Daggers at the Country Fair by Catherine Coles - Book Review

Daggers at the Country Fair by Catherine Coles

A Martha Miller Mystery #2 (Standalone)

Publication Date: 26th Sep 2022

Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery 

3.7 Stars 

One Liner: A fun read! 

Winteringham Village 1947

Martha Miller is invited as the guest of honor at the Winteringham Country Fair. She travels to the place with her sister Ruby, the new vicar Luke, and two friends, Maud and Ada. Though Martha is nervous about the event, she looks forward to spending quality time away from her village. 

However, Martha stumbles upon the dead body of the local femme fatale (a teenage girl), and she has no choice but to investigate the crime with Luke. One death leads to another, and Martha has to stop the killer from taking more lives by exposing who they are. Can Martha and Luke solve this case too? 

The story comes from Martha’s POV in the limited-third person. 

What I Like:

• The book is just 210+ pages long and is easy to read. It can be read as a standalone as there’s enough backstory for readers to understand the characters and their relationships. 

• There’s a list of characters and their profession at the beginning of the book. This makes it easy to keep track of them (and to make notes). 

• The story has themes of the changing scenarios after WWII and how they affected women’s lives during the period. It has an array of characters with varying quirks (some stereotypical but work for the purpose). 

• Apart from the crime, this book has three major focus elements- the need for a loving family, how the scales are heavily tilted against young women with no support, and the ease at which people justify their actions (nothing has changed!). The concept of having a child is dealt with from different perspectives. 

• There are bits and pieces of lighthearted moments, gossip, and loads of tea as any countryside mystery should have. (Not complaining. I’d rather read about tea than a variety of alcoholic beverages and heroines who love their drink a little too much!)

What Didn’t Work for Me: 

• Ben is the police, so when he is asked to take over a case, the poor guy needs some scenes where he can do his job (searching for clues isn’t enough). Also, there was a great opportunity to give Ben some credit (the constable issue). 

• Though Martha’s final reveal kind of replicates Poirot's dramatics, it doesn’t have the same impact. Her assumptions seem like a lucky guess than a deduction (which is sad because there is logic in the case and the killer’s identity). Structuring the sleuthing process more carefully would have made it even better. 

• While I love smaller books, I also want some progress in the subplots. Understandable that things cannot be rushed with Martha and Luke, but Ruby and Ben hardly have a scene together. And the second book also ends the way the first does. I hope this doesn’t become a pattern because that would be boring. A hook for the next in the series can be anything. ;) 

To summarize, Daggers at the Country Fair is a short, fast-paced, and easy, cozy mystery set in the English countryside. The book works as a standalone. Grab it when you want a book for a lazy afternoon. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books, for the eARC.  

#NetGalley #DaggersattheCountryFair