Title: The Cornish Village Murder (A Nosey Parker Series #2)
Author: Fiona Leitch
Published on: 12 Feb 2021
Genre: Cozy Mystery
The Cornish Village Murder is the second book in Fiona Leitch’s Nosey Parker Mystery series. The series features an ex-cop-turned-caterer-turned-not-so-amateur-sleuth. Phew, that was quite a mouthful!
Jodie ‘Nosey’ Parker, her mum Shirley and her daughter Daisy are seen gearing up for the Penstowan fete. Duncan Stovall, a renowned artist and his wife Genevieve will be the chief guests at the fete. Duncan is smart, handsome and an eye-candy – Jodie cannot stop drooling about it! But, she also has her eyes set on Nathan, the DCI of local constabulary. Hmm, if you are thinking Jodie might have to choose between two handsome men, let me tell you there’s a third guy in the mix. Meet Tony, Jodie’s best friend since school.
In the first book of this series – The Cornish Wedding Murder – we saw Tony’s ex-wife murdered on the day of this wedding. Tony also spent some time in the jail and it was up to Jodie to prove this innocence. And in the process of doing this, she met DCI Nathan Withers.
In The Cornish Wedding Murder, we see one of the guests at the fete, an author to be precise, is found dead at the bottom of the cliff. He was last seen walking towards the cottage that Duncan and Gene had rented for the week. Duncan soon becomes a suspect. He’s also Jodie’s possible love-interest so Jodie ends up poking her nose into the murder case… again!
Jodie might be in her forties but that doesn’t stop her from having fun. (Age will always be ‘just a number’). Though we have a murder mystery here, the story inclines towards the “matters of ze heart”. As the book ends, we see two strong (probably) lovers and I am curious to see who Jodie will choose.
The quirk factor was a little low here when compared to the first book. Also, when it comes to character development, the spotlight is only on Jodie. I would have loved the story more if Daisy and Shirley involved themselves into the murder mystery.
The red herring did not work much for me. When a certain character is first introduced, it is pretty evident they are nasty and will play a role in the murder. The big ‘revelation’ about Duncan did not surprise me much. Also, in the second half of the story (where we have the above-mentioned revelation), the identity of the perp becomes clearer. Well, at least for me, it did…
The Cornish Wedding Murder by Fiona Leitch was a good read. Though I did not enjoy this as much as I did the first book, I am still a fan of this series. I am eagerly waiting to see what’s next for our Ms Nosey Parker.
Additional Reading:
Nosey Parker Mysteries Series in order
Book #1: The Cornish Wedding Murder by Fiona Leitch
I received an ARC from One More Chapter and NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
The Book Decoder 
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