Reading: Murder Most Actual

[white_hart]

I only discovered Alexis Hall's books last year, but he has already got to the stage of "would read his laundry list if he published it" for me, and even if that wasn't the case, Murder Most Actual is a cosy murder mystery with lesbians, and that is very definitely something I am Extremely Here For. Here For enough, in fact, not to be deterred by the fact that the book is a Kobo original and I only have a Kindle (I was prepared to read it on my phone in the Kobo app, but in fact I was able to convert it using Calibre and email it to my Kindle).

Murder Most Actual's heroines are true crime podcaster Liza and her financier wife Hanna. Taking a weekend break in a luxury hotel in the Scottish Highlands in the hope of repairing their failing marriage, they instead find themselves snowed in with a cast of eccentric characters and a rising body count. The novel is gloriously and unashamedly full of nods to both Golden Age detective fiction and Cluedo and the mystery kept me guessing right up to the Big Reveal, while Liza and Hanna's relationship struggles and tentative steps towards reconnecting with each other are played absolutely straight, in contrast to the campy excess of the rest of the novel. It's funny and heartwarming and definitely recommended to anyone else who's still on a comfort reading kick.

Comments

[oracne]

Ooooooooooooh.

[nanila]

THANK YOU.