The Murders at Fleat House: A compelling mystery from the author of the million-copy bestselling The Seven Sisters series

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EXCERPT: Outside Study Number Seven, the figure paused for a moment, listening. Being a Friday, the eight boys on this floor would have signed out and walked to the pub in the nearby market town of Fotlesham, but it was as well to be sure. Hearing nothing, the figure turned the handle and went in. Jazz is a great character, and it saddens me to think she may not have more books. I love the multiple shades in her arc. The book world lost a literary star last year when popular fiction author Lucinda Riley sadly passed away. Thanks to her children, Lucinda Riley’s work can continue to be enjoyed thanks to The Murders at Fleat House. This crime mystery release from the global publishing sensation was written by the author in 2006. Now this manuscript has been released the world as The Murders at Fleat House, a twisty police procedural mystery. As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of a young pupil and the death of an elderly classics master provide Jazz with important leads, but are destined to complicate the investigation further. As snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her personal demons . . . Tenía ganas de darle una segunda oportunidad a esta autora ya que con el primer libro que leí de ella no conseguí conectar demasiado. Este me apreció ideal ya que es su primer y único libro de misterio y creo que he acertado porque la verdad es que me ha entretenido mucho y no puedo ponerle ninguna pega.

Novela escrita hace años por la autora y publicada de manera póstuma por su hijo. Para ser la primera y única novela policíaca escrita por ella, no está nada mal. Lucinda Riley was born in 1965 in Ireland and, after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first novel aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and continue to strike an emotional chord with cultures all around the world. The Seven Sisters series specifically has become a global phenomenon, creating its own genre. Lucinda Riley sadly passed away in June 2021. Over the years, I’ve bought most of her books and only allowed myself to read a few, saving the others for later because I’ve loved what I read so far. Thankfully I read The Murders at Fleat House, and of course I thoroughly enjoyed it. In collaboration with her son Harry Whittaker, she also devised and wrote a series of books for children called The Guardian Angels. De esta autora, tristemente fallecida en el 2021, sólo había leído “La luz tras la ventana”. Me gustó, aunque no me cautivó. La serie de las siete hermanas no me atraía lo más mínimo, pero resulta que LR había escrito un policial, allá por el año 2006, que, por lo que sea no se atrevió a publicar. Ahora su hijo lo rescata y lo da a conocer a sus seguidores. Y me alegro.

Featured Reviews

Then a particularly grim discovery at the school makes this the most challenging murder investigation of her career. Because Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined… This is a very enjoyable police procedural set in North Norfolk. It would make a great start to a series but unfortunately Lucinda Riley, best known for her historical fiction, sadly died last year and this was published posthumously with the help of her son. Reunited with her loyal sergeant, she enters the closed world of the school and, as Jazz begins to probe the circumstances surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s tragic death, events are soon to take another troubling turn. DISCLOSURE: Thank you to AuthorBuzz via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. This isn’t exactly a cozy mystery or fully police procedural. It’s a blend of two, which I find very interesting.

Aunque no cumple todos los requisitos para ser un “cozy mistery” ya que la investigadora pertenece a la policía y aunque hay amor, la dosis es muy leve, para mi encaja en este término. Es un asesinato limpio, nada de escenas gores ni escabrosas, muy al estilo Ágata Christie. Charlie is exposed as an arrogant bully and those around him had both motive and opportunity to switch the drugs he took daily to control his epilepsy. But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss. Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk in England, in 2015 Lucinda fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and indeed this was where her last five books were written. Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died in June 2021When staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of a young pupil and the death of an elderly classics master provide Jazz with important leads. But, while snow covers the landscape, a suspect goes missing. The Murders at Fleat House is a suspenseful and utterly compelling crime novel from the author of the multimillion-selling The Seven Sisters series, Lucinda Riley. My biggest problem with this book is the setting. For me it doesn´t fit the overall vibe. To think that this book was published in 2021 and is supposed to be set in 2005, it really does give of some "older vibes" with all it´s misogony, sexism and homophobia. Leave the phones out and it could easily be the 1900´s, the thinking and the tone/language just don´t feel modern. I hated the portrayal of psychologist and therapy, it fits the "older thinking" I mentioned above. I also hated the constant "Boys will be boys" as excuse for anything and everything. Cheating, bullying, etc. "Oh, boys will be boys you know." Stfu. This really made the book not enjoyable for me which is such a shame since the book had so much potential, the case was interesting and I liked the idea of it. I think if all the other stuff would have been left out it could have been a 3,5 star or 4 star book. What also bugged me is that somehow the requirement of confidentiality doesn´t reply to them....They go babbling off about case details to everybody and their mother. The pacing was okay, although it really felt slow for me at times. I liked some of the twists but most of them you could see coming with how the book was set up.

I didn't get the sense of place that I usually get with this author's novels, and there is an awful lot of dialogue, hence the four stars rather than five. BUT, the mystery itself is wonderful. Riley, as always, had me fully engaged trying to work out who had killed Charlie, for the suspects were numerous. He was not a nice young man! DI Jazz Hunter has quit the Metropolitan Police after the break-up of her marriage to a fellow detective, and moved to the Norfolk countryside to renovate an old cottage and contemplate her future. When her former boss requests that she investigate the sudden death of a pupil at a posh local boarding school, she relishes the opportunity to take the lead without her annoying ex undermining her. Charlie Cavendish, a notorious bully, appears to be the victim of a tablet substitution, but was it accidental or intentional? Then a member of staff is found dead, and one of Charlie’s victims disappears. The more Jazz learns, the more complicated the case becomes, when everyone she interviews has a secret - and one of them is a killer… Her relationship with her parents is very touching, and I liked Jonathan sadly after a point he wasn't present since the events from the case took the focus of the story! But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London, but reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss.As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of young pupil Rory Millar and the death of an elderly Classics master provide Jazz with important leads, but are destined to complicate the investigation further. As snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her personal demons . . .