My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Joffee Books
A 3.5 rounded up.
I loved the setting at Oxford and the quirky taxidermist society conference attendees. The murder happened quickly enough (in chapter three of ten) leaving the main of the book for solving it. There were many suspects and the culprit fairly clear (along with the Why) but there was also a secondary murder plot entwined that made for a neat twist. Also to the good here, Jenny has a bit of a romance with a man she meets and the fact of people being agog when they take in her size and find her attractive waned considerably. So too have the "Junoesque" mentions. This reader was pleased, indeed.
Oddly, Jenny is so involved in the investigation and so central to it that there's little going on in the way of her cooking or interacting with her kitchen staff. I often found myself wondering when we'd get around to that but it didn't really happen. I like that in each book the way Jenny interacts and solves the crime is a bit different but this is the least she's been involved in her actual profession and it wasn't my favourite. Inspector Morse is often referenced in the story and I have to say, this did feel more like that than a Jenny Starling adventure. Again, not a bad thing but not quite on brand. Points to Norman, the wily lizard in this one that escapes his habitat regularly and keeps a wry eye on things. He must know Herman from the last book. Perhaps there's an amphibian and reptile conference happening at St. Bede's as well. I still want the details on the professor's snake and the dishwasher.
While I didn't love it like the last, it's still a very good mystery and not one in the series I'd advise skipping. I'm looking forward to the next.
Summary: Jenny Starling has a summer job cooking at a prestigious Oxford college. But she’s not expecting murder on the menu.
Then womanising taxidermy society president, Maurice Raines, is found with a knife in his neck in the dining hall.
Everyone is in classes at the time of his death. So, frustratingly it seems they all have an alibi.
However, there are many suspects, including Maurice’s wife and his lover.
The college and police need Jenny’s help to solve this perplexing case. But can Jenny keep her concentration with a budding romance on the cards?Then womanising taxidermy society president, Maurice Raines, is found with a knife in his neck in the dining hall.
Everyone is in classes at the time of his death. So, frustratingly it seems they all have an alibi.
However, there are many suspects, including Maurice’s wife and his lover.
The college and police need Jenny’s help to solve this perplexing case. But can Jenny keep her concentration with a budding romance on the cards?
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