Rosalind stared out of the front windows of Tŷ Gwyn, frowning, and Posy knew she wasn't seeing the wet, Welsh weather raging. And the plot is a light, quirky tale full of misdirection, deduction, clues, mishaps, drama, friendship, amateur sleuthing, red herrings, and murder. This is, without a doubt, the very best of the modern Agatha Christie inspired series and with any luck the excellence seen here with long continue. The book follows on from the first book in this series, The Three Dahlias and there are several references to the events in the previous book.

It’s a light read, and not a groundbreaking or massively realistic plot but it’s enjoyable nonetheless.This one is set in a big house in Wales where the filming of the new detective movie featuring 1930s detective Dahlia Lively is taking place.

He escaped and covered up all of the evidence of his wrongdoing, so out of guilt, Brigette picks up the mental of the judge. One of the plot points was a little hard to believe: that an actor could just change their name and no one would recognize them for years even though they had continued to act. And this time, with a storm raging, the river flooded and the bridge washed out, there are no police to rely on so it's up to the three Dahlias to stop a murderer in their tracks. Maybe that's why I didn't like this one as much as the first, none of the characters stood out to me, not even the Three Dahlias. Soon there is the possible threat of murder, followed by a suspicious death, and then we are wrapped up in a wonderful Christie-esque murder mystery with just the right amount of modern spin.A murder mystery with a nod to the golden era, three strong female lead characters and a locked room scenario. In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots on set and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best - surreptitiously sleuth. It's always a little nervewracking heading into the second book of a series when the first book set the standard so high but I needn't have worrried, we are in safe hands here.

In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots on set and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best – surreptitiously sleuth.

As the murders happen, motives are unclear and the author lays plenty of false trails for the three dahlias as well as the reader to follow. There wasn't a whole lot of character development with the Three Dahlias, although we learned a bit more about Rosalind. But no - guess what happens during this night of being trapped in with suspects and building tension. The author of the bestselling former Waterstones Thriller of the Month The Three Dahlias spins another fiendishly clever vintage mystery, as the three sleuthing actresses reunite to solve a murder on a movie set. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

This book is the second in the series with the promise of the third instalment just around the corner so fans of the first book can enjoy this book knowing there’s even more to come. I loved each chapter being proceeded by a relevant Dahlia Lively quote and the fictional North Wales setting (I grew up in North Wales). Katy Watson has written another classic country house murder mystery, set in glorious North Wales with a quick trip to France thrown in for good measure. The eldest, Rosalind King, played Dahlia in the 1980's films of the books and this time is playing the victim, Dahlia's Great Aunt Hermione. During the filming the pair realise that Rosalind is being targeted by a dangerous killer and contact Caro Hooper (the star of the tv series as Dahlia) to help them with their investigation.In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots in London, talk show appearances and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best - surrupticiously sleuth. Katy Watson was able to keep me on my toes and I did not guess the culprit with plenty of twists along the way. Example two: As the story progresses, you slowly start thinking that these women are delusional and are having some sort of mental problems, where they think they are Dahlia. I knew I would be in safe hands with Katy Watson and A Very Lively Murder was everything I hoped it would be! However when a member of the cast is murdered the Three Dahlias are needed to work together to solve the mystery.