Murder on a Winter Afternoon

A Melissa Craig Mystery, Book 5

By: Betty Rowlands

Narrated by: Joan Walker

A snow-covered cottage is nestled in the hills, all ready for Christmas...but inside a body lies dead upon the floor.

Melissa Craig is enjoying her first winter in the Cotswolds, taking brisk walks through the snowy fields and basking in the winter sunshine. The only thing Melissa is plotting is her Christmas shopping.

But after the unexpected death of local writer Leonora Jewell, Melissa is asked to complete Leonora’s final book. However, on her first visit to the cottage, she finds a gruesome object overlooked by the police: a metal bar covered with dried blood.

Terrified, Melissa rushes to the nearest telephone box to call the police. But by the time they reach Leonora’s cottage, the murder weapon has mysteriously vanished.

With no murder weapon, the detective in charge of the case scoffs at Melissa’s suspicions. Furious and frustrated, Melissa focuses on finishing Leonora’s novel. But as she reads Leonora’s notes for the book, she starts to wonder...did Leonora accidentally plot out her own murder?

As Melissa does some investigating of her own, she uncovers some pretty suspicious local characters. But with the police unwilling to help, can Melissa solve this vicious crime alone? By hook, by crook, or by the book, Melissa must find the killers before they strike again....

If you adore Faith Martin, Joy Ellis, and P. D. James, you’re in for a treat with this pause-resisting mystery novel!

This book was previously published as Deadly Legacy.

What readers are saying about Betty Rowlands:

"An absolutely addictive, wonderful story. Loved it from start to finish. Great pace and a delightful setting, colourful characters and thrilling mystery. This was a brilliant story and I cannot wait for more!" (Renita D’Silva, author of The Forgotten Daughter)

"A lovely, peaceful and funny cozy mystery novel...plenty of very good laugh-out-loud moments...reminded me of Agatha Raisin... I’ll be definitely in the search of other books from this author in future. A perfect cozy mystery!" (Licence to Read)

"Absolutely charming!... A good old-fashioned who-dunnit with just the right amount of mystery, intrigue and humour. Would definitely recommend!" (Stardust Book Reviews)

©1995, 2018 Betty Rowlands (P)2018 Bookouture

It's him!

One of those cozies where you solved it and want to warn the protagonist. Very fun.

Narrator was not a good choice for this type of book.

Too clipped English and refined. Unable to give character to these to characters in book

Enjoyable!

I gave this four stars because compared to the first four books in the series, the setting was much less interesting and also, I was disappointed by Melissa‘s failure to notice obvious suspicious characters. Overall however, it was an enjoyable

Not my favorite Rowlands book

This is not my favorite book that she has written but it was good. Parts were slow but the plot was good and took some research I'm sure.

Eye roll worthy

The protagonist is an idiot. Fifteen words are required but it is not worth the effort.

5 stars

As always Melissa puts all of the clues together. I really like this series. I love the characters and the plot.

Easy entertaining story

much like the earlier books, uncomplicated but engaging. Mel Craig is essentially unchanged, which for this series is a good thing.

Not as good as earlier books in the series

Unfortunately, this book had the main character doing some obviously dumb things, which did not fit the character. This hasn’t been the case in previous books.

The heroine is simple and annoying

The story was obvious from early on and the narrator stinks. Her intonations are so inappropriate for the characters in their situations and her upspeak intolerable.

Not as good as the others

The reluctance of the heroine and the languid pace of the narrator made this piece a little tedious. I guessed the bad guy about 3 chapters before the end. I’ll wait a while before I get the next one.