Murder by Firelight (A Flora Steele Mystery #12) by Merryn Allingham
Genre: Cosy mysteries, Historical mysteries
Read: 30th August 2025
Published: 4th September 2025
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
No one can hold a candle to amateur detectives Flora Steele and Jack Carrington as they ask the burning question… Who is the killer walking the cobbled streets of their historic little town?
Sussex, November 1959. There’s a chill in the air at the Lewes bonfire celebration. Carnival floats fill the narrow streets, fireworks crackle overhead, and Flora and Jack feel the heat of the burning torches lining the streets. But when Trevor French, chief of the Grove Bonfire Society, tumbles from his parade float, they know something is afoot. Trevor didn’t just fall – and amidst the crowds, his killer slips away through the smoke-filled night.
But who would want the respected Trevor dead? As Flora and Jack question the vying bonfire societies, they find a surprisingly competitive underbelly at play. Did Edwin Brooker, former chairman, stoke the flames of rivalry too far? Or are the tears of the victim’s friend, Leo Nelson, faked to keep himself safe?
Just as the sleuths believe they’ve figured it out, the body of a key suspect in the case is found dead on their hearth rug, and Flora and Jack realise that no one is safe – including themselves. Together, can they smoke the murderer out? Or will their chances of survival go up in flames?
A completely addictive and absolutely charming cozy mystery novel. Fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and Joy Ellis will adore this unputdownable series!
MY THOUGHTS:
Flora and Jack are back in Abbeymead and are on the case of yet another murder! This place is getting as deadly as Midsomer (though maybe with not quite as many murders).
In this twelfth book featuring the dynamic duo, Flora and Jack are attending a Bonfire Night celebration watching a parade of floats depicting various themes in vivid display. The streets of Lewes are crowded and noisy and are not at all the couple's favourite celebration but the atmosphere has them enthralled. In the midst of celebrations, one of the costumed participants falls from their float for a local historical society. When Jack races to their aid, he discovers the man is dead - seemingly stabbed, no less.
Inspector Alan Ridley is on the case for but a short time when his replacement Inspector Brownlow (I got The Bill vibes from twenty five years back with that name...lol) takes over but proves to be nothing short of useless. Ridley's mother had a stroke and had taken ill so Alan had gone to care for her whilst Brownlow couldn't detect a snowflake in a blizzard.
This time Flora is reluctant to investigate whilst Jack is keen to clear his friend Leo Nelson's name, whom Brownlow has decided is the guilty party whether the evidence points to him or not. Leo has taken on the tenancy of Overlay House where Jack had lived prior to his marriage to Flora and he isn't so sure that Leo is guilty and is determined to ensure the truth is uncovered. But the mystery is a real mystery as their doesn't appear to be any motive for the murder. The victim, Trevor French, whilst suspect in some eyes had no real cause to leave him dead. Although Edwin Brooker, who was chairman prior to French and had been for ten years until French came in a swept up the position. Brooker, an electrician by trade, is seemingly aggrieved at having been replaced so easily. But is it motive enough to kill?
Jack manages to convince Flora to question French's wife Lilian and local seamstress Thomasina Bell who was an active member of the Grove Society where Trevor was chairman and whose float he had fallen from. Again Flora was reluctant but some of the tidbits of information she garnered from the women whetted her appetite for the truth. But can they uncover the truth of what really happened to Trevor French and why before Brownlow can stuff it up?
I am so relieved to find Flora and Jack back in Abbeymead as the mysteries just seem to work better when they are on home ground. Unlike Agatha Christie's Miss Marple who worked well in any locale as well as St Mary Mead (but then Miss Marple didn't go abroad in my recollection), Flora and Jack are best at home in Abbeymead. In this book, Jack has finished his tenure at Cleve College in Lewes so the couple have now returned to Abbeymead full time, rather than part the week in Lewes and the rest in the village. I am keen to see what is in store for them in Abbeymead now that they are back in the village and the residents there can take on more of a role in future stories. I have missed the regular inclusion of Charlie who did resume his job as delivery boy temporarily in this one.
I can't believe this is the twelfth book of the series and I have read them all! Each book can be read as a standalone but I think the reader would gain more from reading them series in its entirety to fully grasp who is who and the passing mention of some of those who have gone before to some who pop up on occasion this time.
My only complaint is the inaccuracy of the ten pound pom programme mentioned in this book where people could emigrate to Australia for ten pounds (still quite a sum in those days). A character was said to have been part of the programme and emigrated twenty years before but as the setting is 1959 and the date the person emigrated is actually revealed in the book as being June 1939, the ten pound pom programme didn't begin until after the war in 1945.
I did guess who the murderer was but not the motive until it was gently revealed in passing (still long before the murderer was). There are plenty of twists and red herrings in this one to keep you guessing to the end...which does so with a bang!
I look forward to seeing what's in store for Flora and Jack now that they are firmly back in Abbeymead...where I hope they will stay!
I would like to thank #MerrynAllingham, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #MurderByFirelight in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Merryn lives in a beautiful old town in Sussex with her husband. When she’s not writing, she tries to keep fit with adult ballet classes and plenty of walking.
Social Media links:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
No comments:
Post a Comment