Blog Tour / Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody

A lady with a secret

Kate Shackleton's sterling reputation for courageous sleuthing attracts the attention of the venerable Lady Coulton. Hidden in her past is a daughter, born out of wedlock and given up to a different family. Now, Lady Coulton is determined to find her and puts Kate on the case.

A mysterious killing in the library's basement

But as Kate delves deeper into Lady Coulton's past, she soon finds herself thrust into a scandal much closer to home. When the body of the respected Horatio Potter is found in the Leeds Library basement, the quiet literary community is suddenly turned upside down with suspicions, accusations and - much to Kate's surprise - the appearance of a particularly intelligent Capuchin monkey!

The most puzzling case in Kate's sleuthing history yet.

Published:     2nd October 2014
Publisher:  Piatkus
Author Website:  Click here
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 6, Kate Shackleton
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   4 out of 5

My Review

What I liked about this story...
I was very excited to start this story as this is something completely new to me, cosy crime.  I promised myself this year that I would try new styles of stories and I am really glad that I gave this a go.  With this story, it is more like two stories in one.  Firstly you have the story of Lady Coulton and her long lost daughter and secondly we have a murder mystery.   I really enjoyed the very laid back mystery style of this story, there was definitely a lot of great suspense but the kind of suspense that you can lay back on the sofa and enjoy rather than a highly dramatic edge of your seat suspense. 

What I was not fond of with this story... 
Unfortunately, I had not realised when reading this story that it was book 6 in a series.  Although from looking at the other stories it may not be necessary to read books 1 to 5 before getting to this one I did feel that maybe if I had read the other books I may learned more about Kate Shackleton but I am definitely going to be checking them out. 

About the Author
(from Goodreads)

Frances Brody's highly-praised 1920s mysteries feature clever and elegant Kate Shackleton, First World War widow turned sleuth. 

Missing person? Foul play suspected? Kate's your woman. For good measure, she may bring along ex-policeman, Jim Sykes.

Before turning to crime, Frances wrote for radio, television and theatre, and was nominated for a Time Out Award. 

She published four sagas, winning the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin Award in 2006.