Lois Meade lives at Meade House in the quaint English
village of Long Farnden. She lives with her husband,
Derek,
and her mom, Elsie Grant "Gran" Weedon. Her daughter,
Josie, married a local policeman, Mathew. Her two
brothers, Douglas and Jamie comprise the family. Lois is
the proud owner of her own cleaning company, nattily
called
New Brooms, We Sweep Better.
She enjoys her business,
keeps busy but sometimes helps Inspector Cowgill solve
local
crimes. Gran and her husband do not approve of her
meddling. Derek calls it "ferretin". The Top Cop,
Inspector Cowgill, has a strong partiality for Lois
Meade,
which is well known at the police station. He enjoys
Lois's
help in any crimes in his area and does not hesitate to
ask
for her help.
The beautiful Mill House Hotel is the scene of the murder
of a young woman found strangled with a silver necklace.
Not far from her body was a bag filled with costume
jewelry.
Sylvia Fountain, the victim, was known to be a frequent
visitor at the hotel and always came with a gentleman.
The jewelry was traced back to the Brigham Luxury Jewelry.
Donald Black who represents Brigham Jewelry became the
prime
suspect.
Aurora Black, his wife, is the owner of the Brigham
Bakery
where she makes crusty homemade bread the old fashioned
way.
Aurora loves kneading by hand, baking the bread in the old
ovens that had been there for years and her freshly baked
breads are sold out every day. She and Lois are good
friends, having a drink together at the Mill House Hotel
when they see the body of Donald Black drowned in the Mill
Pond. His past is investigated and it becomes clear he
was a serial Don Juan, who someone felt needed killing.
Who
done it.?
This whodunit seemed obvious to me early on and I stuck
with
my pick for the killer and was correct. Several
interesting
twists and lots of descriptions of bling and jewelry
parties. Gram was a humorous character that I enjoyed and
I
always like a fluffy white dog, like Jemima, that adds fun
to the chase. SUSPICION AT SEVEN is the 14th Lois Meade
Mystery from
Ann Purser and I will await the 15th coming soon, me
thinks.
Fun, Fast and enjoyable read.
Lois Meade has done enough buffing and polishing over the years with her cleaning business, New Brooms, to know that all that glitters is not gold. So when a bag of costume jewellery is the main clue in a murder, she has a strong suspicion that appearances may be deceiving… After a woman is discovered in the Mill House Hotel, strangled with a silver necklace beside a bag filled with faux silver, gold and pearls, costume jewelry dealer Donald Black seems like the obvious suspect. But Lois knows Donald's wife, who runs a baker’s shop near the hotel, and can’t believe her husband could be a killer. Plus, Donald has an airtight alibi. Nevertheless, Donald is no angel. It appears he’s running a pyramid scheme, and Lois’s mother is getting sucked in. Could the murder have anything to do with his unscrupulous business practices? As Inspector Cowgill and Lois hope the bling may shine a light on the killer, the discovery of a second body on the old waterwheel in the hotel may be grist for the mill in solving the murder—if they can manage to catch the culprit without getting the runaround.