Thursday, November 4, 2021

A Body at the Alter

Title: A Body at the Alter
Author: Dee MacDonald
Published: October 18th 2021 by Bookouture
Format: Kindle, 272 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Kate Palmer Novel #4

First Sentence: If you were going to get married in a quaint old Cornish church, on a glorious autumn day, you couldn’t do better than this, Kate Palmer reckoned, looking around the interior of St Piran’s.

From the Publisher: Jilted grooms, sudden deaths, broken hearts and threatening letters. All in a day’s work for super sleuth Kate Palmer!

Nurse Kate Palmer thought the pretty Cornish village of Tinworthy would be the perfect place for a peaceful retirement. She couldn’t have been more wrong! But even she is shocked when she attends a beautiful wedding at St. Pirin’s Church and the handsome groom drops dead in front of her very eyes.

While the rest of the wedding party panics, Kate notices the strange behaviour of the not-so-blushing bride and the posh mother-in-law – and vows to find out the truth behind the poor young man’s sudden demise. Especially when the new detective Charlotte Martin makes it known that she doesn’t want Kate involved – and also shows an interest in Woody Forrest, Kate’s partner in crime-solving.

Undeterred, Kate discovers this isn’t the only wedding to have been sabotaged. A series of peculiar letters contain the clues Kate needs to get to the heart of the matter. But is the mystery letter writer behind the unusual deaths? Or is more than one person responsible for the strange goings on in the seaside village…

As Kate digs deeper, she adds more suspects to her growing list: the world-weary vicar, the unlucky-in-love cleaner and the bride’s former flame. But, as a pair of boots bring Kate closer to the killer, it becomes clear their investigation has placed Woody in danger.

Can Kate solve the murder and save the man she loves at the same time? (Goodreads)

My Opinion: I adore Kate Palmer, a middle-aged local nurse in the Cornish village of Tinworthy, not obsessed with bouncing curls and the usual dramas all too familiar with the typical 20-something woman found in a predictable cozy mystery. Then again, I’m not even sure this would be considered a cozy. Sure, there is a dog and a retired, but working, detective boyfriend. There is a small town and a small business; ok, it falls within the general cozy category, but in a way, it is different.

The reader will see in the widowed and deliberately single Kate a delightful but not unexpected surprise. When there is a jolt in a relationship, it can shift the picture, and Kate has had an upset that has put everything into a new perspective.

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