View source for Cherringham - Murder on Thames: A Cozy Crime Series by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

{{infobox1
|title=Cherringham - Murder on Thames: A Cozy Crime Series
|author=Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=You'll read it in a couple of hours, so don't expect a deep plot or subtle characterisation, but there's a neat twist at the end.
|rating=3
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=119
|publisher=Bastei Entertainment
|date=December 2013
|isbn=
|cover=B00GFJ9UFG
|aznuk=B00GFJ9UFG
|aznus=B00GFJ9UFG
}}
Sarah Edwards returned with her two children to sleepy Cherringham in the Cotswolds after her marriage fell apart.  Jack Brennan was a homicide detective with NYPD and a year ago he lost his wife.  All he wants now is peace and quiet and to that end he's living on a canal boat in Cherringham.  Both of them thought that what they needed was to get away from the stress and strain - but they're just beginning to realise that there's something missing in their lives.  Excitement.

Then a dog walker spots the body of a young woman in the weir.  Sarah knew Sammi when they were younger but they've drifted apart.  In fact the last time they met was difficult and this is part of the reason why Sarah wants to get to the bottom of what happened to Sammi.  The police believe that she committed suicide: Sarah can't believe that the Sammi she knew would ever do such a thing.

Sarah and Jack are an unlikely combination - Sarah's kids think that Jack's old and they're certainly not impressed by the time their mother spend away from home investigating what happened to Sammi.  Jack's American and he sticks out like a sore thumb in Cherringham.  There's a limited cast of suspects to chose from and they've all got 'baddy' stamped on their foreheads, but there's a neat twist at the end.  I had someone else inked in as the murderer and was quite surprised when no one but me seemed to have realised the answer.

''Murder on Thames'' is the first of twelve self-contained 'episodes' which will be released at monthly intervals and are available only as ebooks.  Think of them as being the equivalent of watching an hour-long episode of your favourite crime series: the characterisation won't be ''that'' subtle and you won't be overwhelmed by the twists in the plot.  You might have a pretty good idea of whodunnit but you'll probably be wrong 50% of the time because there'll be a clever twist, which you might - or might not - have spotted.

If you're looking for a quick, reasonably engaging read at a reasonable price (£1.49 as I write) then you could do worse.  So long as you're aware that there's no deep plot of subtle characterisation then you won't be disappointed.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

If short stories are what you're after then we can recommend [[Best British Short Stories 2013 by Nicholas Royle (editor)]].  For another quick, digital crime read you're sure to enjoy [[Montalbano's First Case by Andrea Camilleri]].

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[[Category:Matthew Costello]]
[[Category:Neil Richards]]