My #BookReview of cosy #Mystery Fatal Masquerade by Vivian Conroy @VivWrites #BlogTour

Lady Alkmene and Jake Dubois are back in a gripping new adventure facing dangerous opponents at a masked ball in the countryside.

Masked danger…

Lady Alkmene Callender has always loved grand parties, but when she receives an invitation to a masked ball thrown by Franklin Hargrove – oil magnate, aviation enthusiast and father of her best friend, Denise – she’s never seen such luxury. The estate is lit up with Chinese lanterns in the gardens, boats operated by footmen float across the pond and the guest list features the distinguished, rich and powerful!

But below the glamour, evil is lurking. When a dead body is discovered, it forces Lady Alkmene to throw off her mask and attempt to find the true killer before Denise’s family are accused. If only her partner, Jake Dubois, weren’t hiding something from her…

This case might just be more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.

Fatal Masquerade is a cosy mystery set in the 1920s. It is book #4 in the Lady Alkmene Callender series of mysteries.

35428961

Lady Alkmene has been invited to a masked ball at the family home of best friend Denise Hargrove. With a houseful of suspects guests and more invited for the actual ball, the setting reminded me of other well known ‘Whodunnit’ style mysteries like Miss Marple or Johnathan Creek.

During the ball a murder occurs at the boat house; Lady Alkmene discovers the body and is first on the scene, or so it appears. The police are bumbling and incompetent, allowing Lady Alkmene and her partner, journalist Jake Dubois, to try solving the case themselves. Their search for the murderer reveals some interesting motifs for more than one character. Can Lady Alkmene be sure the police have arrested the wrong person?

This is the first book I have read in the series. The use of a partnership like the one between Lady Alkmene and Jake, and the style of their investigation has proved to be a winning formula in cosy mysteries. There were a few American terms used in the writing which, it could be argued, didn’t fit with the English location, but not every reader will notice.

I found the writing style and sentence structure easy to read, but simplistic at times, and felt with a little re-wording the story would flow more easily. This would lift this book, for me, from an okay read to one ready to compete in what has become a rather saturated genre.