DS Harbinder Kaur, a female detective in a male dominated work place. She is also gay; a Sikh and in her mid thirties is still lives with her mum and dad. Ninety-year-old Peggy has died and her caretaker, Natalka, believes it was no ordinary death. When Natalka was cleaning out Peggy's home she noticed there was a large collection of crime novels and each came with a dedication to Peggy. She approaches Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur with her suspicions. After a gunman breaks in to steal one of the books, Harbinder sets out to determine if Peggy was murdered. Plus, Griffiths admits there is nothing cozy about murder, but there are avid readers who find comfort in a great murder mystery, sans blood and guts. Mysteries that are puzzles, that engage the reader in solving said puzzles are a must in creating a cozy mystery. We get to see things from the viewpoints of Natalka, Benedict, Edwin, Harbinder and others. Eventually Natalka, Benedict, and Edwin take off to an Aberdeen literary festival to do their snooping, and things get more dangerous and perplexing. Both Benedict and Harbinger are the most entertaining to me, with their inner thoughts on everything that was going on. Natalka brings to mind a beautiful spy (I'm not saying she is a spy), Edwin, at 80, is as suave as he was in his younger days, and Harbinder gets so irked by her partner Neil that she imagines he's a small woodland creature, although I don't think this helped her relationship with him, one bit.

DS Kaur, who is almost 40 and still lives at home with her parents, is in turn frustrated and impressed by the skills and dedication of this group. Kaur is also gay, still hiding it from her parents, and disappointingly single. She has a nice line in sarcasm, and often thinks of her partner, Neil, as a little woodland animal, a cute squirrel who often nibbles at nuts somewhat larger than he is. Neil himself would have preferred to live in the times where detectives trampled all over the crime scene, pausing only to beat up suspects and drink beer, rather than having to worry about all the intricacies of forensics.Harbinder thinks of her police partner Neil Winston, who doesn't 'get' a lot of things, as a woodland creature - sly, slightly stupid, but ultimately lovable. The premise is a little flimsy, because I don’t think anyone would have thought it worth investigating Peggy’s death, especially after she was cremated and no post mortem could be performed. But I didn’t care a whit about believability with this story. It’s a mystery novel about mystery novels, a love letter giving a big meta wink to the writing and plotting side of the genre. (If you can call a book that kills off more than one mystery writer a love letter … hmmm.) I loved every word of it.

The characters were amazing, here are some of them; the first 4 make up our murder solving investigators! I love how their relationships changed and how well these four worked together : And that Peggy Smith had been a ‘murder consultant’ who plotted deaths for authors, and knew more about murder than anyone has any right to… Although this is #2 in the Harbinder Kaur series, unusually for a series, the detective is not the focus of the book. The murder/s are firmly front and centre, with an ill assorted cast of amateur detectives playing the major role. There’s a fun trio that is investigating the “crimes” – Natalka, a coffee shop owner Benedict, and Peggy’s neighbor, friend, and snappy dresser Edwin. Though the trio was surrounded by murders, I felt that they were safe from harm in this cozy mystery. I found this one to be reminiscent of Agatha Christie. DS Harbinder Kaur is a gay Sikh woman who still lives with her folks. Harbinder's parents run the family store, and her mom is a wonderful cook who serves delicious Indian cuisine.

The ultimate gripping murder mystery to curl up with, from the bestselling author of The Stranger Diaries and the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries