Dead in the Water by Agatha Frost
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*
The FIRST book in a BRAND NEW seaside cozy mystery series!
When Liz Jones retired as a detective at the age of forty-two and moved to the beautiful fishing town of Scarlet Cove to pursue her passion of opening an arts and crafts store, she did not expect the murder and lies of the big city to follow her. Only days after starting her new life, Liz finds herself tangled in a web of death and deception when she pulls the body of a fisherman from the sea, but what appears at first to be a drunken accident soon reveals itself to be something much worse: poison!
While setting up her new store, getting to know the quirky townsfolk, and having the local men battle for her affection, Liz cannot resist the lure of an intriguing murder case. She falls back into old habits when she vows to discover the truth about the fisherman’s death, but will she do it before the murderer strikes again? With her retirement and dream life on the line, Liz must battle against the clock to restore peace to the sleepy town of Scarlet Cove before all is washed away.
Book 1 in the Scarlet Cove Seaside Cozy Mystery series! Can be read as a standalone but will be enjoyed more as the first book in a new series. A light, cozy mystery read with an art loving, craft store owning, retired female detective, in a small fishing town on the British South Coast. Packed with quirky neighbours, handsome love interests, and an adorable rescue dog! Written in British English. No cliffhanger, swearing, gore or graphic scenes (but maybe includes a body or two)!
Another book written by Agatha Frost, this time co-written with the new author Evelyn Amber. The new book sets the reader in a little village at the coast in the south in the UK, pretty far away from the big city Manchester. We meet Elizabeth, who prefers Liz, an older heroine, and a retired detective. She plans to create a new life in Scarlet Cove in starting and arts and crafts shop but stumbles over two corpses. Her curious side is tickled and she can’t help herself and go full in investigation mode. 🙂
The first book in the new series is charming and comes with the well-known humour by Agatha Frost. The co-writing is well done, the balance is definitely there, both authors seem to blend well together. :3
The setting is a different than the small village Perridale from Agatha Frost’s Peridale Café Murder series. Both are villages with a limited amount of people but with set at the seaside the events and therefore also the “feeling” is different. With the new character there are new ways of character types. It feels a bit rougher, still pleasant and opens the possibility to create other stories. I am pretty excited to see what’s planned for Liz the next books.
I really enjoyed the charming noisiness of Nancy, a young woman who gives Liz a warm welcome and on top introduce her to her boyfriend and a good friend of them, Simon, the local farmer, who delivers several shops in town with his producs.
The interest by Simon is there when he met Liz for the first time and it’s clear there is an upcoming love interest. I’m totally curious in with way it leads. :3 Simon is as interesting as Barker from the other series and actually I am wondering – maybe I overread it – how old he is. If I got it right we have a slight age gap, where Liz is the older one. 🙂 Charming.
Liz is an older heroine, something which is refreshing, but Liz doesn’t come along “old”. In fact she seems a bit more agil and than Julia from the Peridale Café Murder series although both women are the total opposite and therefore hard to compare. Truth is, Agatha Frost knows how to display her heroines. 🙂 And both are super likable.
The minor character have their pros and cons, deliver funny scenes or come across warm and charming, even if they have the quirks of village people. 😀
The book is full of witty but also thrlling parts. The crime case is revealed in a pleasant way and I have to say you are suspecting other for a while. It definitely pushes you to investigate along with Liz.
A charming start of the series, the character show their different sides and the crime case is thrilling. A pleasant read, a new setting, which is different and refreshing to the other books by Agatha Frost. The co-writing is well done and I can’t spot buckles or disturbances, therefore it’s a smooth read. Very well done. A 100% recommendation and 5 out of 5 stars for this. 🙂
Mikku-chan 
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