quickly done in a detective novella serial

Book #1 in the Cherringham cozy crime solves serial. See my review for the first three-part audiobooks box, Cherringham #1-3: A Cosy Crime Series Compilation. — 2:46 hours very well narrated by Neil Dudgeon.

I LIKE - nice novellas telling cozy small-towns mysteries
Profile Image for Sharneel.
970 reviews
December 15, 2014
I am almost embarrassed to acknowledge I read this book. Cliched with fairly bland characters., the storyline is far too easy to follow, giving little challenge to figure out the culprit. Maybe I expected too much of a cozy mystery.
Profile Image for Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ).
1,650 reviews304 followers
April 29, 2018
Quite an enjoyable read, simple storyline easy to follow, the culprit can be guessed pretty early but still, fun reading!
Profile Image for Liz Barnsley.
3,824 reviews1,092 followers
January 6, 2014
So I have not read episodic books since I avidly awaited each new instalment of “The Green Mile” by Stephen King many years ago now, but when I was offered the chance to have a look at a new series that is going to be released over the course of this year I jumped at the chance – they sounded perfect for Sunday afternoon reading. Thank you to the authors and publishers!

The first instalment in the Cheringham series finds us meeting Sarah and Jack – Jack a retired NYPD police officer who is now living in Cheringham and Sarah a single mother who has returned to her home village. When Sarah’s good friend is found drowned in the river, the police are quick to assume an accident – but Sarah is not so sure. With Jack’s help she sets out to track down the truth.

An unlikely pairing these two but a good one – I very much enjoyed their interaction and the mystery itself was well drawn and intriguing. As a set up for an ongoing novella series it was extremely well done – enough information about our main protagonists to ensure we want to follow on with them and an initial contact that makes us want to know more about their developing relationship.

Add to that a great little mystery written in old school style and you have much to look forward to. In the tradition of Midsomer and almost anywhere you might find Jessica Fletcher, I get the feeling that Cheringham and the surrounding area’s may not be a place you would want to live – but as a place to visit every now and then its going to be great.

Happy Reading Folks!

Find out more about the series and the authors by reading my blogpost here:

http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbook...

Profile Image for ☕️Kimberly  (Caffeinated Reviewer).
3,707 reviews807 followers
July 10, 2019
Murder on Thames: Cherringham, Episode 1 – Is the first episode of the cosy crimes series, Cherringham. Cherringham is a quiet town in the Cotswolds and begins a series that will feature Jack Brennan, a former NYPD homicide detective and Sarah Edwards, a single mother of two who works with technology.

Sarah has just returned to her hometown of Cherringham, and Jack has retired there enjoying time on his boat with his dog and a good drink. When Sarah’s friend is found dead and everyone assumes it was an accident, Sarah begins asking questions. While walking the river’s edge she meets Jack and questions him. He of course wants nothing to do with it, but after she leaves he begins thinking about what she said the police reported and that was highly unlikely. Thus, the two begin investigating.

As far as cases go, this had a Jessica Fletcher vibe, but was all rather easy to solve. Since it’s a novella and the start of a rather long serial I am ok with that. It had a nice set up, I liked the characters and the building relationships.

Neil Dudgeon narrated and did a fine job with the different characters from key players to suspects. While, I don’t think Jack’s NY accent was completely spot on, I am sure many a Brit have felt the same regarding American narrators. It was close enough and didn’t make me wince. Mostly my issue was with a few key words. Having said that I would happily listen to more of his audiobooks.

The Cherringham Serial has over 34 episodes and it looks like the Audiobooks are bundled into 3 to 4 episodes giving the listener 6-8 hours of enjoyment. (although some can be purchased individual) This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
Profile Image for Stacy Wilson .
338 reviews181 followers
October 8, 2024
3.5 stars. It's the 1st in the series and I wanted to go back to see how Jack and Sara met. It's a good start, but the books definitely get better as the series goes on.
Profile Image for Sina & Ilona Glimmerfee.
1,056 reviews117 followers
December 17, 2020
Dieser Krimi hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Es hat sich sehr auf den Fall konzentriert und weniger auf die Nebensächlichkeiten des Lebens, was mir gefallen hat. Freue mich auf den zweiten Band der Reihe.
Profile Image for Kathi.
753 reviews18 followers
June 4, 2022
"Mord an der Themse" ist der 1. Band der "Cherringham - Landluft kann tödlich sein" Reihe vom Autorenduo Matthew Costello und Neil Richards.

Ich fand die Geschichte für zwischendurch ganz nett. Vom Hocker gerissen hat sie mich nicht, ich kann mir aber gut vorstellen, dass die Reihe Potenzial hat. Für mich war das Buch leider etwas zu kurz, um mit den Charakteren wirklich warm zu werden. Weiterverfolgen werde ich die Reihe aber auf jeden Fall.

Im Buch wird gesagt, dass jemand "eine Linie zieht". Gemeint ist damit wohl eher "eine Line ziehen". Darüber musste ich schon ein wenig schmunzeln. Ich denke, dass der Sprecherin da ein Fehler unterlaufen ist oder es an der Übersetzung liegt. Das hätte meiner Meinung nach aber nicht passieren dürfen. Irgendwie hat mich das total aus der Geschichte rausgebracht.

Von mir gibt es 3 Sterne. Cozy Crime Fans werden bestimmt Spaß mit der Reihe haben.

Hier folgen noch einige Infos zum Hörbuch:
3 Stunden und 36 Minuten / Ungekürzte Ausgabe
Sprecherin: Sabina Godec
Die Sprecherin bekommt 4 Sterne von mir.
Verlag: Lübbe Audio
Profile Image for ShanDizzy .
1,410 reviews
January 26, 2024
This was a well-written mystery with an ex-NY detective having moved to Cherringham after his wife died of cancer and a recently divorced single mum with two children returning to the village solving a murder mystery involving her childhood best friend. Neil Dudgeon was a great narrator.
Profile Image for Joanne Farley.
1,483 reviews34 followers
May 27, 2026
This is a great start to a new series - at least to me. Jack a NYC detective finds himself living in England. When the body of a woman is found he finds himself investigating the case with a local woman.
Profile Image for marianne✨.
141 reviews
August 21, 2026
Lihtne, kiire ja muhe krimielamus. Kuna see on üpris lühikeste leheküljearvudega raamatusari, siis sügavust väga pole, aga mõnus chill uurimine siiski. 😅 kindlasti sarja jätkudes tekib rohkem sügavust, kuna tegelased kasvavad looga.
Profile Image for Brenda.
248 reviews42 followers
September 9, 2024
This was okay. The characters were interesting but the story line was just so-so. I listened to this and the reader was uneven in his voice projection. I could hear him one minute and then he would drop his voice so low that his words were barely discernible. This reader (Neil Dudgeon-who is a fine actor)would keep me from listening to the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Dr.Javed Rasheed.
237 reviews17 followers
August 21, 2026
Cherringham: Murder on Thames is the first book in the Cherringham cosy-crime series, written by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards and published in 2013. It is a short, self-contained mystery set in the English Cotswolds.
Cherringham is a peaceful little Cotswolds town where very little seems to happen. That changes when the body of Sammi Jackson, a woman known to local residents, is discovered in the River Thames.
The police initially regard her death as an accident or suicide, and appear satisfied that there is no murder to investigate. But Sarah Edwards, who knew Sammi when they were younger, cannot accept this explanation. Something about the circumstances of Sammi’s death doesn’t seem right.
Sarah has recently returned to Cherringham with her two children after the collapse of her marriage. She works as a web designer and has little experience of criminal investigations. She therefore turns to an unlikely person for help: Jack Brennan, a retired NYPD homicide detective who now lives quietly on a canal boat in the village. Jack has been trying to escape his old life and the pain of losing his wife.
Initially reluctant, Jack eventually agrees to help Sarah. The two make an unusual but effective partnership—Sarah knows the people and gossip of Cherringham, while Jack brings years of professional homicide experience.
Sarah and Jack begin looking into Sammi’s past and discover that several people around her had reasons to dislike, fear or resent her. Among those who come under suspicion are people connected with her troubled personal life, including her violent former boyfriend and her alcoholic father.
As they ask questions and examine the circumstances surrounding her death, the supposedly straightforward suicide becomes increasingly suspicious. They uncover inconsistencies that suggest that someone may have deliberately caused Sammi’s death and then tried to make it look accidental.
The investigation also establishes the central relationship of the series: Sarah and Jack complement one another extremely well. Sarah’s local knowledge and persistence combine with Jack’s detective instincts and experience.
Jack and Sarah eventually work out that Sammi’s death was not the simple suicide/accident the police initially believed. Their investigation exposes the truth behind what happened and identifies the person responsible. The case also succeeds in drawing Jack back into the detective work he had tried to leave behind.!
The real attraction of the book, however, is less the complexity of the murder than the creation of Jack and Sarah as a detective team. It is a gentle, fast-moving British village mystery, rather like a shorter Midsomer Murders episode, with an American ex-cop replacing the traditional British detective. The book is only about 134 pages, making it an easy couple-of-hours read. I have always preferred stories that are continuous without chapters with different characters that oscillate that usually disturbs the trend of thought and storytelling . I would be very generous in giving the story and the book 3 stars.
Dr.Javed Rasheed
Profile Image for  Cookie M..
1,489 reviews165 followers
September 8, 2023
Cozy it's labeled and cozy it is. Concise, spare, more a short story than a novel.

As a series opener it could point in either up or down. I will admit I guessed wrong on the murderer, but whether that was by the authors' laying of a red herring on my plate or just an accident I will wait until I have read a few more Cherringham mysteries to decide.


If the authors led me up the garden path they succeeded where Christie only ever stymied and confused me. I hardly ever had anyone in mind as the culprit when reading one if her books - because I know she lies!


Anyway, the Cherringham mysteries may prove a bit pared to the bone for my liking, but I am hoping they flesh out as Costello and Richards grew in their partnership.
Profile Image for Cindy.
1,973 reviews48 followers
December 1, 2024
Cozy mystery series debut of murders solved by a divorced woman in tech with young teens and a retired NYPD detective living on a narrow boat near the same English village. This is novella length, so not enough character development to really know if the series has legs. Plus this first mystery was simple enough that even I had it solved before the denouement.
Profile Image for Laura.
47 reviews2 followers
March 15, 2026
Detektīvs labākajās britu tradīcijās - viegli, ātri, aizraujoši un dzerot tasi gardas tējas!
Profile Image for eyes.2c.
3,185 reviews118 followers
May 28, 2014
...a gem!

This was fun. A murder mystery, with a difference. Sort of Midsummer Murders meets Jesse Stone. The yank in the sleepy English village puts his finger on it when he notes that, 'sweet old Cherringham maybe not so cosy and innocent.' And thus a series is born. Ah! Those deceptive English villages!
Jack is a retired New York detective who's made home a canal boat in England, a dream he and his deceased wife had planned. Sarah is a single mother, returned with her children to her home village after a messy divorce. The death of Sarah's best friend Sammi unites these two as they search for the reason behind Sammi's demise.
The writing is vivid and I had no trouble visualizing Jack's boat moored at the canal, feeling with sympathy Jack's careful driving down those English country lanes surrounded by hedges, those lazy English pubs, and rambling paths alongside rivers.
40 minutes to an hour and you've read a smart short story. With more episodes to follow over a year, it's a monthly gift to yourself or someone else. A serial, much like those that some magazines used to run years ago. An older, simple concept that plays well with eBooks.

A NetGalley ARC
Profile Image for John Lee.
946 reviews16 followers
August 2, 2019
The first book of another new series that I have just come across and, after a couple of books that needed an effort to finish, a nice change.

This series brings together an unlikely pairing. There is this retired NYPD homicide detective recently widowed who has moved to the quintessential English village to enjoy the peace and quite of a solitary retirement. There is also a young mother of two who has just moved back to her home village from London following her divorce.

It is a short book and almost as if the author is testing the water and it is little more than an introduction to a few main characters. The story was a little weak and there werent enough pages for it to develope more than the basic information surrounding the suspicious death that the two come together to find out what had happened.

However, the story 'felt' right and was a comfortable read and I am sure that there is potential here.
I already have the next ready and have my fingers crossed that it will be a full length novel, this time.
Profile Image for katalinka.
15 reviews6 followers
August 5, 2016
Puuuh, hmmm. Irgendwie war es für mich sehr vorhersehbar und kein Stück spannend. Leider waren alle Figuren klischeehaft und die ländliche Atmosphäre war praktisch nicht vorhanden. Das hätte auch in einer größeren, anonymen Stadt spielen können. Cherringham als Ort wurde auch nicht wirklich beschrieben. Ein schwacher Auftakt der Reihe. Muss wirklich nochmal drüber nachdenken, ob ich damit weiter mache. Schade.
Profile Image for Eva Müller.
Author 1 book80 followers
June 22, 2018
This book is written by a British-US team which surprises me because it reads like it's written by an American guy whose knowledge about the UK comes exclusively from watching very mediocre cozy crime shows and The Wicker Man. It's ridiculous just how much the locals go 'But he's a stranger and even worse a foreign stranger' about depressed ex-cop MC. The mystery itself is also pretty thin and boring.
Profile Image for IngeT (inge1970reads).
506 reviews8 followers
August 27, 2024
Voor mij een nieuw duo.
Leuke introductie van de personages. Interessant verhaal, goed plot. Vermakelijke personages. Fijn en relaxed geschreven. De scenes zijn erg visueel beschreven wat er voor zorgt dat je het goed voor je ziet. Het heerlijke Engelse platteland. Een typische cosycrime detective. Niet ingewikkeld en lekker voor tussendoor.
Ik ga zeker de volgende delen lezen.
4 sterren @inge1970reads
Profile Image for Sara _leggolibri_guardocose_.
283 reviews1 follower
August 19, 2025
Un giallo molto carino e scorrevole 😜
Bella la trama, ma soprattutto i personaggi: un ex detective della NYPD e una mamma single ritornata nel suo paesino natale britannico 😌
Trovare il colpevole è stato abbastanza facile, ma la lettura ne è valsa la pena😅😂
Profile Image for Denise.
920 reviews69 followers
November 10, 2017
Short and sweet. I think this will be a fun series of mini-mysteries.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 315 reviews