Death at Lovers' Leap by Catherine Coles - Book Review

Series: The Martha Miller Mysteries #3 (Standalone)

Publication Date: 16th Feb 2024 

Genre: Historical Cozy Mystery 

3 Stars 

One Liner: It was okay; could have been better! 

Westleham Village 1948

Martha Miller is lamenting her life with Valentine’s Day around the corner. With her husband Stan missing for a while and her growing feelings for the handsome Vicar Luke Walker, she wants to focus on something other than herself for distraction. 

However, she doesn’t expect to stumble upon a dead body near Lover’s Leap, a famous beauty spot in the region. Did the person jump from the bridge, or were they a victim of a crime? It’s up to Martha and Luke to solve the case. 

The story comes in the first-person POV of Martha Miller. 

My Thoughts: 

It’s been a while since book #2, so I was excited to read this one. Martha and Luke are back in their village, back to routine lives. 

The book starts with a (not-so) brief intro by Martha. This is useful for readers who haven’t read the previous two books. Still, I did sympathize a little with her situation. Not easy for her. 

There’s a new entry who tries to create trouble. I won’t say more. We meet another new character as well, though she is a delight to read. I hope the latter continues to appear in the series. 

The mystery, as such, is the coziest of cozies. Yeah, there are deaths, but the sleuthing is more of gossiping, questioning the same people, and drinking cups of tea. The resolution is weak, too. 

Not much excitement either since the focus is more on the rumors about Martha and Luke’s ‘relationship’. Can we bump off Stan already and get these two together? There’s only so much of pinning I can read. 

What I do like is that we see how hard it is to blend into a village and become one of them. The gossip, rumors, nosy neighbors, judgments, etc., are highlighted well in this series. Life is not rosy and happy quaint little towns! 

Given the period (post WWII), food rationing, women’s rights, financial concerns, etc., are integral to the plot. 

There’s a development in the subplot, which made me happy even if Ben has almost nothing to do with the sleuthing. 

Despite the lack of action, the book is decently paced and can be read in a couple of hours. That said, the book feels like it was written during a slump/ writer’s block. Hopefully, the next will be back on track. 

To summarize, Death at Lovers' Leap has a few moments but ends as an average read with a thin plot. This would have worked better as a subplot in a more complex main mystery. I did like revisiting the characters and enjoyed the development in the personal track, but that’s it. 

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

#NetGalley #DeathAtLoversLeap