THE MURDERS IN GREAT DIDDLING

An explosion in an English village leads an author to seek inspiration for her languishing project through informal investigation.

Author and observer Berit Gardner has settled in Great Diddling, the perfect place to avoid writing her next novel. The citizens are simultaneously low-key and richly backstoried, which is perfect for Berit, who’s keen on taking in the sights and people around her without causing too much of a stir while she waits for inspiration to strike. Berit’s plans for respite go sideways when she’s invited to a tea party at Tawny Hall. Daphne Trent’s home is a testament to her everlasting love of books of all types, and the gathering promises to be a time for Berit to mingle among other townspeople and their tales. But getting to her destination, she’s nearly sidetracked by a gift from her literary agent in the form of Sally Marsch, a new assistant who arrives on her doorstep unbidden. As both of them struggle to recover from the disorienting circumstances, Sally and Berit make it to the tea party in time for disaster to strike as a blast in Tawny Hall kills one guest and destroys several highly loved books. Berit’s natural reaction is to be intrigued. Because the deceased was well loathed, DCI Ian Ahmed has quite a task at hand. Poking into villagers’ lives in his outsider role proves fruitless, so he enters into an uneasy alliance with Berit, whose keen observational skills flush out secrets that some villagers have been working overtime to keep hidden. Slowly unearthing the connections between past and present provides pleasure to both the heroine and her audience.

On the charming side of humorous and self-consciously charming.