The Author’s Guide to Murder: A Novel
by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
This novel was unexpected and ended up being funnier than I thought it would be. I was looking for a murder mystery, liked the title, and needed something for my drive home from work, so I just jumped in.
The book takes us to Kinloch Castle in Scotland where Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead in a somewhat scandalous tableau. Bit of a wild name, I don’t know many people named for Saffron and Presley always makes me think of Elvis.
Three American authors are at the castle, ostensibly as a writing retreat to cowrite a novel. Sounds like a fun way to spend some time!
I loved the way the three are revealed a little bit at a time. At first, they seem like caricatures of genre writers – Cassie Pringle is a sweet Southern writer of cozy mysteries, Kat de Noir is a sharp and sexy erotica writer, while Emma Endicott is a very proper writer of historical novels. They claim to be best friends.
“We bonded instantly.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. They barely tolerate each other, and they have no idea of the deeper secrets each is carrying. I enjoyed how their relationships developed and their back stories are revealed to each other, building their friendship over the course of the book. The way each was involved with the murder victim is a developing thread as well, with some things not revealed until close to the end.
Cassie is the only one who is happily married, though that happiness is shown to be in jeopardy as the plot progresses. However, Emma and Kat are both single, leaving lots of room for romance with a couple of local men. That too begins rather prosaically. One ends that way too, for my money, but the other takes an interesting turn.
The authors do a marvelous job of doling out the clues and information as the story progresses to keep the readers guessing. I can safely say I didn’t have a clue who the murderer was, which is the way I prefer it.
The setting of a castle and a Scottish village was interesting, and I thought rather well developed, based on my watching of BBC television, but then maybe people in Scotland would disagree or even take umbrage. It worked for an American who has never been there.
Overall, I’d call this murder mystery by three authors about three fictional authors highly entertaining.
