Book Synopsis:
A dead body, a disappearance, and an epic lost in time. Unrelated incidents on the surface. Judith Fraser’s Oxford sabbatical quickly takes a sharp turn when she gets tangled in the mysterious murder of a colleague. With threads leading nowhere, conflicting impressions about people around her, and concern for increasing risk to her loved ones, whom can she trust? Her eccentric housemates? The CIA? Or, herself? Too many questions and insufficient answers.
A uniquely amusing and page-turning mystery novel set in 2003 on the eve of the Iraqi War, The Carnelian Tree follows the journey of Judith Fraser as she unravels mysteries of locked doors, missing computers, cat’s collars, and Reuter’s reports, with the help of DCI Keith Steadman, her potential love interest. Judith probes into people, power, politics, and sex, only to discover that some things remain unchanged. With a shady glimpse of the Oxford underbelly, this cross-genre novel will appeal to the full range of crime and mystery readers including Cosy Crime fans.
My Review:
The Carnelian Tree is an unique, addictive and intriguing book from a new author for me.
Firstly I absolutely loved the author’s wonderful descriptions of Oxford which have made me want to visit there as soon as possible. It sounds like a wonderful city to live in and I loved the subtle way the author blends some of the city’s history into the story too.
I absolutely loved the main character Judith who seemed very brave and clever, despite her knack for putting herself in dangerous situations sometimes. She seemed very lovable and had a great group of friends around her who seemed to adore her. It was great fun following them as they tried to solve the mystery and to live precariously through them as they experience student life in Oxford.
Overall I really enjoyed this book which made a nice change to the gritty crime thrillers I normally read. I would class it as a cosy/ gentle mystery but one with lots of tension in it which kept me reading. The author gradually reveals clues as to who the murderer was and I liked that I was unable to guess ‘who dunit’ until the end.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publishers for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Glasgow-born Anne, an ex-GP and Herald/medical press columnist, graduated Glasgow (Medicine, 1974) and Oxford (Anthropology, 2004). University of Glasgow Creative Writing classes led to novels about women doctors- rare in literature except as pathologists or in Mills & Boon. Some prizewinning short stories are in the 50th Anniversary Anthology of Greenock Writers, of which she is President. She blogs regularly on her website. Her debut novel, Not The Life Imagined, highlighting discrimination/changing sexual mores in the 60s NHS, was runner-up in the Scottish Association of Writers’ Constable Silver Stag Award 2018 and made her a Crime Spotlight Author (‘one to watch’) at Bloody Scotland 2019. Her second novel, Not The Death Imagined, involves the female doctor tackling a serial killer. Her third, The Carnelian Tree, set in Oxford, is out Oct 20th 2022, She lives in North Ayrshire & loves travelling, good food and wine.
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