Two ebooks, each the first in a series and offered for free to get readers interested enough in the series to buy the rest of the books - you know the familiar pattern by now. Also, the pattern of the mysteries itself was rather familiar, but I still found them entertaining enough during my train trips to keep reading until the end.
Murder on Tyneside (Agnes Lockwood Mysteries, Book 1)
Eileen Thornton
Many years ago, Agnes Lockwood lived in Tyneside (Northeast England) with her family. They moved away before she was grown up but she never forgot the place, always wanting to return to where she'd spent a reasonably happy childhood and youth. But as is so often the case, it never happened; life was just too busy with her own family.
Now recently widowed and her grown children living in Australia, she decides it is the perfect time to return.
Unfortunately, it is also the perfect time for murder and mayhem, as Agnes finds out almost as soon as she arrives at her luxurious hotel.
Valuable jewellery is stolen, and as if that wasn't enough, she stumbles across the dead body of a woman on the pavement one evening just as she returns to the hotel.
With her is Alan, the inspector in charge of the case of the stolen valuables, and coincidentally an old chum from school. Of course it is Alan's job to deal with what turns out to be a murder, but because Agnes has nothing better to do AND found the body, she finds it is only natural that she participates in solving the case.
I don't need to tell you that she does indeed solve the case, just as I don't need to tell you that she nearly ends up dead herself in the process, but since it is the first in a series, the readers can be certain that the heroine will survive.
There were a few twists and turns without any huge surprises, but I quite liked Agnes and Alan and found the story presented well enough. Also, I am sure if a reader has been to this part of England, they will enjoy the local references.
The author was unknown to me; her website is here.
Alice Castle
The premises of this story promised a cosy and undemanding read on the train, but I was a little underwhelmed, mainly because of one of the (unfortunately) main characters.
Another recently widowed woman, this time a retired GP, moves to a picturesque cottage in an idyllic small English seaside town, complete with colourful beach huts, adventure golf course, café and an assortment of shops and pubs.
Sarah Vane's old friend since their school days lives there, and it is this friend I found rather annoying most of the time. Daphne is loud, unreasonable, untidy, unclean (it is meant to be "fun" that her kitchen is full of crumbs and dirty dishes, and that she forgets where she left her mobile phone only to find it inside the tea kettle) and firmly believes she is in touch with The Beyond - the spiritual world. But somehow, her being the opposite of Sarah works well for their friendship.
When Daphne shows her newly arrived friend the beach hut she recently bought from the town's suspiciously un-busy antiques dealer, they discover a dead body... and events are set in motion.
With Sarah's medical expertise and sharp, logical thinking, combined with Daphne's emotional approach, local knowledge and her daughter in the police force, of course the case is solved - but not until the very end.
The story itself wasn't bad, I just didn't warm to Daphne at all and think that Sarah's character didn't need a polar opposite to bring the plot forward.
Again, the author was unknown to me - or so I thought; actually, I read and reviewed another of her books in 2024. Her website is here.
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