Murder At The Grotto

Bella Tyson Mysteries #1.5

by Fiona Leitch

All crime writer Bella Tyson wants to do is finish her Christmas shopping in peace at the exclusive London department store, Harridges. But when she sneaks into the store's world famous Santa's Grotto, she discovers something nasty under the Christmas tree...

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Christmas

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 6, 2019

About the author

Fiona Leitch is a writer with a chequered past. She’s written for football and motoring magazines, DJ’ed at illegal raves and is a stalwart of the low budget TV commercial, even appearing as the Australasian face of a cleaning product called 'Sod Off'. After living in London and Cornwall she's finally settled in sunny New Zealand, where she enjoys scaring her cats by trying out dialogue on them. She spends her days dreaming of retiring to a crumbling Venetian palazzo, walking on the windswept beaches of West Auckland, and writing funny, flawed but awesome female characters.

The first book in her 'Nosey Parker' series of cozy mysteries set in Cornwall will be published by One More Chapter in January 2021, with books 2 and 3 following in February and March.

Her debut novel 'Dead in Venice' was published by Audible in 2018 as one of their Crime Grant finalists. Fiona also writes screenplays and was a finalist in the Athena Film Festival Writers Lab, co-run by Meryl Streep's IRIS company.

Fiona is represented by Lina Langlee at the North Literary Agency.

Reviews

[Carmen Radtke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast, festive, and dead funny! Bella Tyson is a heroine to (almost) die for. I loved her since Dead in Venice.

[Andie Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Christmas story! I just got done reading Dead In Venice, and this story is a continuation of Bella Tyson's hillarious life--a crime writer who always seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Very funny!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, cute, & fun holiday mystery - I loved it!

[Zoé-Lee O'Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy to have Bella back in my life even if it was for only a few short pages! I love this woman! Her voice is brilliant and to me she is a living breathing person! I can clearly see and hear her in my head!
I was also so excited to hear about Will!!! Roll on book 2 can’t frigging wait!!!!!

[Niki Baier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just for Christmas

If you haven’t met Bella Tyson this is a great introduction, she always seems to find herself caught up in real life murders not just the fictional ones she writes about!
Classic murder mystery with a hint of humour

[Deborah J Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder at the Grotto: A Bella Tyson Short Story (The Bella Tyson Mysteries) is a short story which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I loved the writing style with the occasional sarky comment which made me feel I could happily read more by this author.

[Sandy Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great short story with a fave character. Hilarious and clever like Dead in Venice!

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best short stories I have ever read! Interesting and quirky characters and a storyline to capture you on the very first page! I am looking forward to reading more by this author!

[Dave Holwill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but sweet, always good to get a brief burst of Bella - with added knives.

[Pers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun.

[tracey cloxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little Christmas story revisiting Bella, a great fill in for Christmas and now ready to find out more about this author and her life. . I will be reading her next adventure soon

[Si Clarke]

This was meant to be a mystery, but to me, it felt more like chick-lit. Maybe that's your cup of tea, but it's not mine.

[Hope Vollm · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a Christmas

[Sue Keunen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short taster (only 14 pages) but I like the character and dialogue so now I will read the first book “Dead in Venice “

[Christine Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only have it 2 stars as I was just getting into it and it ended was disappointing to say the least