Resort to Murder

Resort to Murder by T.P. Fielden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s the summer of 1959 and we find ourselves in the seaside town of Temple Regis—located on Devon’s self-styled Riviera (complete with the odd palm tree to grace the railway station)—ready to cater to the hundreds of English holidaymakers about to descend upon the coast expecting sun, sea, and beauty pageants. Not everyone is happy about the latter of these entertainments, not least the Sisters of Reason, a proto-feminist group that views everything that has happened since the end of the war as a retrograde step for womankind. Judy Dimont, star reporter for the Riviera Express—the town’s weekly newspaper—should know. During the war she worked high up in Naval Intelligence; now she works for an editor who was once her bumbling underling—an editor who seems keen to keep any mention of the two mystery deaths that occur out of his paper.

T. P. Fielden writes prose that is a delight to read. Couple this with a slightly unusual period setting, a host of excellent characters and just the right amount of love interest, and you have a great cozy mystery on your hands—though I wonder if other readers will be happy with how the love interest turns out. This is the second book in what promises to be an wonderful series, but it can be read perfectly well as a stand-alone.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK for providing me with a review copy, and apologies that this review is a little bit late.

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