I do adore Frances Brody's writing, especially her other series, Kate Shackleton. So when I read the first book in this series, A Murder Inside, I knew what to expect but was surprised in how different it was-- not just the time period!-- but subtly the writing style. This second book, Six Motives for Murder, is a better outing than the first book in the series now that the stage has been set and we are comfortably aware of who Nell is and who the ladies of the correctional house are like Diane and Linda. Brody can now run with this series set in the late 60s with a female warden and based in a female correctional facility (kinda a half-way house but not) in a little village. I do really quite like how in this book Brody continued the humanizing stories of the inmates, for example, Linda (college student who murdered a man) and Diane (fenced stolen goods). By humanizing them Brody is bringing a level of kindness, compassion and love to people who are often villanized but are really for the most part just people trying their best. She also by allowing Nell and her wards to both be heroes of the story, allows us to complicate the image of who can do good.

Read this jolly romp through a wedding gone wrong and a meadow being sold off against the wishes of everyone but the rich guy who wants to be richer and find a entertaining story of people who you wouldn't expect being defenders of the truth and justice.

The second book in the series. Frances Brody has a brilliant style of writing and her books have many twists and turns to keep the reader engaged. This said I did find the start of the book a bit slow in this instance. Once the murder had occurred it kept the reader guessing and looking for the clues as to who'd dunnit!

I will always look for books by the author and highly recommend her to those who enjoy murder mystery titles.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and authors for allowing me to read and review this Arc copy.

Three and a half stars.

This is the second in a series although it can easily be read as a standalone.

Its 1969, Amanda Chapin, daughter of local landowner Lancelot Chapin, is getting married at the lcoal church with the reception at the family home Brackerley Manor. The women from Brackerley Open Prison have been invited to cater the wedding breakfast and the whole village is invited. Amanda's mother died when she was only six years old and her father remarried a much younger woman, Penny, who has been more of a sister than a mother to Amanda. Indeed, it is a local woman, Gloria Thwaite, who looked after Amanda when she was a child, and as a result she and her husband are given the honorary titles of auntie and uncle.

But at the wedding reception one of the inmates, Linda, goes out looking for another who has been on break for too long and finds Mr Chapin slumped on a bench, stabbed through the heart.

it seems as though there is no shortage of potential suspects, with rumours of infidelity, money problems, secret babies, unpopular property development plans, fortune hunters, and suicides which could all be motives for murder (and there's six of them). Added to which, three residents of the local old people's home, also part-owned by Mr Chapin, appear to doing their own version of [book:The Thursday Murder Club|46000520] and have dragged Nell Lewis, newly appointed governor of the prison, into their investigations.

it is down to DS Angela Ambrose to piece together the witness statements, wedding photos, and other evidence and uncover the murderer.

I haven't read the first book in the series (although I did recently take advantage of a 99p offer and will be reading it shortly) and so i was expecting Nell to be the 'detective' in this series but while her personal and professional life do feature strongly, she was definitely on the periphery of the investigation.

I did enjoy this, once the murder happened. Prior to that there seemed a lot of explaining, presumably to set up each of the potential murderers. It kept me guessing to the end.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Yorkshire, 1969 & Nell Lewis is four months into her new role as governor of HMP Brackerley when the prison takes on a catering contract for Brackerley village's wedding of the year. Almost all the female inmates are delighted to be involved in the celebrations. During the wedding reception, one of the inmates discovers the father of the bride, Mr Chapin, stabbed to death behind the marquee.
The second book in the series & another well written murder mystery & I liked that it goes back six weeks to feature the lead up to the wedding & murder, there are the usual red herrings plus twists & turns. I really like Nell & I thoroughly enjoyed trying to guess who the villain was. The author also adds background which firmly sets the book in the late 60’s
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Six Motives for Murder by Frances Brody is the second book set at Brackerley Open Prison for women. I enjoyed it very much, although I found the strand of the plot to do with the murder a little thin. But I hope there will be more about Nell Lewis to come. She's an interesting character and I liked getting to know her better.

In the second of the Brackerley Prison Mysteries, it’s 1969 and Nell Lewis is four months into her role as governor of HMP Brackerley. The institution agrees to a catering contract for what looks to be the wedding of the year. But when the father of the bride is stabbed, police need Nell’s help to find the culprit.

The second book in the series by Frances Brody featuring Nell Lewis, the Governor of a women's open prison HMP Brackerley.
The book opens at a wedding with one of the prisoners, who is part of the catering team, finding a dead body. Going back 6 weeks we see the lead up to this event and the possible motives for the murder. Tensions in the family, villagers unhappy about possible building on meadows, suspicions around the death of a child years before and elderly residents concerned by a spate of deaths at their care home.
This is an enjoyable well plotted read.

Six Motives for Murder is the second mystery in Frances Brody’s Brackerley Prison series, set in the 1960s. Brackerly is a women’s open prison and Nell Lewis has been the governor for four months. The book starts with a prelude: Linda, a prisoner, finds a dead body at a wedding reception for which the prisoners are catering. The publisher’s blurb tells us that the body is that of the bride’s father, Lance Chapin. Chapter One then takes us back six weeks, to the day that the prisoners hear they would be asked to cater for a big wedding.

Brody weaves together the various sub-plots beautifully. We have the wedding; Gloria and Norman Thwaites’ tragic secret; and a few elderly residents of the local care home who have a bee in their bonnet about the doctor in charge and want to involve Nell. I loved the way that last element reached its denouement.

I also love Brody’s style. The language is straightforward and the characterisation and dialogue are pitch-perfect. The background colour, such as the mention of the Doors’ hit, “Hello, I Love You”; and the group of squatters, quietly positions the novel in the late 1960s. That simplicity is deceptive as it fools us into thinking the protagonists and the plot are also simple, which – of course – they are not. The strands of the plot are gently progressed without us really noticing. Clues are slipped in, as the alert reader will spot.

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