I’m pleased to be welcoming Fiona Walker to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest novel, The Art of Murder.

Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs, its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is, until the murder…

Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer.

She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.

But before they have a chance, the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the village’s famous river. His lover is in the frame, but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret… One that relates to Phoebe’s own past and Juno’s present.

Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury, as they soon discover, living one’s best midlife can be murder.

*****

Phoebe wants to be left alone, away from all the people who cancelled her and the need to keep up conversation. She finds the characters of the novels she writes far better company.

However, when old acquaintance and ex comedian Juno moves back to the area, she gives Phoebe no choice but to re-engage with the world, especially when they have a murder to solve.

Although Fiona Walker has mentioned on Novel Kicks before, for reasons I can’t understand, this is the first of her books I have read. I know, the shame. I loved the idea of her latest novel, The Art of Murder and was honoured to be invited into the blog tour.

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