Gretta MulrooneyRezensionen

series, local-law-enforcement, procedural, murder-investigation, small-town, small-business, working-partners, secrets, lies, suspense, intrigue*****

What a truly remarkable investigation and ride to the conclusion. Clear and relatable characters, wild crazy twists and mind bending red herrings! Fantastic read!
I requested and received an EARC from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Loved DEATH AT LARCH BRIDGE by Gretta Mulrooney. This is the second book in the Daisy Moore Mysteries Series, but I definitely recommend you read the Death at the Dolphin first to get a better understanding of the main characters. This mystery story takes place in Fernfield, Oxfordshire, 1946, and within the walls of the famous Dolphin Hotel. Can Daisy solve the mystery of the anonymous letter full of clues or will Inspector Peter Thaxted?
An action packed story with well developed characters, and great world building. A page turner you won’t want to miss. If you enjoy reading Agatha Christie mysteries you will definitely enjoy reading this series.

Thank you Joffe Books for granting me the opportunity to read and review this awesome mystery via NetGalley. I was under no obligation to write a favorable review and all opinions are my own.

Farnsfield 1946. Ronnie and Thomasina Carpenter have booked in at the Dolphin Hotel to spend the evening at an engagement party. But when Ronnie goes missing that afternoon the police become involved. Then a body is discovered, shot. Hotel employee, Daisy Moore due to an innate curiousity and boredom decides to investigate. While Inspector Peter Thaxted runs his own investigation. But who would want him dead, but everyone has secrets. Can Daisy and Thaxted between them solve the case.
An entertaining historical cozy mystery with its very likeable and interesting main characters. Backed up by a cast of varied characters. A good addition to this series.

sly-humor, small-town, small-business, hospitality-industry, class-consciousness, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, England, local-law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, 1945, friends, friendship, theft, insurance-fraud, museum*****

With the end of the war Daisy Moore’s wartime work under the Secrets Act came to an end. Then her flat and her mother come to a smoky end, and a friend introduces her to a sometimes actor who needs a general factotum at his Dolphin hotel in Oxfordshire where she also has to help around the hotel.
Daisy did not find the body this time, but the man was a short term guest at the Dolphin when he went missing, leaving his nervous wife in the lurch. The wife believes that her husband has never visited the area before, but Daisy's investigation (after the man's body was found murdered) proves otherwise. Daisy is good at sleuthing, and war veteran DI Peter Thaxted is slowly losing his animosity towards her (interference) sleuthing talents.
All the characters are truly realistic and some of the timely tidbits show that there was solid research done. The sleuthing is a really good deep dive into the victim's past, the plot twists are inspired and the red herrings inventive, A great read!
I requested and received an EARC from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is the tenth book in this series but I had no problem reading it as a standalone introduction. This is the first book I have read by this Author, but it certainly won't be the last. Well written with excellent characters throughout some good some bad some evil. Basically this is an modern day old fashioned detective story. No murders no violence just a totally absorbing believable clever character driven mystery with plenty of surprises along the way.
Completely recommended.

After seeing a photograph Steve Buckley is convinced that it is a photo of his younger brother Zac. But he had been told that when Steve was four, his brothe had died. He employs P.I. Tyrone Swift to investigate. But with so many family members dead there are so few clues left to follow.
An entertaining and well-written modern mystery with its likeable main character. Another good addition to this enjoyable series, which can easily be read as a standalone story.

Murder by the Shore is the fourth book in the D.I. Siv Drummond mystery series, and while extremely well-writen as well as interesting, the denouement just didn't seem to fit in the spirit of the overall story, as if the author was really looking for reasons for why someone would act as they did. I mean, the person killed a child, so it had to be believable and for me, it didn't quite work.

I enjoyed the characters in this book and thought they were all interesting. DI Siv Drummond is my favourite character and she really carries the reader through the book as you learn a lot of the secrets, twists and turns, through her narrative. Though still dealing with her grief at the loss of her husband, she is attempting to enter the dating market again, something I find interesting as I can't even imagine having to do something like that after having been married for so long. Siv is not an easy character to get to know, but I definitely empathized with her need to be alone and to experience that feeling of isolation, she is still grieving after all.

The other characters were well-written as well, but the parents do seem somewhat stereotypical in nature, with the dad coming across as this unfeeling, self-absorbed person, and the mother coming across as a bundle of nerves with something to hide. While well-written and interesting, there wasn't a lot of depth to them. I was fascinated by the sisters' relationship as well and thought the author could have developed that a bit more.

The plot moved quite quickly, with some interesting twists and turns, some of them predictable. Personally, it didn't take long to figure out why the dad was so distant although I did think his reaction was a bit extreme. I thought the author did a good job peeling away the layers of the story to reveal the information as the investigation progressed in such a way that allowed the reader to figure things out rather than lead the reader along. I hate being spoon-fed information and prefer to figure things out so this was more to my style. I also appreciated the descriptions of the area as it seems like a beautiful location.

Verdict
Murder by the Shore was an interesting murder mystery, full of twists and turns, even if some of them were predictable. With a host of intriguing characters, especially the DI, it made the reading experience that much more fun. I did have a problem with the actual mystery, in particular the ending, as I thought it was a bit far-fetched and didn't seem to match the overall spirit of the story and the characters, but it did make me think how past actions can affect future ones. This can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend reading the previous instalments to get background information on DI Drummond.½

Post VE Day 1945. Daisy Moore's secret employment at Whitehall has finished and after causing the death of her mother (so she believes) and burning down their home, she finds herself at the Dolphin Hotel in Fernfield, Oxfordshire. When a murder occurs at the hotel Daisy starts to ask questions much to the irritation of Inspector Peter Thaxted who is investigating. But between them can they gather all the clues.
An entertaining well-written cozy mystery with its cast of varied, and likeable characters especially the main ones.

sly-humor, small-town, small-business, class-consciousness, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, entitled-attitude, hospitality-industry, post-WW2, England, actors, 1945, cosy-mystery*****

I can't see how I've missed reading anything by Gretta Mulrooney!
With the end of the war Daisy Moore’s wartime work under the Secrets Act comes to an end. Then her flat and her mother come to a smoky end, and a friend introduces her to a sometimes actor who needs a general factotum at his Dolphin hotel in Oxfordshire. And she's a London girl! Dealing with his correspondence is kind of OK, but she also has to help around the hotel. When one of the locals is found dead in a room all sorts of madness ensues. Daisy meets the older war veteran detective assigned to the case and then...
Great characters, intriguing red herring, and diabolical plot twists kept me reading into the night.
I really hope that this is not a one-off but book one of a new series!
I requested and received a free e-arc from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Daisy Moore has given vital service to her country at Bletchley Park during WWII. So vital Daisy is sworn to lifelong secrecy by signature/pledge on the Official Secrets Act. How can it be that suddenly after VE Day in 1945, Daisy’s life has changed so dramatically?

Jobless, and homeless, Daisy is encouraged to take a position as a general factotum at the Dolphin Hotel in Fernfield, a quiet countryside setting in Oxfordshire and very different from post-war city life in London. Daisy has gradually acclimated to her new life but after the stimulation of daily intrigue, life has become ordinary and dull. In a close-knit village that doesn’t trust foreigners and suspicions linger it is difficult to be accepted. But murder has occurred in the hotel and it stimulates Daisy’s mind and actions to be of vital service to Inspector Peter Thaxted.

This is a captivating historical mystery not only for the adeptly woven plot and atmospheric writing but because it provides meaningful insight into women’s history as men returned from war. Daisy, Inspector Thaxted, Father Hickey, and Daisy’s employer Jeffrey Berrow are characters that as the author reveals their strengths but also their flaws endears them all the more. I was also charmed by the furry-faced, paw-some company of brothers Tybalt and Oberon.

The book is listed as a stand-alone on the author’s website but I remain hopeful that this novel becomes a series introduction as I could easily spend more time with these characters. Until then, I encourage everyone to make a reservation on your tbr list for a read at the Dolphin Hotel.

My sincere thanks to Gretta Mulrooney, and Joffe Books for my complimentary digital copy of this title, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

#DeathAtTheDolphin #NetGalley

Tyrone Swift, ex-policeman, and now private investigator is employed to found out who had attacked and left for dead a young man fifteen years ago. Along the way he discovers various secrets, but because of past actions there is an undesirable impact on his life. An interesting enough story but very few likeable characters to connect with or care about.
A NetGalley book.

It is Detective Inspector Siv Drummond's first day back at work after the death of her husband, and in a new place, Berminster. The day does not start well with the discovery of two bodies in a woodland by the River Bere. On the female's body is a photograph of a child.
Siv and her team investigate but are hampered when it seems everybody has something to hide.
An enjoyable and well-written crime story, with its cast of varied characters. A good solid start to a new series.
Received an ARC from the publisher.

When pilot Greg Roscoe is discovered stabbed to death in his cockpit and with no suspects, his mother hires ex-detective Tyrone Swift to investigate. But Roscoe is not the loveable son that his mother believes, but can people be trusted to tell the truth.
An enjoyable enough mystery

Old friend Afan Griffith invites Tyrone Swift to his new home, in Tir Melys a remote community in Pembrokeshire as he has concerns but does not say what or who concerns him. But on arrival Afan has disappeared and it seems that there are many secrets to be revealed.
Swift helps the understaffed local police with the investigate, but will there be more deaths before the conclusion.
Another entertaining and well-written crime story in this series with its likeable main character. A good addition to the series which can easily be read a standalone story
An ARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

private-investigators, friendship, excop, murder, murder-investigation, co-op, Wales, rural, due-diligence*****

Tyrone Swift is working as a private investigator after having worked for the Met Police and for Interpol. He was contacted by an old friend from the Job inviting him to the unusual place in the Welsh countryside that he had retreated to and hinted at wanting some help with a thorny problem. But when Ty got there the man was missing. That's because he was dead. The DI on the case is unusually cooperative, but she also has a badly broken arm and seems ill. So she lets him go all Lone Ranger so long as he reports in to her often. The story is engrossing and twisty with a good complement of red herrings. The characters are very well drawn and totally believable. Excellent read! How have I missed this author/series?!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Rolicking murder mystery with plenty of plot twists and surprises. A good holiday read.

You should not judge a book by its small price tag… If I had in the case of Gretta Mulrooney’s new novel These Little Lies, I’d have missed out on a high-quality contemporary police procedural.

These Little Lies is the first title of Mulrooney’s I have read and the first in her new Detective Inspector Siv Drummond series. Her handling of this series setup is impressive. Readers ride shotgun with Siv as she is introduced to her new team members and questions witnesses/suspects. First impressions of people are noted and then gradually modified based on further observations as their level of interaction develops. That initial wariness and instinctive process of making and debunking assumptions was skilfully depicted, and thus the deeper connections, when made, felt authentic. Continue reading>> https://bookloverbookreviews.com/2019/11/these-little-lies-by-gretta-mulrooney-r...½

My first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I liked that Swift wasn't perfect, but was still a properly functioning human being. So many PI's are alcoholic morose loners/losers and this made a nice change.
There were enough twists and turns to the main story, with some interesting side stories, that meant I just had to keep reading and the ending was quite unexpected.

The Lady Vanished by Gretta Mulrooney is the first book in a new detective mystery series. Tyrone Swift is a private investigator in London. His newest client is Florence Davenport. Her stepmother, Carmen Langborne is missing, and Florence wants Tyrone to find her. It is like Carmen just disappeared one day. Her accounts have not been touched. Tyrone sets out to find Carmen. The woman was not well liked so there are quite a few suspects to check out. Will Tyrone be able to find Carmen? What secrets will he uncover during the investigation?

The Lady Vanished contained a good mystery. We are given some great clues and a healthy list of suspects. However, that is about the only thing I liked in The Lady Vanished. The characters were just not likable. I tried to like Tyrone but he seems intent on his own self-destruction (and we get to hear all his internal debates and reflection). Tyrone is determined to be with a woman who broke up with him and then married someone else. This got to be annoying after a while (a lot of the book is devoted to this erstwhile affair). The Lady Vanished just seem to go on a little too long. I give The Lady Vanished 2.5 out of 5 stars. I think the writer was trying to give us a strong but flawed main character. Instead, he came across as pathetic (a good detective though). I think with some editing and rewriting this could be a good book. But, in its current state, it is not enjoyable (I had a hard time getting through it).

I received a complimentary copy of The Lady Vanished from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I had this book out on semi-permanent loan from the library as a sixteen-year-old, because few other books I'd read dealt quite so well with what it was to be a teenager in love: I adored the descriptions of Carlos's room and sympathised madly with Ella.

Coming back to it nine years later, there are definitely some notes that jar. I find Ella too young in outlook for someone as grown-up and independent as Carlos; and I think the racism aspect is handled clumsily.