Three murder mysteries

One of my favourite parts of The Gauntlet podcast is the section where they talk about what gives them life—ie, what have they been enjoying. I like this because I like to hear what other people are enjoying, and it’s a lovely celebrating thing that people are enjoying.

So here are three murder mysteries that I’ve recently enjoyed.

I should start by saying that, for me, the point of a murder mystery isn’t to solve the murder—the plots are much too convoluted to do that. Instead, it’s to spend time with characters I enjoy.

Troubled Blood

Troubled Blood is the fifth Strike book by Robert Galbraith (pen name for J K Rowling). And it’s a whopper—the longest Strike book so far (over 900 pages). I found it gripping though—not particularly the murder plot, which twists and turns as you’d expect—but the ongoing will-they-won’t-they nature of Strike and Robin’s relationship.

The TV series starring Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger is also good (and is how I was introduced to the series).

London Bridge is Falling Down

London Bridge is Falling Down by Christopher Fowler features a couple of a different sort: Bryant and May, London’s elderly detectives working for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. This is their twentieth and last adventure and is as chaotic as ever. I first fell in love with Bryant and May in Darkest Day, a glorious zombie horror novel. Bryant is the anarchic detective with a unique train of thought, while May is his more respectable counterpart.

While the PCU and Bryant and May feature in many of Fowler’s novels (including Rune and Soho Black), in 2003 they starred in their own detective series with Full Dark House. I didn’t find that particularly easy to follow, so to find out whether or not you like them, I’d start with the second, The Water Room.

The Appeal

The Appeal by Janice Hallett is a little different. Presented as emails, reports and WhatsApp messages, it takes some getting used to. But the conceit is fun—two law students look through the papers of a murder case and are asked to work out what’s going on. And as a reader, all you are presented with (initially) are those messages, with the occasional WhatsApp conversation between the two students.

The plot concerns an amateur dramatic production and a charity fundraising appeal. I struggled initially to get into it, but a few pages in everything clicked as the characters in the emails came forward and the bitchiness and backstabbing began. I then found I couldn’t put it down.

Unable to solve the murder

Of the murders,  the only one I was close to solving was The Appeal. But even then, I didn’t know who the actual murderer was.