Mystery Monday & Review: Invitation to Die by Helen Smith @emperorsclothes
It’s another Monday and that means another featured mystery book! This week it is book 3 in the Emily Castle series. The first two books are Three Sisters and Showstoppers both of which I reviewed last year. These two were more of a novella to introduce us to the character, so maybe this is really book 1! This book came out last year…I was just a little slow on getting to the book.
Synopsis
Twenty-six-year-old Emily Castles is out of work… again. So when famous romance author Morgana Blakely offers her a job helping out at a conference in London, Emily accepts. Just as eagerly, American blogger Winnie Kraster accepts an invitation from Morgana to attend as a guest, not realizing she has, in effect, accepted an invitation to die.
As a cast of oddball characters assembles at the conference hotel, grievances, differences, and secrets begin to emerge. When Winnie goes missing, and then is found murdered nearby, Emily begins to suspect that someone involved with the conference is responsible. Could it be one of the organizers, one of the authors, a member of the hotel staff, or even the supplier of the chocolates for the conference gift bags? Emily teams up with guest speaker and eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel to find out.
Offbeat and engaging, this entertaining comic mystery is the first full-length novel featuring amateur British sleuth Emily Castles.
Review
I wonder if I should be concerned as a blogger that an author might be out to get me! This is the 3rd book in the series (although the first two were novellas) and the characters have become more fleshed out since those two short stories. I never suspected the killer and was surprised when Emily had it all figured out because it seemed like she was thrown into the situation to reveal the killer and didn’t seem very confident when she was approached.
I do wonder if Emily is going to have a romantic relationship with the detective. guess we shall see!
We give this 4 paws and look forward to the next book – Beyond Belief (which I have on my Kindle to read)
Author Helen Smith
Helen Smith is a novelist and playwright who lives in London. She’s the author of bestselling cult novels Alison Wonderland, Being Light and The Miracle Inspector as well as the Emily Castles Mystery Series.
Rebecca Douglass
Looks like an interesting book! i might check this out, just because it’s all about writers!