Book Review : Murder at St Anne's (Yorkshire Murder Mysteries #7) by J.R. Ellis

 

Title: Murder at St Anne's (Yorkshire Murder Mysteries #7) 

Stars: 5

Review:

Once again I travel to Yorkshire England to observe the work of DCI Jim Oldroyd as he and his team solve the brutal murder of a rector in her own church. It was mid January and the weather was bitterly cold with snow storms to hamper their efforts. The author, who has spent most of his life in Yorkshire, is able to take the reader there as if it was their own home ground. This is an excellent British Police mystery which will keep even the most jaded reader interested. I have previously read and reviewed The Nidderdale Murders and The Whitby Murders by this author. This is an author which should be on your reading list if you enjoy British Police Mysteries. 

I have rated this book 5 stars.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

Synopsis:

In the chilly depths of a Yorkshire winter, a well-liked rector is found bludgeoned to death in her own church. With no sign of a murder weapon, local superstition quickly pins the blame on the ghost of a medieval monk believed to haunt the building

About The author:

During a long career teaching English, I wrote plays for children and occasional ghost stories. I have always been fascinated by the paranormal and by mysteries, conspiracy theories and unexplained crimes.
My love of my native county is deep and the settings of my Yorkshire Murder Mysteries within Yorkshire's varied landscapes are important. I have made a study of the sub-genre of the Locked Room Mystery during the height of its popularity between 1930 - 1960 in the stories of writers such as John Dickson Carr, Clayton Rawson and Ellery Queen. I was an avid watcher of BBC's "Jonathan Creek" in its heyday. I believe the element of puzzle is essential to crime fiction and my novels contain a double mystery: the standard "who dunnit?" but also "how dunnit?!"
I avoid the dark and gruesome in my writing and I strive to include some humour and elegance in style, a vivid sense of place and a compelling mystery! My characters both innocent and guilty are mostly ordinary people.
I am a member of a writers' group in Otley which has inspired me to write poetry and various forms of short fiction.