Jelly-Bell Book Club: Review: The Blood of an Englishman

The Blood of an Englishman by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What I loved

I love a good cozy murder mystery. I'm trying to write one right now. But I'm not sure how I felt about this book one. Very modern day British. Very Midsummer Murders but much more punchy.

What I liked

Agatha Rasin is a likably flawed protagonist. I'm not used to my cozy decs having a sex drive. I rather like having a hot blooded older woman to follow around. I didn't mind the romantic side quests. However, it did spoil it for me to have the POV suddenly from John Hale's perspective. I would have liked to find out motives along with Agy so I could feel what she's feelings. I'm not sure the dramatic irony worked well here.

image from The Guardian

What I didn't like.

I like Agatha Rasin, as a character, but she is a terrible detective, at least in this book (the first I've read of her series). She spends the first half of the book alienating witnesses and getting kicked out of places. Her assistants find more clues than she does. There is a point in early acts where she's just accusing people willy-nilly (which I did find amusing but odd) And her "eureka" moment only happens because she happens to fall asleep on a movie that spells out the murder's plot. But by the time she's on the scent on the killer the police don't even want to offer her protection from the goon because she's burned every bridge.

M.C. Beaton was an accomplished Scotish mystery and romance writer under a variety of pen names! Her career started in 1979 and lasted until 2019. Learn more about her here.

Conclusion

All in all a fun book. You'll enjoy it very much if you don't take it too seriously. If you enjoy a good mystery, but you're really looking for a comedy this is for you. Makes a great vacation read. Easy to savor and follow along with.

If you liked this book check more of M.C. Beaton's works on Libby, your local library of through these Amazon Associates links!

The Traveling Match Maker series