pretty good cozy mystery ( )

While former nanny Phoebe Gray was loved by the many children she had cared for in the small English village, not all adults felt the same way about her. Nanny had Parkinson's and was prone to falls, so when her body was discovered in a wooded area, it was assumed that she had fallen and hit her head. However, the Superintendent Bone and his partner are unable to find anything in her home that matches the fatal injury. Nanny had recently inherited a large sum of money from a former charge. Was this the motive for her murder? Or did she know a secret that one of her families would kill to keep?

There were several things I liked about this debut mystery, but it had a few problems. The development of characters and motives wasn't consistent. A few suspects received a lot of attention, while a few others weren't developed very well. I frequently felt like something was missing from a description or a conversation. I think the book needed a little more detail. There was a nice balance between the investigation and Superintendent Bone's personal life. I liked his relationship with his daughter Charlotte, who is recovering from a serious brain injury from the accident that killed Bone's wife and young son. The book's good points outweigh its flaws, and I'll be on the lookout for more books in this series. ( )

The first in the Superintendent Bone series - and a great light read in the cosy tradition of the Queens of Crime. If you like Agatha Christie et al you'll thoroughly enjoy this series. Here we are introduced to Superintendent Robert Bone, as his investigates the murder of the elderly Nanny Grey whilst coping with single parenthood of his injured daughter Cha after a car crash has taken the life of his wife and baby son. Recommended. ( )