An enjoyable murder mystery, reminds me of Death in Paradise meets Miss Marple! Engaging and perfect for holiday reading. Lady Glenconner has blended fact and fiction I am sure, and that adds to the charm of this book. I'm looking forward to more about Lady Vee!

Shame. This could have been a fun little story, but the audiobook was not really very well done and the story was a bit too contrived. Not a bad book. Just not what I was hoping for.

Mustique is a real private island, full of rich and exclusive abodes; and the author is writing semi-autobiographically about the island and lifestyle. Richly evocative of luxury life, this is a interesting diversion from the standard murder mystery novel. Lady Veronica (Vee), former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret (like the author herself) is in her own words roaming round like a ‘tropical Miss Marple’ after the disappearance of a wealthy young socialite on the island. The missing woman, Amanda, is a close friend of Lady Vee’s goddaughter, and was helping her with her project to save Mustique’s coral reef. It seems her disappearance could be related to the Reef Revival scheme, although almost everyone on the island understands how vital the project is, leaving it unclear how this could be the motive. While a storm bears down on the island, and the safety of Lady Vee’s goddaughter is threatened, Lady Vee and a young police officer named Solomon Miles attempt to make sense of some strange clues with limited resources.

Whilst I didn’t find the rich and celebrity aspect of the story to be particularly likeable or relatable, Lady Vee’s empathy with other characters is endearing, the writing style engaging, and I was invested in the plot, making it a very fast-paced read. A tropical murder mystery was also a good pick me up as we head into the autumnal weather. Overall enjoyable.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mustique is a real private island, full of rich and exclusive abodes; and the author is writing semi-autobiographically about the island and lifestyle. Richly evocative of luxury life, this is a interesting diversion from the standard murder mystery novel. Lady Veronica (Vee), former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret (like the author herself) is in her own words roaming round like a ‘tropical Miss Marple’ after the disappearance of a wealthy young socialite on the island. The missing woman, Amanda, is a close friend of Lady Vee’s goddaughter, and was helping her with her project to save Mustique’s coral reef. It seems her disappearance could be related to the Reef Revival scheme, although almost everyone on the island understands how vital the project is, leaving it unclear how this could be the motive. While a storm bears down on the island, and the safety of Lady Vee’s goddaughter is threatened, Lady Vee and a young police officer named Solomon Miles attempt to make sense of some strange clues with limited resources.

Whilst I didn’t find the rich and celebrity aspect of the story to be particularly likeable or relatable, Lady Vee’s empathy with other characters is endearing, the writing style engaging, and I was invested in the plot, making it a very fast-paced read. A tropical murder mystery was also a good pick me up as we head into the autumnal weather. Overall enjoyable.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out on the 12th November in the UK.

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Good story, gorgeous setting, interesting characters.

3.5

This is a nice wee beach read! I loved the Caribbean setting so much.

I did wonder about two of the editing choices in this book:

The fact that Veronica was also a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and how Veronica’s chapters were the only ones in the first person made this feel a bit… funny. Like, semi-autobiographical but, also like self fan-fiction? I read Lady In Waiting last year and because I knew Anne’s story through her autobiography, those parts of the book felt a bit self-indulgent.

Spoiler

I wasn’t entirely convinced by the motive of the killer. The “bad childhood” trope seemed like a bit of a cop-out and rendered the reveal a bit disappointing.

If you’re looking for a relaxing beach read for summer, this does have an excellent setting-as-character that will transport you to the Caribbean.

Vivid descriptions of the island life and an interesting crime story. Sometime the name dropping got a bit much. More like 3.5