“Murder at the Mill by M. B. Shaw is a great sweeping adventure. Ideal for holiday reading.” –M. C. Beaton, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author “a rich, mystery debut” –Kirkus Starred Review A picture hides a thousand lies… And only Iris Grey can uncover the truth. Iris Grey rents a quaint cottage in a picture-perfect Hampshire village, looking to escape from her crumbling … quaint cottage in a picture-perfect Hampshire village, looking to escape from her crumbling marriage. She is drawn to the neighboring Wetherby family, and is commissioned to paint a portrait of Dominic Wetherby, a celebrated crime writer.
At the Wetherby’s Christmas Eve party, the mulled wine is in full flow – but so are tensions and rivalries among the guests. On Christmas Day, the youngest member of the Wetherby family, Lorcan, finds a body in the water. A tragic accident? Or a deadly crime?
With the snow falling, Iris enters a world of village gossip, romantic intrigue, buried secrets, and murder.
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Murder at the Mill by M. B. Shaw is a great sweeping adventure. Ideal for holiday reading.
A snowy Christmas in a country village, intriguing characters and a twisty-turny plot…I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. Fabulous!
Murder at the Mill by M. B. Shaw takes us to charming village of Hampshire in England. Iris Grey, a portrait painter, has rented out Mill Cottage from Dom and Ariadne Wetherby. Dom is the charismatic author of the Grimshaw novels. Iris felt she needed time away from her playwright husband, Ian McBride whose career is on a downswing along with his attitude. Dom is retiring from writing and publishing his last Grimshaw book. Ariadne has requested Iris paint Dom’s portrait in honor of the occasion. During the sittings, Iris notices tension among the members of the Wetherby family. At the boisterous annual Wetherby Christmas Eve party, Iris meets Graham Feeney, lawyer and friend of the Wetherby’s. She is attracted to Graham, but Iris has yet to make a decision regarding her marriage. After a quiet Christmas day, Iris hears a scream down by the river. Lorcan, the Wetherby’s youngest son with Down’s syndrome, was playing with his boat in the river and it caught on a body. It looks like a suicide, but the victim had no reason to harm himself. Iris, with help from Jenna Wetherby, begins searching for the truth. The villagers are a curious and gossipy bunch who are happy to give Iris the lowdown on the Wetherby clan. Can Iris uncover the truth? Join Iris Grey in Hampshire on her inaugural investigation in Murder at the Mill.
Murder at the Mill is set in Hampshire, England which will please readers who enjoy English cozy mysteries especially those with a bit of edge to them. Hampshire is a small village where gossip runs rampant. Iris Grey is a portrait painter known for capturing the essence of her subjects. Doing a portrait of Dom Wetherby would be a feather in her cap and would greatly help her career. Iris has a colorful and quirky clothing style which some find garish. Dom is known for being charming and flirtatious which makes it hard to get to know the real man. Billy Wetherby, the middle son, is the villain of our piece. He has just been released from prison and a lack of funds has him living at home once again. Billy and Ariadne are frequently at odds. There are numerous characters in Murder at the Mill. It can be hard to keep them all straight. It is made more difficult since the point-of-view alternates between several of them including Iris, Marcus Wetherby, Ariadne Wetherby, and Jenna Wetherby. I think the novel would have benefited if the story had been told from Iris’ perspective or in the third person. It would have helped the flow of the story. The author has a descriptive writing style and likes to use similes. Some of the authors comparisons made me cringe (“the spindly tree branches swayed and shivered pathetically in the wind like the starved limbs of concentration-camp prisoners, pleading for escape” or “Lorcan tore at the wrapping on his gift like a starving child clawing at a bag of rice”). Her descriptions, though, help readers imagine the scenes in the book and bring the story to life. There are two mysteries in Murder at the Mill with multiple suspects, good clues and red herrings. I like how the two whodunits tied together and all the threads were tired up at the end. I do want to warn readers that there is a significant amount of foul language and animal lovers will be offended at how Ariadne uses real animals as subjects for her sculptures (she uses anesthesia to put them to sleep while she sculpts). Murder at the Mill is a potboiler that will have you on the edge of your seat as you quickly turn the pages to the surprising ending.
M.B. Shaw has penned a wonderfully layered mystery with a multifaceted amateur sleuth, artist Iris Grey. Ms. Shaw’s English village setting made me feel like I was right there, and kept me reading until late into the night. I can’t wait to see where Iris Grey’s next artistic commission takes us.
A terrific book with many layers and characters that come to life. Well plotted and a great mystery.
M.B. Shaw’s “Murder at the Mill” reminded me a lot (in good ways) of M.C. Beaton’s books with some Agatha Christie thrown in. A lovely Hampshire village, a beautiful mill, and a perfect family…or is it? Portrait painter Iris Grey would like to know more about the family…especially after a mysterious death. A cozy read to keep you guessing.
It was a page turner, I couldn’t put it down. Everytime I thought I had it figured out, another plot twist had me stumped. It was a very enjoyable read with likeable characters. I thought it was very well written.
I enjoyed this first in series mystery with a portraitist as our amateur sleuth. There are actually two mysteries here with enough greed, vanity, revenge, and twistedness to fill two books. I had figured out part of the denouement but still had some surprises. My only complaint…at almost 400 pages, a bit too long and drawn out. Liked heroine and would definitely read more. Iris Grey felt fresh as a character, and I liked that she, as a portraitist trained to capture hidden depths of her subjects, tapped into that ability as she began to search for the truth.
Great potential here for lots more mysteries/adventures as her career takes off and calls her to different locales.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress and #MinotaurBooks for the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.
A festering box of secrets, providing a Christmas cocktail of family lies and deliciously conceived murder.
A nice little slice of festive who dunnit — just right for cosy winter afternoons.
Be sure to start reading M.B. Shaw’s evocatively written mystery early in the day, or else you’ll be up late into the night ― it’s that unputdownable.
MURDER AT THE MILL by M. B. Shaw
The First Iris Grey Mystery
Iris Grey is an accomplished portrait painter looking for a respite from a bad marriage. Staying at the cottage of Mill House she finds comfort in her doll house and opportunity in painting a portrait of her landlord, famous crime writer Dom Wetherby. But all is not what it seems in Mill House. Undercurrents simmer beneath the family that strives to be so perfect. On Christmas day, Dom’s body is found dead. The author, retiring his favorite character, both in book and TV, has committed suicide. His daughter in law doesn’t believe it and enlists Iris’ aid to prove it was murder. Will Iris be able to uncover the secrets of the Wetherby family? Will she stay in her unhappy marriage or will she find a new life for herself? Or will trying to find a killer only bring death?
Although set at Christmastime, MURDER AT THE MILL is not a cheerful holiday mystery. It’s an involved psychological drama with a multilayered mystery. The Weatherby family seemingly has it all, but what have they done to get there? And what will they do to keep their image intact?
The book is also a journey as Iris Grey comes into her own. I enjoyed watching Iris evolve, finding her confidence, discovering who she really is, and not letting anything or anyone stop her. She will uncover the truth, no matter how difficult.
MURDER AT THE MILL is a complex mystery that looks to the very core of its characters.
FTC Disclosure – The publisher sent me a digital ARC provided through NetGalley, in the hopes I would review it.