Death In The Stars - Frances Brody Blog Tour Review

Synopsis:

Yorkshire, 1927. Eclipse fever grips the nation, and when beloved theatre star Selina Fellini approaches trusted sleuth Kate Shackleton to accompany her to a viewing party at Giggleswick School Chapel, Kate suspects an ulterior motive.
During the eclipse, Selina's friend and co-star Billy Moffatt disappears and is later found dead in the chapel grounds. Kate can't help but dig deeper and soon learns that two other members of the theatre troupe died in similarly mysterious circumstances in the past year. With the help of Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden, Kate sets about investigating the deaths - and whether there is a murderer in the company.
When Selina's elusive husband Jarrod, injured in the war and subject to violent mood swings, comes back on the scene, Kate begins to imagine something far deadlier at play, and wonders just who will be next to pay the ultimate price for fame . . .

Review:

So you all know I absolutely loved Death at The Seaside by Frances Brody when I read it what feels like such a long time ago now, so when I was approached to take part in the Death In The Stars Blog Tour providing a review I simply could not pass the opportunity up.

It feels great to be seeing the familiar faces once again, like a reunion party of sorts. I still love Kate, she remains as intelligent, blunt and beautiful as she was when I last saw her. We also meet some great characters, Selina for starters is an amazing singer, elegant and beautiful and yet i was suspicious about her from square one. Billy is a comedian/performer and hes bubbly and lovely and i warmed to him and felt quite attached to him unaware of his fate. I felt a punch to my gut and heart when I read it. Quite emotional for a character I had only known of for a short time. There are more to talk of but I don't wish to make this paragraph too long. Each character intrigued me and found a part in my heart no matter the outcome of te book which sounds odd but its the way it is.

Upon opening the book i was instantly sucked in, its was incredibly hard to put it down and rest or anything of the sort. Frances has once again created a gripping book, one of which takes ahold of you and refuses to relieve its grip until the very end. My mind was constantly going into overdrive, trying to put the puzzle together before I was told of anything, i admit i was only slightly capable of that. Frances is a great writer, her plots and characters are beautiful, unique and immersive. What is also lovely about this book is how well Frances was able to portray the stage/theatre life back in the 1920's it's beautiful and she did a great job at bringing it back to life for us as readers.

I must delcare this but in my review of Death by the Seaside i said the following:

I didn't feel very connected to any character in the book at all, although Kate is really vivid in my head, I just didn't forge any connection with her, she was just an important role in the book. To find out Kate has a series really makes me wonder if I read more about her will I make connections. It's a really big issues with me, if I can't forge a connection then I really find it hard to read these characters for a long time. Kate is clearly intelligent and resilient and those qualities are great to have I just wished I loved her as a character as much as other have said they do.

Every inch of me takes that back, I fell for Kate and Its undeniable. I'm lookig forward to seeing her again in any books to come.

Frances Brody is a great addition to the Crime writing business, bringing unique and complicated plots to the table. Its a 5/5 from me, a reccomendation to all who love twisty turny plots and crime novels and maybe crime novels with twisty turny plots.

 About The Author

Frances Brody is the author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries, as well as many stories and plays for BBC Radio, scripts for television and four sagas, one of which won the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin Award. Her stage plays have been toured by several theatre companies and produced at Manchester Library Theatre, the Gate and Nottingham Playhouse, and Jehad was nominated for a Time Out Award.

Want to see the other posts this blog tour? check them all out by using the banner below.

Top Ten Tuesday - Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016

I really wanted to put head shots of each author with their names but I couldn't find any for some so the post would have looked weird. I also felt weird adding their books I had read so I just left it as a list of their names.

Mark Hill

Shelby Lamb

Lincoln Cole

Jean Nicole Rivers

Frances Brody

Kiran Millwood Hargrave

V.K McAllister

John Greyson Heide

John Burnside

Steven Amsterdam

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

Death at The Seaside - Frances Brody

Synopsis:

Nothing ever happens in august, and tenacious sleuth Kate Shakleton deserves a break. Heading off for a long -overdue holiday to Whitby, she visits her school friend Alma who works as a fortune teller there.

Kate had been looking forward to a relaxing seaside sojourn, but upon arrival discovers that almas' daughter Felcity has disappeared, leaving her mother a note and the pawn ticket for their only asset: a watch-guard. What makes this more intriguing is the jeweller who advanced Felicity the thirty shillings is Jack Philips, Alma's current gentleman friend.

Kate cant help but come involved, and goes on to the jewellers shop to get some answers. When she makes a horrifying discovery in the back room, it soon becomes clear that her services are needed, Met by a wall of silence by the towns officials, keen to maintain Whitby's idyllic façade it is up to Kate - ably assisted by Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden - to discover the truth behind Felicity's disappearance

And they say something happens in August

Review:

I was send a copy of the book in order to participate in the book tour which ended yesterday after visiting this blog as well as many others since the 3rd of October. My copy came around the 8th of September and it sat on my shelf for just over a week before I finally pulled it off and begun reading it.

The blurb was what pulled me in if I have to be honest, I wanted to know the ins and out of all of it and really get to know everyone involved in what seems like the most mysterious disappearance that has ever happened. Unfortunately for me the book just wasn't what I had expected.  It took me far too long to really get into reading the book and even then I could only read 20-30 pages a day before having to force myself to read more.

I didn't feel very connected to any character in the book at all, although Kate is really vivid in my head, I just didn't forge any connection with her, she was just an important role in the book. To find out Kate has a series really makes me wonder if I read more about her will I make connections. It's a really big issues with me, if I can't forge a connection then I really find it hard to read these characters for a long time. Kate is clearly intelligent and resilient and those qualities are great to have I just wished I loved her as a character as much as other have said they do. As for Alma and Felicity, they weren't as vivid as Kate was but they still had the same outcome to me, as did everyone else.

I loved the scenery and its description really does made it sound idyllic and I fell for it as a setting. I find myself loving books set by the seaside with beautiful houses and piers.

The books had its twist and turns for surprises and didn't do bad with the overall plot because that in fact was quite nice and bearable. I could easily see Felicity and Kate in the current times and maybe if I did I could forge some sort of link with them. I'm always willing to give crime novels a shot, they intruege me and I like to see if I can figure it all out before it ends. This time I didn't figure it out at all, I figured it out when the book told me about it, all of the clues as to the events were all kept well hidden so I didn't catch on at all so it did come to me as a surprise when the truth unfolds.

I liked it as a read, it wasn't exactly a short one as all crime/mystery novels have to build up suspense etc., It was nice and refreshing to read a different genre for a change, I just wished I had connected more maybe I would have enjoyed it a lot more. The plot wasn't horrific and the characters were well written. for all of that I give the book a 4.5 out of 5. Maybe ill go off and read more of the Kate Shakleton Mysteries and see where that gets me.

Death At The Seaside Book Tour

'Frances Brody has made it to the top rank of crime writers.' Daily Mail

Death At The Seaside by Frances Brody

Publisher: Piatkus

Published 6th October 2016

Paperback Original £8.99

Blurb:

Nothing ever happens in August, and tenacious sleuth Kate Shackleton deserves a break. Heading off for a long-overdue holiday to Whitby, she visits her school friend Alma who works as a fortune teller there. 

Kate had been looking forward to a relaxing seaside sojourn, but upon arrival discovers that Alma's daughter Felicity has disappeared, leaving her mother a note and the pawn ticket for their only asset: a watch-guard. What makes this more intriguing is the jeweller who advanced Felicity the thirty shillings is Jack Phillips, Alma's current gentleman friend.

Kate can't help but become involved, and goes to the jeweller's shop to get some answers. When she makes a horrifying discovery in the back room, it soon becomes clear that her services are needed. Met by a wall of silence by town officials, keen to maintain Whitby's idyllic façade, it's up to Kate - ably assisted by Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden - to discover the truth behind Felicity's disappearance.

And they say nothing happens in August . .

About the author

Frances Brody is the author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries, as well as many stories and plays for BBC Radio, scripts for television and four sagas, one of which won the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin Award. Her stage plays have been toured by several theatre companies and produced at Manchester Library Theatre, the Gate and Nottingham Playhouse, and Jehad was nominated for a Time Out Award.

Check out all of the other wonderful blogs who have taken part in this book tour and don't forget to come back tomorrow for a full review of this wonderful book.

Top Ten Tuesday - My Fall/Autumn TBR

Something - Shelby Lamb
The Girl Inbetween - Laekan Zea Kemp
Ravens Fall - Lincoln Cole
Left alive - Jeremy Laszlo
Children of the after awakening - Jeremy Laszlo
The Atlantis Trilogy - A.G. Riddle
Death at the Seaside - Frances Brody
The Girl on the train - Paula Hawkins
Eden summer - liz Flanagan
On the other side - Carrie Hope Fletcher


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish