The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective: A Mystery
by Jo Nichols
The Marigold Cottages are owned by Mrs. B, Golda Bakofsky. She
and her husband, who is no longer living, built them years ago and now they
seem to be her sole source of income, though she is very generous in what she
asks people to pay.
She is also very selective about who she rents to. There are
five people – Sophie, Hamilton, Ocean, Lily-Ann, and Nicholas. Sophie is still
skittish from a horrible stalking situation in college. Hamilton has agoraphobia
and never leaves his apartment. Ocean is a single mom of two, a teen daughter
and a fourth-grade son, who teaches art. Lily-Ann is an elegant and organized proposal
manager for a transport company who has left her husband. Nicholas works in the
city planning department.
Then Mrs. B adds in an ex-con named Anthony with very badly
drawn tattoos and Sophie creates a group chat with her former small group of
neighbors., just in case of anything.
A few weeks later, “anything” happens – a man is murdered in
the yard and Anthony is taken in for questioning by a detective who assumes it’s
very cut and dried.
Then Mrs. B convenes a meeting and asks the small group of
neighbors to help clear Anthony of the crime. When that doesn’t happen fast
enough, she confesses to the murder and is taken into custody.
Now they have to clear her too.
It turns out the murdered man was checking out the cottages
with the intention of buying and developing the property with another local
man. But just who killed him and why?
Of course, each character has their own little idiosyncrasies
and even secrets. They are very distinctive and the story is told in alternating
very short chapters following each in turn. I find this type of ensemble cast
very enjoyable and it keeps the pace driving forward as little bits of information
are revealed.
The humor is very evident, from Mrs. B’s dotty old lady act
at times to Hamilton’s random fact additions to the group chat. Even the way
Nicholas refuses to get involved with the other tenants is humorous. It’s
nearly impossible to pull out just one little bit so I highly recommend you
give this one a try if you like humorous murder mysteries.
Jo Nichols is actually a pen name for a husband and wife duo,
which is often means good writing to me. All the books I know of that were written
by spouses are well done.
I definitely want to read more by this duo.
