Elin Gregory

Happy Saturday.

Reading really is the BEST thing to do when it’s a bit dreary and miserable outside and you can’t summon up the enthusiasm to do much inside.

This week I’ve been dipping into old favourites again – Harry Dresden ftw. Then a pre-ordered book popped up on my Kindle which was a terrific surprise. I always forget preorders and have sometime pre-ordered copies from the publisher and Amazon AND bought one on release day from ARe as well. But this time there was just one – sorry, Charlie – The Best Corpse for the Job, a cosy British murder mystery from fave autobuy author Charlie Cochrane.

Isn’t that cover brillant? Thanks Riptide.

This is one of those books that doesn’t categorise easily. It has the murder, but it’s not gory. There’s a mystery but not very many potential murderers to choose from. There’s some romance between two young men but none of the usual heaving, moaning and spurting that’s almost obligatory in M/M romance. Also it’s very very British and, again, thank you Riptide from the bottom of my heart for not moving it to that watery mid-Atlantic grave inhabited by UK-set books who are trying to cater for readers who can’t cope with odd words like curtains, crumpets and trainers.

I smiled all the way through this examination of the petty rivalries and quirky competitions between characters in a small closed in community. Village life can be cut throat emotionally and sometimes I think it’s just as well that we don’t ‘do’ guns or the local PTA meetings would be a blood bath. There was so much here that I recognised, empathised with or laughed at with a wince.

The lead characters are very sweet and some of the secondaries almost deserve their own stories. It was a very relaxing read and great fun as well.

Highly recommended.