A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries) by Helen Cox

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A Body in the Bookshop:(Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries) by Helen Cox

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Buy A Body in the Bookshop (Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries) by Helen Cox at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: Crime
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Sue Magee
Reviewed by Sue Magee
Summary: It’s cosy crime with an excellent cast of characters and a good plot. If you want a good plot you could do a lot worse.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 336 Date: October 2019
Publisher: Quercus
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781529402247

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Evie Bowes is very conscious of the scars on her face. They were acquired when she was rescued from a car in the River Ouse by Inspector Halloran. She’d been suspected of the murder of her boyfriend, Owen, and in the process of clearing her name she and her best friend, Kitt Hartley, developed a taste for detection. Kitt developed a taste for Inspector Halloran too, but they’re taking it slowly. Well, sort of slowly.

It’s when Malc Halloran calls to see Kitt one evening when Evie is at the cottage that he tells them that DS Charlotte Banks (Charley to her friends) has been suspended from duty, accused of attacking Alim Buruk, a burglary suspect. Evie decides that her next case is going to be clearing Charley’s name: no one but Supt Ricci believes that she was capable of attacking Buruk. Buruk is supposed to have stolen some valuable first editions from Bootham Books. Evie visits Buruk in hospital to get more information - and manages to make an enemy of Supt Ricci in the process.

Now, I do hope that you’ve been paying attention because I might be asking questions later. Helen Cox has a real talent for handling what must seem like a cast of thousands but making them all come off the page well, given that this is cosy crime and you expect the characters to be just this side of stereotypical. You’ll cringe at the way that Evie dashes in where angels (or most people, come to that) would fear to tread. The edge of your seat will be well worn and there won’t be time for too many sighs of relief before she, Kitt and Grace, KItt’s assistant at the Women’s Section of the Vale of York University library, get themselves into the next difficult situation. The police are decidedly more forthcoming with civilians than they would be in real life - but, as I said, it’s cosy crime. Suspend disbelief.

I didn’t work out who the baddie was until the body count was pretty high. The plot was well done and good use was made of the medieval city of York. If you know it at all, you’ll be walking the streets along with the characters.

The story does feature some quite intimate details of a gay relationship, but we don’t get too far past the bedroom door. I was just delighted that fiction is reflecting real life.

This is the second book in the Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries. Whilst we don’t get to know who killed Owen in the first book in the series we do know what happened to Evie, but given that it’s cosy crime (did I mention that already?) you might be able to overlook that. Enjoy an easy read - and I’d like to thank the publishers for making a review copy available to the Bookbag.

If you'd like more cosy crime one author gives us plenty of choice. Thank you, M C Beaton. You could also have a look at Monica Ferris.

Helen Cox's Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mysteries in Chronological Order

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