Flaming Murder by Simon Whaley
Series: The Marquess of Mortiforde Mysteries #3
Genres: Mystery
Three dead bodies. Two murders. One missing Bonfire Night effigy.
With Bonfire Night looming, Aldermaston, the Eighth Marquess of Mortiforde, is feeling the heat.
Not only has someone stolen Mortiforde Millie—the town’s beloved fifteen-foot Bonfire Night effigy—just days before the town’s annual firework celebrations, but developer Rupert Rinde wants to torch Mortiforde’s heritage by building a waste incinerator on the historic Mortiforde Meadows. The locals are outraged, as is Rupert’s father, Sir Hugo, who owns the meadows. So when Sir Hugo is found dead, skewered by a medieval dagger, his widow begs Aldermaston to investigate.
Meanwhile, Sir Hugo had promised Aldermaston’s wife and her Ladies’ Legion the meadows for their new eco-friendly burial scheme. Now they’re desperate to plant their first body in the ground before the deal goes up in smoke.
So, when Aldermaston uncovers who stole Mortiforde Millie and why, he realises the waste incinerator project is designed to ignite some explosive repercussions.
Can Aldermaston unmask a killer and save the Mortiforde Meadows before Bonfire Night erupts into chaos? Will the Ladies’ Legion bury a body before their dreams go up in flames? And can Aldermaston rescue Mortiforde Millie’s hidden secret before the fireworks begin?
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my review
This was my first visit to Mortiforde, and while it quickly became clear that this book sits within a well-established series, I was still able to enjoy the story without feeling completely lost. There’s a lot going on — in the best possible way — and the author does a solid job of immersing new readers into the town, its politics, and its delightfully eccentric residents.
Aldermaston, now the Eighth Marquess of Mortiforde, has inherited his title under unusual circumstances and finds himself juggling far more than aristocratic duties. As chair of the Borderer’s Guild, he’s deeply involved in protecting Mortiforde Meadows from a controversial waste incinerator project — a fight that puts him directly at odds with the local council and its determined new leadership. When the current owner of the Meadows is found stabbed, matters quickly escalate.
Officially, the death is ruled an accident by the town’s rather inept sole police officer, but Aldermaston isn’t convinced. Soon he’s helping the victim’s widow search for answers while also navigating blackmail within the council, environmental protests, a shadowy activist group, and the increasingly vocal Ladies Legion, who have their own ambitious plans for the Meadows. Add in a missing effigy before Bonfire Night, a kidnapped local businessman, and mounting political tension, and Mortiforde becomes a hive of chaos and suspicion.
What really shines here is the humour. The book is packed with eccentric, highly likeable characters and a deliciously wicked sense of satire aimed at bureaucracy, local politics, and community activism. Even when the plot becomes busy — and at times it truly is — the sharp wit and absurd situations keep everything moving at an entertaining pace.
As a newcomer to the series, I did occasionally feel that some relationships and running jokes would have landed even better with prior knowledge, but that never stopped me from enjoying the story as a whole. This is a clever, character-driven mystery with a strong sense of place and a cast you can’t help but grow fond of.
A fun, fast-moving, and humour-filled read that has definitely convinced me to go back and start the series from the beginning.
meet the author
About Simon Whaley
Simon Whaley lives in rural Shropshire, having escaped from Greater London in the late 1990s. His first published piece was a word search puzzle, aged 17, and he’s since written over 1000 articles in publications as varied as BBC Countryfile, Country Walking, Cheshire Life, The People’s Friend, The Daily Express, The Observer, Outdoor Photography, Coast, The Simple Things and Writing Magazine. His first book, One Hundred Ways For A Dog To Train Its Human, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in September 2003, and spent three weeks on the UK’s Top Ten Non-Fiction paperback bestseller lists. (Lifetime sales now exceed over a quarter of a million copies.) He became a full-time writer in January 2004. He’s since written over a dozen non-fiction books, and recently published the third novel in his Marquess of Mortiforde cosy crime series.
Thank you for your lovely review. So glad you enjoyed it.
This sounds like an awesome mystery!