Name: A Brush with Death
Rating: 2 (1 reviews)
ISBN: 9781786072764

Ali Carter

Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey in this delightful new series introducing pet portraitist and amateur super-sleuth, Susie Mahl In the village of Spire, murder is afoot. Rich landowner Alexander, 9th Earl of Greengrass is caught with his trousers down in the village graveyard before meeting a gruesome end. Luckily Susie Mahl happens to be on hand. With her artist's eye for detail and her curious nature she is soon on the scent of the murderer...

A Brush with Death

Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey in this delightful new series introducing pet portraitist and amateur super-sleuth, Susie Mahl In the village of Spire, murder is afoot. Rich landowner Alexander, 9th Earl of Greengrass is caught with his trousers down in the village graveyard before meeting a gruesome end. Luckily Susie Mahl happens to be on hand. With her artist’s eye for detail and her curious nature she is soon on the scent of the murderer…

A Susie Mahl Mystery

Liz Carpenter

2.5 stars for a bit of a mixed bag of a light-hearted cozy mystery. The best parts are the English countryside settings, some of the ridiculous (ironic?) character names (hello, Asquintha, Lady Cornfield) and Susie's observations regarding her fellow human beings and the animals that surround them. On the other hand, you can rather tell this is a debut fiction effort, as the writing is a bit uneven, at least one important character and a few of the plot points were sort of introduced as backhanded afterthoughts, there were several go-nowhere scenes, and the denouement was almost anti-climactic. I do think there is some promise in the possible future of the series, and if Carter can develop Susie and her detecting abilities, I'd like to re-visit.

A Brush with Death

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