Downward Facing Death

Keeley Carpenter #1

by Michelle Kelly

After ten years away, Keeley Carpenter is excited to be back in Belfrey, the traditional English village hometown she fled as a shy teen, with a plan to reopen her father's neglected butcher shop as a yoga café, where she will sell delicious vegetarian food by day and teach yoga classes at night. However the more traditional residents of Belfrey do not take kindly to this idea-or really anything they deem even remotely "New Age-y." Within an hour of her arrival, Keeley comes face to face with Detective Constable Ben Taylor, who tells her that someone has just tried to burn down her shop. When officers arrived to stop the blaze, a body was found upstairs. Horrified by this news, Keeley is also startled to be reintroduced to Ben as DC Taylor, as he was her high school crush. In spite of her instant attraction to him, Keeley is determined to keep Ben at arm's length. As she settles back in to Belfrey and makes plans for her opening day, she soon finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation. When Keeley starts being threatened herself, she realizes someone may be out to kill more than her business prospects - but can she and Ben find the culprit before it's too late? A warm, intriguing cozy debut that includes recipes from Keeley's café, Downward Facing Death is perfect for fans of Laura Childs and Cleo Coyle.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, British Literature, Mystery Thriller

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 19, 2016

About the author

Michelle has been writing for a living since 2013 after seven years as a literacy teacher. She still teaches a creative writing course .Michelle is the author of historical romance books 'The Virgin Courtesan' 'Borgia Fever' and 'The Rake of Glendir' for Harlequin Mills and Boon and a paranormal romantic suspense series for Xcite Books beginning with 'The Lady is a Vamp'. She also writes crime, with her first contemporary thriller 'When I Wasn't Watching' published August 2014 with Harlequin Carina and reaching number one in the Kindle charts. The sequel 'Eyes Wide Open' was released in May 2015. Michelle is currently working on a cozy mystery series featuring yoga instructor Keeley Carpenter. These will be published by St Martins Press in the US and the first in the series 'Downward Facing Death' will be released in January 2016.

Reviews

[Hilary (A Wytch's Book Review) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeley has headed back to Britain and the town she was brought up in, her late Father's shop is standing empty and Keeley plans on turning it into a Vegetarian cafe and Yoga studio.  The day before she arrives though someone tries to burn it down, but even more worryingly there was a dead body upstairs! Keeley has to work hard to get the place ready - but someone is determined to stop her, oh and add in sniping from an old school friend (or was she?) and the fact that Keeley's old crush is the Police Detective in charge and there is way to much going on!

[Moondance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baking bread and horse manure.

Keeley Carpenter has returned to her hometown of Belfry to open a vegetarian and yoga café in her late father's butcher shop. She arrives to find there has been a fire and a murder in the shop. Keeley is the prime suspect and must clear her name in order to live peacefully in the village.

This is an excellent start to the series. I loved learning about the village of Belfry and its townspeople. As you can imagine, opening a vegetarian café in a former butcher shop is not met with wild approval.

Keeley immediately runs into her high school crush, Ben, who is now the detective constable. This brings up lots of emotions in addition to the stress of the murder. Another former classmate, Rachel, is the owner of a local diner. She is such an obnoxious character that I wanted Keeley to slap her every time they interacted. Fortunately, Keeley was a little more level headed.

Jack and his Irish wolfhound, Bambi, are key characters to the story. I love that a huge dog has such a sweet name!

The mystery is very well done. I was truly shocked when the culprit was revealed. I did not have a clue.

As a side note, there is usually not sex involved in cozy mysteries. It does not bother me. It was not overt or out of context.

The yoga portion of the storyline offers information about various breathing techniques which I think we can all use. There are also some very yummy vegetarian recipes in the book. I've already started gathering items to make the spicy curry.

This was a a quick, easy read and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A murder mystery set in a yoga cafe + vegan recipes is so my kind of read. This one didn't disappoint! I tend to avoid posting spoilers but I need to get this out there for potential readers: I can handle the goriest, most graphic acts of violence imaginable and not bat an eye, but not when there's an animal involved. There's a big goofball of an Irish Wolfhound in this book and at one point he's poisoned, though he does make a full recovery.

For the full review and more, head over to The Pretty Good Gatsby!

[Anna Catharina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Buch erfüllt eigentlich alle gängigen Cozy-Klischees:
- ein junge Frau kommt in einen kleinen Ort
- sie findet schnell Freunde
- sie eröffnet sehr erfolgreich einen kleinen Laden
- sie wird in einen Mordfall verwickelt
- sie beginnt zu ermitteln
- sie verliebt sich in den Polizisten
- sie gerät durch ihre Schnüffelei in Lebensgefahr
- am Ende: Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen!

Genau diesem Schema (wirklich eins zu eins!) folgt auch "Mord im stillen Belfrey". Die Handlung war sehr überschaubar, der Schwerpunkt lag auf der Liebesgeschichte, die Sprache war manchmal arg schnulzig (besonders bei der Beschreibung gewisser Körpermerkmale). Warum um Himmelswillen dann vier Sterne? Ich habe mich einfach gut unterhalten gefühlt! Es las sich so flott und amüsant weg, dass ich trotz aller Berechenbarkeit viel Spaß hatte.
Für Fans der Cozy Mysteries wirklich zu empfehlen, für normale Krimifans eher weniger.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting British cozy that is a lot darker than most of the American cozies I've read. Usually in the American cozies I've read the small town the book is set is is very idealized with mostly very sweet characters especially those that the protagonist, in this book Keeley at best seems to be ignored by her townsfolk if not downright reviled by them.


I'm going to read the second book in the series, now wondering if things will be different then this introductory book.

[Tracie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kind of a silly novel. Many chapters end with a different yoga breathing exercise. Recipes at the end. Feels like author can't decide if she wants to write a mystery, a yoga journal, or a recipe book.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly SUCH a fun little mystery! I got this book as a gift and I started it with the expectations of it being a completely silly and predictable cozy mystery. But it was a great story, had a fun romance, and got a little thrillery at the end.

Overall genuinely enjoyed it enough that I think I’ll start book 2!

[Stef · Rating 1 out of 5]

I nearly made it to chapter five before I could no longer put up with the holier-than-thou hot yoga teaching city slicker who returned to her bumblef*ck hometown to show them the miracle of kale, only unfortunately a dude was murdered in the place where she wants to open her yoga cafe (called The Yoga Cafe). She's too preoccupied with her high school crush cum detective and ordering small white wines to really take in that a MURDER has happened in her future place of business. Just totally unlikable.

[Miles Gould · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, without doubt, the second-best yoga mystery called Downward Facing Death I've read this year.

Snark aside, I bought this when looking for Downward-Facing Death. "Oh, another book with the same title!" I thought. "And this one's a cosy mystery rather than hardboiled crime fiction. Sounds fun, I'll get both". I loved the other Downward-Facing Death, and started on this one immediately after finishing it. Sadly, while this book had its moments, it really wasn't my cup of tea. I was expecting something along the lines of the Miss Marple stories but with more yoga; this book does have a mystery plot, but it's at least 50% romance novel. And there's surprisingly little yoga! Or rather, the yoga is window-dressing and could be cut entirely without harming the story or the characters too much. The writing can be long-winded, and the characters felt pretty flat. The solution to the mystery was surprising, but not "sit straight up in bed shouting in amazement". The best part was the gradual revelation of certain characters' Dark Backstories. All in all this book was OK, but if you only read one yoga mystery called Downward-Facing Death this year it should be the other one.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. I picked up this one and it's sequel for cheap at Book Outlet. It's...okay. I wouldn't read more if I hadn't already bought it. The story is fine, but a lot of things seem unrealistic. The entire overhaul of the cafe seems to happen in a matter of days. This book could also have used a continuity check. There's one point where Keely's waiting for the police to be do e so she can start renovations. They finish and she goes in and cleans the entire place. But the next day, she says she's waiting for the police to finish so she can get started. There were other instances, but that's the first one that comes to mind.

Oh well, I'll read the next one since O already have it and it's a short read.

[Cee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty.... boring.
The background was interesting-- returning home to open a Yoga Cafe, but the story was pretty cut and dry. The protagonist was a bit silly and ridiculous... Just tell the police! And when she thinks she might be overreacting SHE TOTALLY IS. Many characters tend to overreact, and there are no good female friendships.

I did find the mystery to be interesting and I really liked Jack and his pup. Keeley was not really likeable, for me.

I will be reading the next one since I received it from Netgalley... kinda regretting it, but it doesn't seem to be a horrible series so far, just not much to it.

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Downward Facing Death is the first book in a new series with a yoga and food theme. Keeley has returned to what she feels is home to open the vegetarian cuisine based Yoga Cafe at the site of her deceased father’s butcher shop. She runs into some resistance especially with the discovery of a body before she is even open. Keeley feels like she needs to solve the crime if her business is going to have any hope of getting off the ground. I really enjoyed this mystery. I especially liked how it showed that sometimes going home is not what you expect. I thought that was well done. I will read more in this series.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first cozy mystery I've read in a long time, and it was sweet. (I'll admit I was pulled in by the title and the cover.) It did take me a bit to get into because I'm neither into yoga nor vegetarianism, but once it picked up, it was a quick read. I did like Keeley, though she didn't seem to plan her business very well. I was also annoyed that she let insecurities get in the way so much of her relationship with Ben (once I understand, twice was just sophomoric), and Ben's hot and cold bit was irritating. Overall, though, this was short and sweet, and fine for a day at the beach.

[Susan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

After having read the second book in series I had to read the fist to see how it started. Fast paced mystery with Keely returning to her hometown of Belfry, England only to find the night before someone had been murdered and tried to burn down, in her her family's butcher shop that she intends to turn into a yoga studio and cafe. Finds love in Ben the local cop. Getting close to the end and I still couldn't figure out who did it. It was a surprise.

[Elida Liederbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

After 10 years Kelley is headed home to open up a Yoga Cafe, but before she can open a murder takes place in the building and Kelley is prime suspect. Her old school mate crush Ben Taylor is an officer and assigned to this case. Belfrey town people are not what she remembers and not as welcoming to her, but who would try to harm her? Kelley needs to safe herself and her cafe, and sparks fly with Ben as they look at all the clues. A good cozy read!

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of the boxes for a cozy mystery are ticked- atmospheric setting, side characters with strong personalities, an observant ameture slueth with an interesting career and light romance. The pacing ticks along really nicely. Even with these boxes checked, to me this was a pleasant but uncompelling read, which sometimes is just right. I could see reading another book in this series, but wouldn't be sad if the opportunity never appeared.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes!! This was bad. I got to p. 52 and kept going it would get better. Read some reviews that made me realize it would not, skipped to the end just to find out who did it. So glad I didn't waste my time. If you're looking for a cozy English mystery pick up an Agatha Raisin book, well written, funny, likeable characters. This book feels like someone writing about something they haven't experienced.... just misses the mark.

[Sarina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5 Sterne

Die Geschichte war streckenweise etwas langweilig. (Das Ende hat es wieder etwas ausgeglichen, da mich die Auflösung doch überrascht hat^^) Außerdem fand ich die Protagonistin Keeley im Großteil des Buches ziemlich blauäugig und viel zu leichtsinnig. Davon abgesehen fand ich sie jedoch sympathisch :)

[Julie Trapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeley has returned to her hometown to open a vegetarian cafe in her father's old butcher shop. She will teach yoga classes at night upstairs. She has not been back in town for an hour when someone tries to burn down the shop and a body is found upstairs. The detective on the case is Ben Taylor, her high school crush. Cute book, good story with recipes.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming back to where you grew up should be exciting, but Keeley is having trouble after being gone for so long. Someone is targeting her and she has no idea why. First the shop she was planning to open was the scene of arson and a murder. She tries to find out why her shop and what was the cause of all the trouble.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute mystery story. It had a little romance in it. The mystery was all wrapped up neatly and I can see how it leads into the next book. I was interested in this because I like yoga and healthy eating. The author included many breathing exercises and recipes in the book.

[Kerrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good central small-community mystery with some vivid characters, but the slightly too infodumpy passages on cooking and yoga and the overplayed central romance made this book less enjoyable for me than it might have been.

[yourfavouritemixtape]

Probably another cozy-mystery-guilty-pleasure-series. It's a light and entertaining read and you don't have to think while doing so.
If you like mysteries and have a faible for yoga - this is the book for you.

[Jane Austen · Rating 5 out of 5]

After 10 years away, Keeley comes back to the little English village she was brought up in, to taker over the building where her father had his butchers shop, Keeley was going to open a Yoga and Vegetarian cafe. Upon arriving, she learns the building almost burned down and there was a body found. The officer in charge is Keeley’s school crush. And he thinks she had something to do with it. So she does her own sleuthing and quickly has a murderer after her. This was such a great book!! I had me from page one and didn’t let up. And I never saw the culprit coming!! The only problem I had was the dog on the cover, not our heroine’s and is hardly in it. But I gave it 5 stars, it’s worth the read.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as cozy mysteries go, this was a decent one.

[Sheila Chew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun mystery series that is set in a small town in England and the main character is the owner of a vegetarian cafe and she teaches yoga classes. Easy reading and entertaining.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story but a little too much "romance" for me. May read the next in the series.

[Christine Lucia Asha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was 40% mystery and 60% romance.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kept me guessing until the very end!