Book Synopsis:
It’s nearly Christmas, a time for peace and goodwill. Or maybe not.
First the house of a Spanish family of flamenco dancers is burned down, then a Dutch man is nearly battered to death with his own clogs. On the night of the carol service, at which the Worldwide Friendship Club’s choir is singing, a Scottish bagpiper is found dead. By Martha, who has come across enough dead bodies already this year to last her a lifetime.
Convinced there’s a link to the choir, Martha and best friend Lottie set out on the trail of the murderer. Their unconventional sleuthing methods land one of them in rather a lot of trouble…
‘Dead In Tune’, the sequel to ‘Hate Bale’, is an entertaining, festive cosy mystery set in rural France.
My Review:
Dead In Tune is a fun, quirky read that is perfect for reading during the festive period.
Firstly I loved the setting of this book, especially Martha’s lovely sounding farm. I’ve always day dreamed of staying on a farm (perhaps forgetting how much hard work it can be) so this setting really appealed to me. It was interesting as well to discover what it’s like being British and living in France.
I loved Martha and enjoyed following her throughout the book. Her friendship with Lottie was brilliant to read about and I loved all the banter they have together. They are very different woman but seem to compliment each other well and I loved the support they gave to each other.
The murder mystery starts off slow but soon becomes very intriguing indeed. There are lots of twists that kept me guessing and I liked that I was unable to work out who the murderer was until the end.
Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
I’m Stephanie Dagg, married to Chris for nearly 25 years and mum to Benj (19), Caiti (17) and Ruadhri (9). We live on a 75 acre farm in rural Creuse with llamas, alpacas and three lakes full of carp. We run a fishery and gite, and also a llama trekking business. We moved here in 2006 from Ireland, where we’d lived for 15 years.
Before that we lived in England. You can follow our French adventures at http://www.bloginfrance.com.I’m an English graduate (Somerville College, Oxford) and Publishing Studies postgraduate (Stirling). I began a career in publishing in 1985 as a desk editor with Hodder and Stoughton, then I deviated from the path to become a sales rep for a couple of years for some academic presses and then an accountant. This is what meeting and marrying a guy who has a job in Newcastle does for you!
Anyway, in 1992 I got back on track by becoming a freelance editor and indexer, working from home part-time around the kids. The same year we moved to Ireland.I began to write stories for Benj, and then Caiti, and I won second prize in a contest in a magazine with one of my tales. That prompted me to begin contacting publishers. I got plenty of rejections but finally hit the right place at the right time with Mentor Press and O’Brien Press in Ireland 1n 1998. For the next eight years I wrote prolifically and spent many happy hours visiting schools and libraries to do workshops with kids.Then we moved to France and I stopped writing due to sheer exhaustion. Renovating a 200 year old farm that is falling apart takes a lot of effort. But I kept a blog and diaries and I’m using those experiences now in my book about moving to and living in France. I decided late last year (2010) to relaunch my writing career, this time in the adult market. I am writing a blog is about my journey to getting published again, with a look at other books about France, the Kindle and electronic publishing and where to find good advice on the Web.
Over The Rainbow Blog 