Elly Griffiths has rapidly become one my favourite authors this year… during lockdown I worked my way through her fantastic Dr Ruth Galloway crime series, as well as her standalone novel The Stranger Diaries. The Postscript Murders is another standalone crime novel, although it does feature DS Harbinder Kaur, who was investigating the murder in The Stranger Diaries.
When 90 year old Peggy Smith is found dead in her flat by her carer, there is nothing to suggest that her death is suspicious. Nevertheless, carer Natalka can’t help but be intrigued when she discovers that Peggy was a ‘murder consultant’ and she decides to approach the police. DS Kaur begins to look into Peggy’s death, especially after Natalka and her batista friend Benedict are threatened by a masked gunman whilst looking around Peggy’s flat.
It turns out that a murder consultant helps authors to plan out their crime novels and how characters will die. When a bestselling author who worked with Peggy is also killed the case becomes much more urgent, as it appears there is a serial killer on the loose. With DS Kaur investigating in Shoreham, unlikely investigating trio Natalka, Benedict and Peggy’s friend Edwin travel up to Scotland to speak to some more crime writers who worked with Peggy. As the characters head into danger, the case becomes more tangled and complex and builds to a dramatic conclusion.
I really enjoyed this book (not as much as the Ruth Galloway books, but they are hard to beat). I particularly enjoyed reading about Natalka, Benedict and Edwin. They seem a completely unlikely combination of characters to team up and solve a mystery but this is what I enjoyed so much about them. I also liked the balance between the police investigation and the trio’s more personal enquiries.
The ending was satisfyingly twisty and complicated and the final twist was one that I didn’t see coming. I also really enjoyed the focus on the literary world and crime writers. Well worth read, this is an enjoyable crime novel to curl up with on a cold evening.
Returning to Reading 