The Devil's Brew

Hilary Manningham-Butler #3

by Jack Treby

"Your predecessor was sitting in that chair when he shot himself. You can still see the blood stains on the wall behind you."

Central America, 1931. Hilary Manningham-Butler is settling into her new job as passport control officer at the British legation in Guatemala City. Her predecessor Giles Markham is dead, having embezzled a large sum of money from the office’s visa receipts and then taken his own life. Freddie Reeves, a friend at the legation, believes there is more to his death than suicide. The weekend before he died, Markham spent some time at a remote coffee plantation in the north central highlands. Freddie knows the owner of the plantation and invites Hilary to accompany him there for the weekend, in the hope that she might be able to discover the truth. Hilary has no intention of getting involved, but when a house guest dies in suspicious circumstances it soon becomes clear that she will not be given the choice.

Genres: Mystery

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced and really draws you in. Historic to the 1930s, both in milieu and social attitudes, there are some similarities to other novels involving cross dressing, but the mystery aspect is solid and compelling. Characterized by sequential suspense, the clues abound. The assortment of characters is certainly interesting, but the main character seems a little weakly drawn, but that does not detract from the whole. The publisher's blurb gives hints but there is much more to the story. Basically, I feel that it is worth your time and money.
I requested and won a free review copy in a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Moehrchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the characters of Emily Bunting and Freddie Reeves. Both of them a bit similar to the couple from the second book. I am still surprised how Hilary manages to find out anything and not get killed. This time, she admits it herself. The number of corpses she stumbles into is astounding! And in a morbid kind of way funny. Starting on the next book tomorrow.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read , moving onto book 4 now

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice mystery with good twists and turns. The solutions (there were several) all came as surprises. It wasn't particularly heavy, which is nice because I, for one, can't read those intense mysteries ALL the time and this was a nice break from those. That said, it certainly wasn't trite by any stretch. The story, while not intense, was definitely solid!

I'd give it 3.5 stars mainly because I didn't find the main character, Hilary, particularly likable or unlikable. Once I got past her 'secret', I didn't find as much substance as I would have liked. Of course other readers might feel differently, though. Otherwise I'd give The Devil's Brew a solid 4 stars due to the strength of the story which is why I gave my official rating as 4 stars instead of 3.

I would like to read at least one of the other books in the series.

I did receive this book as a Goodreads giveaway.