Death in Dulwich by Alice Castle

Val Penny ♦ October 10, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

I had not read any books by Alice Castle before, but as those who follow my blog will know, the crime and mystery genres are amongst my favourites, when her new novel, Death in Dulwich, was published by Crooked Cat Books and recommended to me, I decided to buy it to take on holiday with me. Holiday reads are always a struggle in our house as both my husband and I have to agree the titles, so we can swap books. Negotiations complete, Death in Dulwich packed, off we went.

The story revolves around Beth Haldane, a young widow with a son at junior school who secures a job as an archivist at a local, well thought of secondary school. Beth is an engaging character and I cared about her from the start, and was disturbed by her feelings towards her boss, the senior archivist, Dr. Jenkins. When she found him dead, on her first day in her new job, I was almost relieved because Beth had come to no harm.

However, when Beth is amongst those suspected of committing Dr Jenkins’ murder, the real investigation and mystery begins. I do not want to spoil the read for anybody, or to give anything away. I will just say that there are lots of twists and turns as Beth struggles to prove her innocence and moves to find the murderer.

I also enjoyed the relationship that Beth developes with the Detective, York. His responses to her investigating efforts are often very funny.

Alice Castle lives in South London with her two children, two stepchildren, two cats and her husband. She was a feature writer on the Daily Express for many years and has written for most other national newspapers. She has a degree in Modern History from St Andrews University, is the British Royalty expert for Flemish TV, and lived in Brussels for eight years. Her first novel, Hot Chocolate, sold out in two weeks and her second, Death in Dulwich, was published in September 2017 as the first in the London Murder Mystery series.

This is not a long novel, but it has everything: mystery, crime, humour and vitality. It would be an excellent book group read too. I highly recommend it, and hope you will enjoy Death in Dulwich too.

Val Penny