Graham and the Flinchcombe Murders by David Fairer

 

Around the World in 80,000 Pages - Book 17

Graham and the Flitchcombe Murders by David Fairer

You can read about my Around the World in 80,000 Pages challenge here.

Miles travelled: 1000
Pages read: 6,703

Disclaimer: I'm rather behind on my reviews, so they will be super brief until I get caught up again.

Micah Clarke was originally intended as my last English novel. However, there was one genre I realised I hadn't explored, but probably should. Cosy mystery is something of a phenomenon at the moment, making the likes of Richard Osman household names. Despite the fact it has certain similarities with the Holmes mysteries, it's not a genre I particularly. I tried the first Thursday Murder Club novel, and gave up a couple of chapters in. But seeing as this challenge will feature various sub-genres of mystery, it seemed churlish not to include one cosy mystery before we leave England.

Graham and the Flitchcombe Murders takes place (handily) in the Cotswolds, that picturesque, butter-stoned region of England where retired pop stars and minor members of the royal family hide away from journalistic eyes. The novel follows Graham Tomlinson, an author of gritty northern crime fiction as he tries to reinvent himself as a cosy mystery writer. He books a stay in Flitchcombe, a sleepy Cotswolds village, for inspiration but inadvertently gets caught up in a murder mystert of his own.

I had hoped the meta angle of the book would provide a bit of interest. It didn't. Despite the self-awareness of the novel, it still trod the same tired cliches of the genre, and failed to give the tongue-in -perspective I had hoped for. Graham continually talks about the fact he will need to get to the murder quickly in his book, and yet we are a third of the way through the Flitchcombe Murders before we find a body. The novel does nothing new, and fails to do the cliches well. The solution is anti-climactic and doesn't really make sense, and there are elements of the plot left hanging.

The novel garnered 59½/140, a generous ★★☆☆☆. The featured flag is that of Gloucestershire, and the music is the Midsommer Murders theme, by Jim Parker.