#Blogtour The Riverboat Mystery by Faith Martin @faithmartin_nov @books_n_all @Joffebooks #Starling

Today I am pleased to be opening the blog tour for the latest Jenny Starling book by Faith Martin.

About the Book

THE RIVERBOAT MYSTERY by Faith Martin

Discover a new series of whodunits by million-selling author Faith Martin. These charming mysteries will have you scratching your head to work out who the murderer is.

“A wonderful protagonist.”  Mystery Women
 
Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective.

Please note this book was first published as “DYING FOR A CRUISE” under Faith Martin’s pen name JOYCE CATO.

Jenny Starling has a job on a luxury paddle steamer working for a wealthy businessman. All she has to do is cook for his small number of guests. But things quickly turn sour.

Then she discovers the body of one of the passengers in the store cupboard. Who wanted him dead and why?

Jenny will have to ignore many red herrings and follow the clues to get to the bottom of a complex and intriguing murder mystery.

This is the third of a series of enjoyable murder mysteries with a great cast of characters and baffling crimes which will keep you in suspense to the final page.

Perfect for fans of classic whodunits by authors like Agatha Christie, LJ Ross, TE Kinsey, and J.R. Ellis.


JENNY STARLING
In her late twenties, Jenny Starling is an impressive woman. Physically, she stands at 6ft 1inch, and has shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes. Curvaceous and sexy, she’s a modern single woman, living the lifestyle that suits her – that of a travelling cook. Her famous (and now very rich) father, is a ‘celebrity’ cook, divorced from Jenny’s mother. Jenny drives a disreputable cherry-red van, and is happy travelling the country catering events and cooking great food. She is on a one-woman crusade to bring back ‘real’ food. And definitely doesn’t like having to divert her attention from achieving the perfect Dundee cake or creating a new sauce recipe by having to solve a murder. She finds crime very distracting, especially when there is chocolate to temper or pike to poach. Nevertheless, she is very good at reading people, and with a quick and agile brain, becomes very good at unmasking killers. And her always-undaunted sense of humour goes a long way in keeping her sane when all around her people are dropping like flies.

THE AUTHOR
FAITH MARTIN is the best-selling author of the DETECTIVE HILLARY GREENE mysteries, which have sold over 1 million copies globally in just over a year.

JENNY STARLING MYSTERIES
Book 1: THE BIRTHDAY MYSTERY
Book 2: THE WINTER MYSTERY
Book 3: THE RIVERBOAT MYSTERY
More JENNY STARLING mysteries coming soon

My Review

This is the third book in the Jenny Starling series, but can easily be read as a stand alone book.

This book stars Jenny as she is hired to be the chef on a paddle steamer for a wealthy businessman, but soon is embroiled in a murder mystery where only she can solve it before it’s too late.

I should firstly start by stating that if Jenny ever works for you run away as murder is not far behind her. Also if I were her I would quit being a chef for the same reason, although she would make a great Police Officer, so should maybe move into that field instead. I could see her working very well alongside Faith’s other main character Hilary Green in a series of books.

I liked the way that the scene was set in the first half of the book, although this did drag in places as I was waiting for the murder to occur, and then the way Jenny investigates it was done very well, with her asking all the right questions and beating the police to the murderer and tidying up everything very nicely.

This book is very low on violence and gore, especially considering it is a murder/mystery book, but concentrates more on the mystery, making it a very cozy book to read in a couple of hours.

Some parts of the book were unbelievable and stretched the imagination a bit too much, but if you ignore this then the book is a very enjoyable read.

About the Author

Faith Martin was born in Oxford, and has spent all her life within twenty miles of the university city, even working at Somerville College for five years before turning to writing full-time. The author of the popular DI Hillary Greene novels, she also writes more classic-style ‘whodunits’ under the pen name Joyce Cato, but began her writing career as Maxine Barry, winning an award for penning romance novels! A popular writer for over 25 years, she has had nearly 50 novels published so far. Her hobbies include walking her now ageing dog, wildlife-watching, reading and (reluctantly) gardening.