I really enjoyed this murder mystery, a great plot with a murder taking place on stage right in the middle of a play. Bertie is a very likeable main character, the story made great use of his career as a playwright to help unravel a real murder. There were lots of cultural and historical references, the setting of Brighton in 1933 was very evident, including the dialogue and how certain aspects of life were viewed at the time. I liked that the clues and evidence were there, but also all the details were explained at the end and it was all finished off ver well. Little hints of a budding romance, hopefully there will be another book and more to come on that. I thought the characters were great and the plot flowed along nicely, looking forward to more!

Death on the Pier was a surprisingly delightful cozy mystery. The mystery on itself wasn't really that complicated but the process of arriving to that reveal was beautifully written.

The story was set in the 1930's and this was reflected nicely in the story. The societal norms mentioned, the small details included especially with some of the popular items during that period, the way the characters speak really added to the great atmosphere the story had. The story has also cleverly woven theatre customs and production elements. The writer deftly used them to create what felt like one of those classic mystery stories where the process of solving it is as enjoyable and fascinating as the resolution.

I found Bertie and Hugh endearing though I am more biased towards Bertie. I enjoyed the interaction of these two - they definitely complement each other and one can feel the chemistry between them. That scene with the two of them during the end of the book was beautifully executed.

The main characters definitely needed a bit more development and exploration which I hope the next installment will provide as it was a bit lackluster this time around. Parts of the dialogue felt stilted and some parts of the pacing was slow. Still, I had a fun time reading this book. Definitely fits well as an Autumn read. I recommend giving this book a try.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and I have chosen to publish my fair and honest review.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this eARC in return for an honest review.

“Death on the Pier” is a mystery novel, reminiscent of the style of Agatha Christie; set in Brighton in 1933, the novel perfectly recreates the now lost Palace Pier Theatre and the majesty surrounding theatre.

When the lead actress is shot dead during a performance of one of his plays, Bertie Carroll turns to his amateur sleuthing skills, and alongside Chief Detective Hugh Chapman tries to solve the case.

The novel has some classic elements of a good detective story: red herrings, outlandish characters and a good old round up, where the killer is revealed.

Though I would struggle to talk about the plot without spoiling it, the way that West has inserted facts about the characters and linked them to social and political events and facts from the time was a great way to dive into the world that bit more.

If this is Jamie West’s debut novel I imagine things will only get even better, and I can’t wait to read what he pens next.

The premise of this murder mystery is so good, with the victim shot in full view of an audience with all the suspects on stage at the time. It leads amateur detective Bertie on a new adventure to find who is responsible

Bertie is a lovable character, him being so unsure of being useful then cracking the case is a nice development through the novel, and I’m happy to see there’s a book two coming to enjoy more Bertie. I liked his partnership with Hugh, and I want to see how that progresses.

The story itself has a great mix of characters and suspects with their hidden secrets which were slowly uncovered. I will admit I guessed parts of the reveal, though not everything, but I think the novel allows for this with enough clues scattered in for its readers to play sleuth with Bertie

As a huge fan of theatre I loved learning more about the history of the Brighton’s Palace Pier Theatre as well as all the technical aspects of how a play runs. Theses details are helped by the author’s history working in West End theatres

Overall a wonderfully charming and well written cosy murder mystery, with a brilliant lead character. A recommended read from me!
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Thank you to NetGalley, Brabinger Books and Jamie West for this eARC

Death on the Pier is a cozy mystery story, following a playwright who turns into an amateur detective when a real murder happens during a production of his play. The atmosphere of the book was just right, and I thought there were just enough clues and information being given out. I really enjoyed this mystery!

As a debut, this shows really great promise for West, even if it isn't one of my favourite books of the year. The characters were solid enough and the writing style thoroughly accessible and enjoyable. The setting was vivid and novel - I enjoyed having something so different that had clearly been thoroughly researched. For me, the random romantic side-plot that appeared out of nowhere did let the overall book down, and the fact that I more or less figured out the motive before we'd even got halfway. Nonetheless, well enough written that I'll definitely be checking out book two!

This was just utterly delightful! The perfect cosy murder mystery to ease me into spooky season.

During the opening night of a murder mystery play, the star of the show is murdered on stage in front of a live audience in what simply looks like part of the show until the curtain falls on Act I. Over the course of the book, each characters movements and motives are unravelled in a way that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Our main character, Bertie the playwright, is so loveable. He kind of gave me big John Watson vibes and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him slowly unravel this murder mystery ahead of his equally loveable detective friend, Hugh.

I will admit to having solved the case fairly early on, but I was never actually sure I was right and was almost convinced to change my mind multiple times throughout the course of the book. I think half the fun’s in working it out for yourself, though, and I feel this book is written in a way that allows you to play detective as reader, which is fun.

I also had a great time shipping Bertie and Hugh. That ending was *chefs kiss* perfection. I’ll definitely be needing more of these two.

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fantastic debut from Jamie West, you can really tell that he has extensive knowledge of the theatre world and that reflects in the story and makes it even more exquisite.

The rich history of Brighton was really brought to life as it was woven into the story seamlessly, I enjoyed learning all about it.

If you enjoy a classic whodunnit this book is for you.

Bertie Carroll is a playwright who ends up turning detective with his old school friend Hugh, a Chief Detective Inspector, when a performance of one of his older plays gets cut short after one of the actors gets shot and murdered. Bertie and Hugh work together to try to solve the mystery by interviewing suspects and solving the clues before them.

Bertie and Hugh seem at first like an unlikely pairing but I really enjoyed their partnership. Hugh treated Bertie as an equal rather than an amateur and was guiding him and supporting him rather than pushing him out of the investigation which I thought was a lovely refreshing take. I also think his secretary Gertie was a fantastic aide character and I hope we see more of her in the next instalment. I found there were just the right amount of characters to not work out who did it without there being characters there for padding out the story. I did manage to work out some parts of the plot but it didn’t detract at all from the overall reveal.

I’m very excited for the next in the series after this brilliant debut!

Brighton 1933, it is a wet and windy night and playwright Bertie Carroll has come to see one of his plays at the Palace pier theatre. Where he meets his old friend Detective Inspector Hugh Chapman, and they watch the play.
Former Hollywood actress Celia Hamilton is the leading lady in the play, but tragedy strikes when Celia as part of the play she is shot, but she gets shot in real life and dies on stage.
As Hugh is already at the scene, he starts the investigation with friend Bertie. Who killed Celia and what is the motive for her death?
Thank you Netgalley and Brabinger Publishing, for an ARC Death on the pier. This is a very good debut novel and whodunnit mystery set in the thirties. This has a great atmospheric setting, great storyline and interesting characters. I really enjoyed this cosy crime novel and hope there is more because I would like to see how it develops. 4 stars from me.

Angry at the way she’s been treated, Jenny removes a small pistol from her purse and shoots Celia, her tormentor. ‘She’s dead’ says the butler, running in after hearing the shot. There is a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning. The curtain falls and the cast go to congratulate Celia Hamilton on her spectacular death scene. Unfortunately, it appears not to have been brilliant acting by the famous Hollywood star but actual death, as evidenced by the blood and the bullet hole. The audience are alerted to some mishap by a loud scream from one of the cast. By coincidence, the author, the famous playwright Bertie Carroll, is in the audience, accompanied by his old school friend, Detective Chief Inspector Hugh Chapman. Racing onto the stage they quickly take charge of the situation, in particular preventing the cast, the director and the stage manager from leaving. The play, one of Berties earliest scripts, has been staged in the Palace Pier Theatre Brighton as a try out for Celia, an internationally famous star during the era of silent movies, on her return to the UK. There is a suggestion that her Hollywood career might be ending with the start of the Talkies, The plan was for her to renew her stage skills, which are very different from film skills, before moving the show to The West End. It appears that Jenny, a young and inexperienced actress, has unintentionally killed that idea. Bertie and Hugh, investigate the events surrounding the shooting: where was the gun at any given moment, when could the real bullet have been loaded into the gun, who could have done this, who hated Celia enough to want her dead? The answer to the last part would appear to be everybody who knew her.
The story is set in around 1930-2 when the Theatre did exist, and the writer has taken great pains to recreate it as accurately as possible. The story itself is very typical of the kind written in the thirties but it is not stylistically of the period, except in the language used. The professional stage then, as now, has an idiom of its own and a set of standard procedures, which are integral to the plot and need to be clear to the reader. The writer has worked for many years in that world (albeit not actually in the 1930s) and does an excellent job in this respect. The plot weaves its way through these using them to establish the answers to the questions asked above and to eventually identify the true killer and the true motive. Along the way that weaving process does, of course, throw up red herrings galore but also clues for the investigative duo and the reader. And it does it very well. Speaking of the duo, there is clearly a bromance, if not something more, going on. The second book in the series is on its way and I expect this aspect will become more prominent.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Death on the Pier is a good old-fashioned murder mystery set in the world of the theatre. A beautiful step back in time to 1930s Brighton with a satisfying ending.

I do hope there will be more stories featuring playwright Bertie Carroll and his policeman friend Hugh.

Set in 1933, Death on the Pier is a cosy mystery following playwright Bertie Carroll who comes to Brighton to see a performance of one of his plays at the Palace Pier Theatre. While there, he catches up with old friend Hugh Chapman, who happens to be a Detective Inspector, and they go to watch the play together.

When tragedy strikes during the play, Bertie (ably assisted by his detective friend!) Turns amateur sleuth to try and work out who is responsible and how they managed to commit the crime under the noses of the entire cast, crew and audience!

This was a nice light read, perfect cosy crime/mystery which was well plotted and paced with some good characters. A little more character development and background would have been nice, but as I understand it is the first in a series, this will likely be fleshed out in further instalments.

All on all a good read and I look forward to reading more!

4 Stars
One Liner: A good start to the series

Bertie Carroll is a successful playwright in the 1930s. He is in Brighton to watch the performance of one of his plays (the not-so-successful one) in the Palace Pier Theatre. Bertie meets an old friend, Chief Detective Inspector Hugh Chapman, and they attend the event together.
A former Hollywood star, Celia Hamilton, is shot on the stage as per the play. But they soon realize that a murder took place right in front of their eyes. Hugh asks Bertie to solve the case as his partner. After all, why can’t a playwright who specializes in murder mysteries solve a real crime?
Things get complicated as more information comes to light. It’s up to Bertie and High to find the killer and the reason for the crime.
The story comes in the third-person POV.

What I Like:
• The writing is easy to read and enjoyable. The pacing is steady almost throughout, though it dips a little in the last third.
• Bertie is a likable character, and so is Hugh. I’m already looking forward to the next in the series. The other characters are pretty much two-dimensional but do the job.
• Gertrude reminded me of Miss Lemon, except that she is more relaxed and cheerful. In fact, the book has quite a few touches of Agatha Christie’s storytelling. The final reveal is another example of this.
• I could guess the killer even before the murder happened. Of course, that didn’t diminish my reading experience as I wanted to see if I was right and find out how the crime was committed.
• The main character belongs to the LGBT community. Yet, this aspect wasn’t used as a banner on his head. I liked how it’s just who he is. There’s some discussion in a veiled manner (which will probably be revealed in the next books). Bertie and Hugh’s past seem like a potential subplot to connect the series.
• The theatre is another character in the story. The detailing shows the author’s experience in the field. But… (continued in the next section)

What Didn’t Work for Me:
• The beginning has a detailed description of the Palace Pier Theatre. While it helped visualize the place (after all, that’s where the murder occurs), it felt a bit too stretched. I enjoy descriptions, but this went a bit too long, IMO.
• The book is dialogue-heavy. This isn’t an issue per se, but I found it tiring at a couple of places.
• A little more character development would have been great (we might see it in the coming books).

To summarize, Death on the Pier is a good start to a historical mystery series, with a playwright as an amateur sleuth. It’s a light read. Pick it up when you want something to relax with.
Thank you, NetGalley and Brabinger Publishing, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

A good old fashioned murder mystery in the golden age.

When Bertie, a playwright, goes to watch a production of one of his plays in Brighton, a real life murder takes place. Who in the cast and crew did it? Archie teams up with investigating detective on the case to find out. This is a cosy crime read set in Brighton out of tourist season, with a good cast of characters. Curl up on the sofa with a cuppa and you'll speed through this in a few hours!

Do you enjoy old-fashioned/classic mysteries, with a smart police detective? How about the locked-room mystery genre where you only have a certain number of possible suspects? If you answered yes to those questions, you will certainly enjoy Death on the Pier. The action takes place in the fall of 1933 in Brighton, England - this is the off-season since it’s a seashore resort town, which makes Brighton an odd choice for a staging a play. The play features a murder and, as you may guess, the pretend-murder turns out to be real. Unluckily for the culprit, the playwright and his detective friend are in attendance.

The detective, Hugh, is an old schoolfriend of Bertie, the playwright, and he gets in touch after quite a few years. It is never really explained why Hugh wanted to meet up with Bertie at that particular time and place, but maybe the author will explore this further in the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Brabinger for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

JAMIE WEST – DEATH ON THE PIER ****

I read this novel in advance of publication through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I chose this novel because it is set in Brighton where I live and because of its theatrical subject. I am old enough to remember rep companies where plays changed every week.

I had high hopes for this novel, especially as the author works in the theatre and is interested in its history. As cozy mysteries go, there is nothing wrong with the premise. An actress is shot on the stage in front of the audience who think it’s part of the story, and then the play’s author, Bertie, and his friend Hugh, down from Scotland Yard, must discover the who by and the why.

It is the writing, rather than the story, that I have problems with. The first sentence is an example of how the author gives you something then snatches it away. ‘Bertie was running as if his life depended on it, though of course it didn’t’. Your excitement is raised at the prospect of a chase, then dashed, all within the opening sentence. What the author means is that Bertie is running. Why? Because it is raining. Hardly earth-shattering. And this takes up almost two pages. Only when we get to ‘Hugh’s phone call had come completely out of the blue’ do we get anywhere. Who is Hugh? Compare ‘Brighton Rock’, how Greene grabs your attention from the very first sentence, describes the town in great detail, yet still maintains the tension.

The author has clearly researched his subject: the Palace Pier Theatre, dismantled in 1986. Unfortunately, for the progress of the story, he drops all this knowledge into the first chapter which prevents anything from happening, rather than dropping interesting nuggets of information throughout. This shunts the inciting incident, the actress being shot, to 20% of the way through the book, when conventionally it happens within the first ten.

Ignoring the frequent use of adverbs and vague writing (‘rather good’, ‘somewhat nervous’, ‘pretty good’, ‘a decent size’) none of which conveys anything concrete the reader, (and the fact that apparently Brighton is on an ocean, not the English Channel, see what I mean about words that are concrete?) the story itself is enjoyable. It kept me turning the pages.

I had been going to award it three stars: I’ll shunt it up to four. With judicious editing it could have been five.

Death on the Pier is a cozy mystery story, following a playwright who turns into an amateur detective when a real murder happens during a production of his play. Bertie Carroll is in the audience with his old school friend Chief Detective Inspector Hugh when a famous Hollywood actress is actually killed during a murder scene in the play. Bertie and Hugh then start their investigation, trying to figure out who would have a motive to kill Celia, and more importantly how they did it. There are many questions, who would do it? How did they change the bullets in the prop gun? Was there a second gun? They embark on the journey of solving the mystery as well as rekindling their friendship and getting closer.

I really enjoyed this mystery! The atmosphere of the book was just right, and I thought there were just enough clues and information being given out at all times. It was just enough that I had my own ideas of who did it and why, but it wasn't too obvious so that you could figure it out immediately. I know most people have their own preferences when reading mysteries, and I personally enjoy mysteries in which I can't fully (or too easily) figure out who did it, so this one really worked for me. I definitely don't want to go too much into the plot, especially here I feel like you should not know too much in advance, it ruins the fun.

I thought the book was very evenly paced, and I liked the writing style. It was to the point but without being too simplistic. The book is set in the 1930s, and I quite enjoyed the setting overall. I really like the theatre backdrop of the mystery, it was really interesting to see. As the murder happens during a play and all of the suspects are actors there is a lot of information about day-to-day life in theatre and I really enjoyed that. It is truly obvious that the author loves the theatre and has quite a bit of knowledge about it. I really liked how different all of the characters were and how the investigation considered all of their motives, lives, and all related. It was pretty interesting to see the story unfold and to consider how it all happened. I really enjoyed Bertie and Hugh's friendship, and I really hope to see their relationship deepen further on (I hope that the hints of romance come through later on).

My only issues were that I wish Hugh's character was more explored (though I suppose we will see more of him in the next book) and that the dialogues seemed a bit stilted and clunky at times. I really liked the prose in general, and how it conveyed the time period, but I feel like the dialogues sometimes sounded a bit too formal, or just not organic. It was only a few instances though, so nothing major. With Hugh's character, I mostly wanted a bit more on his backstory. Some more information on him and Bertie from school, some more information on him, why he chose to reach out to Bertie at this moment, etc. I will patiently wait for the next book though, hoping I'll find out more.

All in all, if you are interested in murder mysteries and theatre, I would really recommend this book! I will for sure be picking up the next one as soon as it's out.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

While on holiday I’ve wanted easy reading and after a couple of fun chick lit books I fancied some cosy crime.

This book is based in 1930s Brighton, where the theatre on the pier is opening for a play by famous playwright Bertie Carroll. As the play moves toward the end of act one the leading lady is murdered on stage in front of the entire audience.

Bertie teams up with detective friend, Hugh to investigate.

This was a perfect Agatha Christie type murder mystery. All the suspects being on stage as the murder took place and Hugh and Bertie on the scene to investigate. It was an easy read with some intrigue and twists along the way.

I enjoyed it and look forward to getting to meet Bertie again in the author’s next book and seeing how / if the dynamic between him and Hugh develops.
Thanks to @thisisjamiewest and @brabingerbooks for the advance digital copy. The book will be released.on 10 October.

At the Palace Pier Theatre in Brighton, 1933, playwright Bertie catches the opening night performance of one of his plays with his old friend Hugh, a chief detective. When one of the stars of the play is killed on stage, Bertie and Hugh dive straight into an investigation to uncover the truth and reveal the killer.

This is such a brilliantly written cosy mystery that has the feel of an exciting puzzle to get stuck into. The story is so clever and will keep you guessing throughout.

I loved the 1930s setting in Brighton and the theatre that provided the perfect backdrop for the story. Jamie West's passion for the theatre really shines through and gives the book so much depth. The characters were fascinating and I enjoyed trying to work out their secrets.

You will love this book if you are a fan of Anthony Horowitz's Hawthorne Investigates series. I can't wait to read more from Jamie West.

Thank you NetGalley and Brabinger Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.