The out of office has been on this week and I've finally had time to do some reading! First up was Murder on Mustique by Anne Glenconner, a perfect holiday read set on the luxury island where there's never any crime and the super rich inhabitants have a perfect life (spoiler, there is crime and nothing is as perfect as it seems). It was pretty genteel but with a really good whodunnit, centered around the disappearance of one girl and what looks to be a murder. (I'm fascinated by the narrator and how autobiographical parts of it are. Not the crime but the people and the place and the fearless Lady Vee.) And I definitely wasn't at all jealous reading about the perfect surroundings while staying in our van in a slightly mizzly Wales, but yesterday the sun shone and I swam in the sea pretending it was the Carribbean (it definitely wasn't the Carribbean and it was freezing). Would recommend. Thanks @netgalley for the arc.

An entertaining mystery set on an exotic island with a variety of good characters and policeman. It lost a star for me as I don't think that the continuing harping back to the days when the main character was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and all the associated name dropping or the rich and famous spending time upon the island added anything to the story. Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found this a fascinating book to read. I was about three-quarters of the way through it when I made the connection - Anne Glenconner is Lady Glenconner who was actually a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. Her character is disguised as Lady Vee, but it made me wonder how much of the story is fiction and how much is autobiographical. It doesn't matter either way as it's a cracking story. Not only kept me interested, but I ended up reading it in one sitting.

Loved it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

I quite enjoyed this book, although it is certainly no literary masterpiece. It is pretty much an autobiographical based mystery set on a well known island. I am sure most people have heard about the high end names who live or holiday there. Most people will have imagined it over the years, so it is nice to put a bit more flesh on the bones to get some lovely descriptions of the villas and lifestyles there.
I did feel that the plot was a little bit confusing in parts, the policeman is called Solomon in one chapter and Nile (his surname) in the next. This goes on throughout. A little bit of consistency would help I think. I does not detract from a good read for a cold day, when a sunny island is but a distant memory.

A charming read but a very shaky plot. Easy to settle down and read in one sitting. Good descriptions of how the rich use their time on Mustique. Lots of name dropping too.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the copy of this book

Wow! This is an amazing book, written by an equally amazing lady.

The story is beautifully crafted, full of wonderful personal touches.

Very exciting with a few very well hidden surprises.

Very highly recommended.

Anne Glenconner's autobiography Lady in Waiting is also an excellent read.

Murder and mayhem amidst the have and have nots in mysterious Mustique.
We have a classic whodunit in a country house with an aristocrat and hangers on. However, the country house is a coral island infested with mosquitoes, the aristocrat; a name dropping Miss Marple like figure and the hangers on; the great and the good (self-servingly named) plus a few troubled souls trying to live an ordinary life.
Upon skirmishing with the entrées I came upon such lovely writing as,”the sun dropping coins of light onto the water’s surface”. It instantly brought to mind my ocean vista in the Canaries. This gave great promise of a writer’s craft to come. However but a few paragraphs on, I read; “When I put the phone down the apple trees outside my window are shedding their leaves.” It’s clunky and maybe gives answer to the writing style of someone who flits and floats rather describing an interminably long telephone conversation. Either way, the writing style albeit unusual is good.
The plot is exasperating though. Yes, it pulls you in but leaves you cheated at the end. There’s no way anyone can predict whodunit.

A great whodunit, set on a beautiful island, written by someone who knows the island intimately.
Plenty of characters, descriptions of the islands flora and beaches, and red herrings thrown in for good measure.
Not the best written detective story, but a wonderful escape from a grey autumn day in the UK

Although I am sure some readers will find this book easy to read, especially as a holiday read, I found the plot unconvincing and it contained too many unlikely coincidences. It certainly is a good name dropper and it does describe the lifestyle of the wealthy people who live on the island. I am sorry to say that the book was not for me.

This was a strange book to review. I didn't love it - but it did keep me reading right to the end because I wanted to find out whodunnit, which I guess is the point.
This is great is you like your cosy mysteries to be set on very uncosy sunny iexclusive islands. It starts with lots of modern glamour, but throughout the book casts longing glances back to an age when Princess Margaret was someone special. The references to her grated a little - the book's protagonist was a former lady in waiting to the princess, as is the author. And it made me wonder if this book had a ghost writer - or heavy editorial input - because all the way through there was tension between different authorial voices, the modern mystery writer and the old-fashioned lady in waiting.
It is a positive thing to have an older protagonist, and Lady Vee dealt with a range of challenges undaunted, combatting more physical challenges than most seventy year olds could manage.
I think maybe I'm the wrong audience for this, but if you love a slightly old fashioned escapism with a tropical background to your murder mysteries this could be for you.

An enjoyable read. It skips along easily gently as soon as you get used to her change of voices all the time. The story is pretty much implausible but who cares. It’s charming and Reading about all that sunshine and languid swimming in the sea while the weather turns autumnal is very nice.

This is actually a very good who dunnit. The community of Mustique is hit by the disappearance of a young woman and the murder of her friend Tommy.
Lady Vee with her goddaughter Lily work with the islands one policeman to solve the crime.
The book has good characters and a good story storyline. It would have got a 4 star review. However, I was at the point of screaming every time the author harped on about Princess Margaret and her connections to the Royal.
As it turns out the author was originally a genuine lady in waiting. However, I just feel she is using her royal connection to sell the book. Along with other celebrities. It would have been good without it. It is for that reason I have taken away a star.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc in return for an honest review

Finding that I needed to turn the pages faster and faster to try and find out whodunnit, as I surely couldn't guess, proved this book's success on my Kindle.

Even if this story wasn't set on a small Caribbean island, it would have made for a great closed community murder mystery. Nevertheless, because of this writer's background, she perfectly describes the island, it's setting and community. One could easily close their eyes and be on the island, the accuracy is so good.

Having enjoyed the majority of the characters (some we were supposed to dislike), it was fitting that the policeman would do such a great job, despite a boss who was set against success.

I hope this writer has already penned the next in the series, with a similar setting, although it should not become Death in Paradise. Lady Vee has a long way to go, even if this means visiting other islands.

I'm left wondering if the coral came back to life, unlike the high death count.

I wasn't sure about this book when I started reading it but thoroughly enjoyed it. DS Solomon Nile returns home to Mustique after spending years in Oxford. He's the only full time policeman. Nothing ever happens there until people start being murdered and with help from Lady Vee and Lily Calder they start trying to find the murderer

Having just read Lady Glenconner's recent autobiography I was really pleased to get an ARC of this book, her first foray into fiction.

This is exactly what is says on the tin, is it a literary masterpiece, no, but I'm sure that's not what the author was going for. It is however a fun to read whodunnit that just happens to be set on one of the most glamourous islands in the world. The setting is perfect and with lots of details that only Lady Glenconner would know.
The main character Lady Vee is almost definitely based on the author herself and I didn't mind this as they do say write what you know. It reminded me a little of reading Jackie Collins Novels back in the 90's and trying to figure out who she was writing about expect this book had the names of actual celebs. I think I would have preferred it if the author did what Jackie Collins had done used made up characters so that she could really have some fun with it.

All in all its not going to win any awards however is an enjoyable and fairly short read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Everyone who loves a murder mystery or good old detective novel will love this book. The characters are well developed and you can’t help but love the predictability of the books structure. The plot was well thought out and so the book raced along. With hints and clues woven through, you can’t help guessing who did it. There are a few surprises along the way... I won’t ruin them for you. A fabulous island murder, who done it?!?

This is a case of an author inventing a story with herself (with a different name) as one of the key characters. As the title says, it is set on the exotic hideaway island of Mustique, a holiday venue for the rich and famous, but also inhabited by the poorer people who serve them. There is an element of class difference, including that between those born with a silver spoon and those who earn their on fortunes.

This is basically a who-dunnit set against a tropical backdrop and seems quite superficial in parts. A slice of escapist hokum.

Sorry, this book is just one long list of 'famous' names, with characters heavily based on people of note. I really didnt feel there was much plot and the whole book seemed to rely on name dropping., a bit like reading 'Hello'.
Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy.

On the private island of Mustique all is not as it seems when one of the wealthy socialites Amanda disappears. Lady Vee flies back to the island early worries about her god daughters missing friend. When Amanda is found murdered, the race is on to find the killer who keeps leaving calling cards at different villas on the island. Detective sergeant Solomon Nile enlists Lady Vee's help to catch the murderer before it's too late.

The setting of the story made me feel like I was watching death in paradise. This was a quick read and the story was ok. I didn't know who Anne Glenconner was prior to starting this story but once I found out who she was, you can see that the Lady Vee character is based on her. For me there was a little too many name drops of celebrities which never really added much to the story.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm terribly sorry but this was a did not finish for me. I couldn't get into it at all. And didn't really like or relate to any characters