My enormous thanks to Isabel Williams for sending me a copy of Murder by Candlelight by Faith Martin in return for an honest review. Murder by Candlelight is the first in a brand new series from Faith and it’s my absolute pleasure to share my review today.
Published in paperback by Harper Collins imprint HQ on 26th September 2024, Murder by Candlelight is available for purchase in all formats here.
Murder by Candlelight
The Cotswolds, 1924. At the Old Forge in the quiet village of Maybury-in-the-Marsh a cry of anguish rings out: lady of the house Amy Phelps has been discovered dead. But with all the windows and doors to her room locked from inside, how – and by whom – was she killed?
Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Swift finds himself in the unlikely position of detective. The celebrated author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Ghost-Hunting is staying at the Old Forge to investigate a suspected spectre, but now the more pressing matter of Amy’s murder falls to him too.
With old friend Val, he soon uncovers a sorry tale of altered wills, secret love affairs and tragic losses – and plenty of motives for murder. When events take another sinister turn, Arbie must find the killer, fast. And to do so will mean cracking a most perfectly plotted crime…
My Review of Murder by Candlelight
Arbuthnot ‘Arbie’ Smith has a mystery to solve.
Murder By Candlelight is absolutely brilliant. It’s packed with humour, has a style reminiscent of an Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse hybrid and is the most delicious locked room murder mystery. It’s huge fun and enormously entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Faith Martin’s style is pitch perfect for her 1920s era and the Cotswold village setting of Maybury-in-the-Marsh is so familiar to readers that it enables us to bring our own expectations and knowledge to the narrative, making it all the more entertaining. This story really is crying out to be turned into a winter Sunday television series. The scope for further development is infinite.
The plot romps along with drip fed information that compels the reader to become as involved in the sleuthing as Arbie Swift and his side-kick Val. I didn’t guess the resolution but it was a wonderful and completely fitting end to the story.
The characters are superb. Certainly some are slightly stereotyped such as the eccentric, rather roguish, Uncle, but this is not a criticism. Instead, it feels as if they are just the kind of people we expect in the story because they draw on familiar literature, making it all the more delightful when they appear. I adored Arbie as he’s by no means as idiotic and louche as he may wish to pretend and I loved the frisson of tension between him and Val. Archie’s attempts at indolence that are, in effect, undermined by his own reluctant intellectual brilliance, lend colour and humour to the story. Val is also a triumph. The unmarried daughter of the local vicar, her position in society is pre-ordained, but her directness, her feistiness and her feminism mean that she simply refuses to conform. I ended Murder by Candlelight desperate for future adventures for Val and Archie and very much hoping their partnership and friendship might blossom into something more.
Murder by Candlelight is a delight to read. Drawing on the Golden Age of crime fiction Faith Martin has produced a fabulous cosy crime that manages to be devious, fast paced and totally absorbing. I devoured this story in a couple of sittings because I found it so entertaining. It’s a belter!
About Faith Martin
Faith Martin has been writing for over 30 years, and JOFFE BOOKS have reissued all of her popular, multi-million bestselling DI Hillary Greene novels in new updated editions, and are set to publish the new novels in this continuing series. Box sets are available. JOFFE have also reissued all her modern but classic-style whodunits featuring amateur sleuth/travelling cook Jenny Starling and vicar’s wife Monica Noble. Her latest Hillary Greene novel, Murder on the Train hit the best seller lists long before its publication date, due to pre-orders, and is now available.
HQ have published her series of 1960’s-set Ryder & Loveday novels and she is currently busy writing a new series for HQ, set in the 1920’s, which feature locked-roomed mysteries, the first of which, Murder by Candlelight is now available.
For further information, visit Faith’s website, find her on Facebook of follow Faith on Twitter/X @FaithMartin_Nov.
English (US) · 