Cherringham parish council has invited Laurent Bourdain, mayor of a French village on the Brittany coast, to a gala reception to join the two villages in a mutually beneficial 'twinning'. The venue: Lady Repton's manor house, which her Grandson hopes to turn into a world-class conference center. An elaborate dinner worthy of the French dignitary has been prepared. But as the night wears on, and the wine flows, the mayor will vanish from the celebration, only to be found floating dead in the nearby lake. An accident it would appear, until Jack and Sarah start to piece together what really happened to the body in the lake.
"Cherringham - A Cosy Crime Series" is a series of twelve self-contained episodes. A new case for Jack and Sarah is released each month.
Band 7 der Cosy Crime Reihe. Dieser Band hat mir wieder sehr gut gefallen. Es geht um einen französischen Bürgermeister, der nach einer Feier tot im See gefunden wird. Was zunächst wie ein Unfall aussieht, entpuppt sich bald als Mord. Ein neuer Fall für Jack und Sarah. 😊 Ich mag diese Cosy Crime Reihe sehr. Die Ermittler sind sympathisch und wir lernen sie mit jedem Band besser kennen. Zudem liebe ich das Setting in den Cotswolds. 💖
Von diesem Band war ich nicht ganz so begeistert. Einiges was passiert und wie die Charaktere sich verhalten ist für mich nicht wirklich nachvollziehbar.
**Inhaltsangabe Verlag:** Der Gemeinderat von Cherringham lädt Laurent Bourdain, Bürgermeister eines französischen Dorfs an der Bretagne-Küste, zu einem Galaempfang ein, um eine Partnerschaft zwischen beiden Gemeinden zu besiegeln. Der Veranstaltungsort soll Lady Reptons Herrenhaus sein, das ihr Enkel in ein Tagungszentrum von Weltrang zu verwandeln hofft. Zu Ehren des französischen Würdenträgers wird ein prächtiges Dinner vorbereitet. Doch während der Abend dahingeht und der Wein fließt, verschwindet der Bürgermeister von der Feier, um bald darauf tot im nahen See gefunden zu werden. Ein Unfall, so scheint es - bis Jack und Sarah herausfinden, was wirklich mit dem Toten im See geschah ...
**Meine Inhaltsangabe:** Cherringham und eine Gemeinde in Frankreich planen eine Städtepartnerschaft. Um die letzten Hürden dafür zu beseitigen, treffen sich der Gemeinderat Cherringhams mit den französischen Abgeordneten im Herrenhaus von Lady Repton, welches ihr Enkel zu einem Tageszentrum umfunktionieren möchte. Die Stimmung ist gelöst und alle sind zufrieden, doch dann verschwindet plötzlich der Bürgermeister des französischen Dorfes und wird am nächsten Tag tot im See aufgefunden. Scheinbar ein Unfall, er war betrunken und ist nachts mit dem Ruderboot zur kleinen Insel von Repton House rausgefahren und offensichtlich gekentert und mit dem Kopf auf den Ufersteinen aufgeschlagen. Doch dann findet die Polizei Spuren, die auf Mord deuten und nehmen Lady Reptons Enkel als Hauptverdächtigen fest. Die bittet Jack und Sarah, den wahren Mörder zu finden. Und so geht sie los: die Spurensuche im englisch-französischen Kuddelmuddel.
Erster Satz: »Sarah bog von der Hauptstraße zum hohen Tor von Repton Hall ein.«
**Mein Eindruck:** Ich mag die Reihe, sie ist schön kurzweilig und sehr leicht und damit perfekt zum nebenbei hören. Auch jetzt macht Sprecherin Sabina Godec wieder einen großartigen Job und ich höre ihrer Stimme sehr gerne zu. Doch insgesamt hat mich diese Folge nicht so mitreißen können, ich fand sie eher langatmig und weniger interessant, wobei ich gar nicht wirklich sagen kann, woran das lag. Mir haben die Figuren diesmal einfach nicht so gefallen und auch den Fall selbst fand ich nicht so berauschend. Mir fehlt einfach das gewisse Etwas, das Fünkchen, dass aus einem Hörbuch ein Hörerlebnis macht. Es war nicht schlecht, aber halt auch nicht besonders erwähnenswert. Von mir daher 3/5 Sterne. Mein Cherringham-Ausflug ist mit dieser Folge erst mal beendet. Nicht, weil es mir nicht gefallen würde, sondern einfach, weil ich nur diese sieben Folgen zu Hause hatte. Sicherlich werde ich mir irgendwann weitere Folgen holen, doch erstmal habe ich noch massenhaft andere Hörbücher, die von mir gehört werden wollen. Fazit zu Cherringham: wer CosyCrime mag und gerne kurze (zwischen 3 und 4 Stunden), unterhaltsame Hörbücher mit einem sympathischen, nicht romantisch verbandeltem Hobby-Ermittlerpaar hört, dem kann ich Cherringham ans Herz legen.
Opět jsem si příběh Jacka a Sarah užila, jen je mi vždy líto, že je to příběh na pár stránek. Oba by si zasloužili mnohem víc prostoru. Já osobně mám moc ráda poklidné detektivní příběhy z anglického maloměsta, kde se lidé znají a celkově se ty vztahy prolínají do příběhu. Tady jsem opět dostala, co jsem chtěla...
Another episode in the life of Cherringham and ex NYPD Jack Brennan and single mother of two Sarah Edwards. These are short stories that were released monthly only on line. They are almost a serial but without the cliffhanger at the end of each part. This gets over part of my problem with the genus as a whole. Usually the brevity seems to mean that there is insufficient time to set properly the scene, the background and give the characters enough depth. Here , on the other hand, I have come to know the retired NY homicide detective and the web designer mother of two.
The story is straight forward and without too many complications.
Did I get the right person? Well no, but somehow it didnt really matter to the enjoyment of the read.
Enjoyable as always! I liked how this one had such a huge cast of possible killers - it really required the reader to pay close attention and keep track of everyone's movements.
Just right for a rainy and gray day, the last Thursday of 2022. Lovely companion for an afternoon, it's like seeing an old friend. Including the tea, whiskey and visit to the pub!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I love these novellas as simple breaks from my usual reading.
Laurent Bourdain, a mayor of a French village has been invited to Cherringham in the hopes of joining the two villages into a “twinning” or sister city arrangement. With a party planned at Lady Repton’s home, which her son has hopes of turning into a conference center, things are well underway with all sorts of debauchery when the mayor disappears and is later found dead in a nearby lake. From the onset, it appears to be an accident. That is until American ex-police officer Jack and English web designer Sarah start aligning the facts and come up with something much different than an accident.
The Cherringham series is made up of quick reads or listens, depending on your preference, and ties up the not-so-obvious with a familiar twist at the end.
The Body in the Lake is my firs Costello book and it's a weak one. The story unfolds pretty quickly so you don't have the time to get involved and actually be surprised when something strange and interesting happens. It looks like it was written in a hurry like he just didn't have time or he didn't want to write a proper novel so he just gave a quick recap of the story. And why are people who are not detectives doing the detective work, how does that work. Why is Sarah, a web designer or a graphic designer, actually interviewing witnesses. Some of them are her friends, I get that, but she can't do detective work and I am pretty sure that Jack, who is retired, can't investigate as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, because this is the seventh book in the series, so I might have missed the explanation. I bought this book with a magazine, and in it was also the "Snow blind" the continuation, so I'll read that one as well.
Sedmý díl série Vraždy v Cherringhamu je takovou nenáročnou detektivní jednohubkou. Tak jako v předchozích knihách, nás i touto dějem provází dvojice Sarah a Jack, avšak v tomto případě mi chybí energie, která jejich společná vyšetřování obvykle provází. Zajímavou a velice osobitou, i když vedlejší postavou, je však v tomto díle Lady Reptonová, alespoň mě zaujala na první dobrou a její roli v dopadení pachatele jsem si užila. Dějová linka je jinak poměrně přímá a nenáročná. Oproti ostatním příběhům však působí možná až příliš jednoduše a nevýrazně. V kombinaci s délkou příběhu se tak lehce stane, že i když nenudí, brzy zapadne a snadno se na ni zapomene. Celkově však tato série za přečtení stojí, minimálně tehdy, pokud máte slabost pro krátké cosy mystery příběhy.
Late last year, I started reading the Cherringham stories, a cosy crime series by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards (very enjoyably read by Neil Dudgeon!) These are short and lively, quick reads without gory details, supernatural elements, or horror. I really like the writing, the lead characters, amateur sleuths Sarah and Jake, the humor (often tongue-in-cheek), and the excellent narration. I intend to read another three of these mysteries in January, starting with #7 in the series of 47.
Don’t you just love how, every time a story is set in an English village, it’s called a “sleepy” English village? Well, I’d have to say, the fictional town of Cherringham is anything but sleepy.
In Book #7, the Cherringham parish council is celebrating the planned “twinning” of Cherringham and a sister village in France with an elaborate reception and dinner at the manor house of Lady Repton, whose nephew is instrumental in the plan. The wine flows freely and the French mayor Laurent Bourdain disappears from the festivities, only to be found dead in the water — floating in the lake on the manor house’s grounds. Was it an accident? What cosy mystery reader would ever believe such a thing?
It’s interesting that this is the second book I’ve read, one right after the other, that concerned a structure on an island in the middle of a lake on the property of a large manor house. In “The Last Act of Juliette Willoughby,” the only structure on the island was a pyramidal mausoleum. In this Cherringham mystery, the structure is a Greek temple of sorts.
These books are perfect for holding my attention while walking on the treadmill, my preferred form of exercise in the Vermont winter.
Krátká detektivka s pár překvapeními. I tak by se knížka dala nazvat. Navzdory krátkému příběhu se dozvíte i něco málo o hlavních postavách, Sarah a Jackovi. Ale i o městečku, kde žijí a o lidech v něm. Navíc se knížky dají číst nezávisle na sobě, což mi vyhovuje, půjčuji si je v knihovně, a není prozrazen děj předchozích. Nicméně navzdory krátké délce, tak si budete muset lámat hlavu, kdo za tím vším byl a proč se daná vražda stala. A vlastně vás tam čeká i pár překvapení. V tomto příběhu je zabit starosta francouzského městečka. A ve hře je podepsání spolupráce mezi oběma městy, takže přijít na to, kdo ho zabil, a proč, je celkem důležité. A musím říci, že večírek to byl docela divoký. A pár lidí má co ztratit, pokud k podepsání smlouvy nedojde. A nakonec se Jack a Sarah i musí lehce uchýlit ke lsti, aby záhadu rozřešili. Knížka se mi líbila možná o něco méně, než jiné z dané série, ale i tak jsem si ji užila a můžu doporučit.
A gala celebrating the twinning of Cherringham with a town in France quickly gets out of control as the wine flows freely, flirting abounds, and the French mayor blows a gasket threatening to call off the signing of the twinning agreement. When the Frenchman turns up dead in the lake the next morning, Jack and Sarah are called in by Lady Repton to look into the matter. Lady Repton's grandson is arrested for the murder a few days later but our sleuths don't believe he's guilty so they begin their investigation by following the money. Everyone at the gala had a motive for killing the Frenchman, particularly if he was going to stop the twinning process. And of course, everyone has a secret. It's up to Jack and Sarah to sift through the evidence and find the killer.
These Cherringham novellas are so delectable and fun to read. I adore them. There were a few typos in my version but that didn’t faze me (shockingly enough). I was into the story and I do adore Jack and Sarah (although I feel like their characterization never goes as deep as I’d like).
I actually finished this at my doctor’s appointment earlier, just as my doc walked in the room. Perfect timing, and such a good book (& a good series in general) to help manage anxiety in situations like that. (I HATE GOING TO THE DOCTOR’S. Thanks medical trauma.)
On to book 8! I did buy myself one of the the Omnibuses since my library only had a limited number of the books to loan out. Yay!
Love this idea of a series given in short bursts that are just the right size as well as so much more flexible than a whole novel! This episode involves a town that is looking to connect with a similar town in France for their mutual financial benefit. A gala is held at the local resort complex to work thing out. But a murder happens instead. Let the sleuthing begin! The ongoing sleuthing involves a retired and widowed older NYPD homicide cop who is finding life in the English countryside a fair antidote to his mourning, and a local recently divorced woman who has returned to her hometown with her children. They make a good sleuthing pair. Voice actor Neil Dudgeon has been an asset to my listening pleasure while I do mindless things.
En dejlig hygge-krimi-serie. Hurtigt læste små historier, godt oplæst af Neil Dudgeon, kendt for sin rolle som Barnaby.
Denne gang findes en død fransk borgmester, i det lokale slots sø. Det er dagen efter et større gilde på slottet og de fleste deltagere var lettere berusede (for ikke at sige "meget berusede"). Men hvorfor skulle borgmesteren dø? Den franske by og den engelske by, stod lige overfor at skrive under på en venskabsaftale, der gerne skulle være til fordel for begge parter. Og borgmesterens død, kom faktisk lidt på tværs.
AUDIOBOOK. A manor house party, a sister city celebration, a folly on an island, drinking, drugs and grasping egos. What could go wrong? But that doesn't explain why the body was in the lake or why the victim was even out in a boat. When the grandson of the manor is accused and arrested, the grand dame asks Jack and Sarah to look into things even though she disagrees with how her grandson is running things.
I listen to these audio books at night when I just need something quick and easy to listen to. They are cosy murder mystery books and whilst there isn't much excitement or mystery, they are really easy to listen to and follow no matter how tired I am, and I love Neil Dudgeon so his narration just makes it even better.
Body in the Lake was really well written. I really enjoyed the plotted mystery and how Jack and Sarah discovered the truth. With their free work they helped a lot, really a lot! Great work by Matthew Costello!
Once again Sarah and Jack has taken us on an exciting adventure of what is happening in the small town of Cherringham, England. Read this episode to see how greedy people can ruin a good plan.
Moje první kniha roku musela být samozřejmě detektivka a Charringhamská série je sice prostší, ale taková milá knižní jednohubka. Jen nechápu, proč změnili obálku, ta původní s chrámem na ostrůvku vypadá mnohem líp!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Kevytdekkari, jota ei ole monimutkaisuudella pilattu. Ihan hauskaa ajankulua, mutta tällä kertaa tekijät kyllä vähän mokasivat tuomalla juoneen ihan tarpeettomia viisikko-elementtejä salakäytävineen päivineen.