Anty Boisjoly Mysteries Book #2
by P.J. Fitzsimmons
GENRE: #Christmas-cozy-mystery
My rating: ★★★★☆
Actually 3,8 stars rounded up to 4.
Very nice "Whodunit" set in 1920s England and written in a bit of Wodehouse's style.
Overall I liked it "a lot", actually very much!
_____PLOT__ 1928, England.
Anthony ( Anty) Boisjoly goes to spend the Christmas holidays with his shy aunt Azalea in the small, picturesque village of Graze Hill, Hertfordshire.
Unfortunately, Christmas day immediately begins in a negative way: Aunt Azalea visits a friend in the village, a well-known war hero, and finds him dead, stabbed, under the Christmas tree.
The village policeman immediately insinuates that the only probable culprit is Anty's aunt and the commissioner sent by Scotland Yard will do the same.
Anty has nothing left but to work hard to find the real culprit in order to clear her aunt.
____________________
It took me a little while to appreciate this book, but once I got over my initial difficulty to get into it I began to grow fond of the main character and started to laugh at his way of telling the story: with irony and humor.
The entire story, the events, the mystery and its solution are in fact told in first person by the protagonist and while in the first part the MYSTERY didn't look so enthralling ( and I also felt a little annoyed by the constant humorous jokes), in the second part it became very engaging and wittily thought out by the author.
I really liked how the protagonist put together all the pieces of the puzzle (which was really complicated) and the final explanation of the murders solution, the ending indeed was beautiful and very satisfying!!
The DIALOGUES are witty and lively, with some really funny scenes, to the point that sometimes I found myself laughing out loud!.
I think this character and the book series would be a great idea for a BBC miniseries.
There aren't many CHARACTERS, but they aren't few either and in the first part I found myself a little confused and none of them stood out in a particular way among the others.
As the story gradually got to the heart of the mystery, however, everyone's bizarre personality was finally highlighted and that was the point where everything became more interesting and I hoped that none of the good guys (or supposedly good guys) would die and that none of those I liked were the culprit.
...And talking about the CULPRIT:
I was never able to guess until it was revealed by Anty!!
Therefore the ENDING WAS EVEN MORE ENJOYABLE and the writer, in addition to the mystery's solution, added a personal happy ending to each character.
__ CHRISTMAS ATMOSPHERE __
There are many books of various genres with the word "Christmas" in the title (or Yuletide or Mistletoe or similar), but there are very few of these that offer a Christmas atmosphere.
This fun "whodunit" didn't fail me!
I enjoyed immersing myself in the welcoming atmosphere of the snow-covered English village, magical and cozy like the one on the postcards.
The author was very good at the descriptions and the mulled wine in the pub, the typical church of the small village, the singing of the carol dedicated to Saint Stephen (although a little bizarre and hilarious) and the preparations for the final party help the reader to breathe a festive atmosphere
This is book #2 in a series (of which I will read the following books and maybe even the first), BUT IT IS PERFECTLY READABLE AS A STANDALONE.
RECOMMENDED TO all those who love reading the classics of the Golden Age
(even if this is written by a contemporary author) and to all those who want a well-conceived puzzle made more tantalizing by the addition of irony and humor.
Thanks for reading my opinion and please forgive any errors in my text, English is not my native language.
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