Meg Miller discovers a dead body in Darrow House just a few hours before the annual homes tour. It could be someone she knows. Of course, she’s a suspect. She’s the only other person in the house. But, why would a retired librarian, community volunteer, and widow strangle a prominent socialite? Detective Penny Crawford intends to get to the bottom of the crime, even if she has to interview Meg … interview Meg several times. Meg doesn’t mind. She’s willing to do surveillance, bake a batch of cranberry scones, or hide in a closet to help solve the murder. However, there’s a bigger menace to the community, and Meg suspects it’s centered in the mega-church at the edge of town. Will she be jailed as the murderer, hailed as the hero, or captured by the evil members of an organized crime ring?
Follow Meg as she begins a series of adventures challenging her to embrace the technology of her cell phone, check out social media, and cozy up to local law enforcement.
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When I saw the title, I knew I had to give this one a chance. I enjoy reading about Dickens, and if there is a mystery involved, all the better. ‘A Dickens of a Crime’ is the first book in the ‘A Meg Miller Cozy Mystery’ series by author Phyllis H. Moore. In this tale, Meg Miller, a ~60ish widow with a grown daughter, volunteers/works at a local house on a tour where she dresses up in a costume to meet visitors. When she arrives one day, another woman has been strangled. Meg looks guilty, but quickly clears herself in the eyes of a detective. The two women build a friendship and solve the crime together; along the path, readers are treated lots of interesting action.
Meg is a good protagonist. She is curious and witty, not necessarily in an obvious way. While she borders on being a busybody, it’s never rude nor overly painful. She’s smart and knows what questions to ask, even is she’s a little nervous about being so close to her first real murder. Though warned by her daughter to be careful, Meg puts herself at risk a few times to solve the case. There’s a huge religious institution, a gaudy and peculiar group of people who are definitely up to no good. What do the victim’s husband and step-daughters have to do with it? Or that seemingly mean and lascivious preacher running the place? Add in a few family secrets, a flock of sheep who see only the positive in the church, and a bestie named Jean, then Meg’s in for quite a ride.
I enjoyed this book. It’s a great start to the series. I like the supporting cast of characters, and there is a lot of potential to move forward with the series. I struggled to connect a few times when there was a lot of narrative / thought by the main character, but eventually, I learned to like Meg’s style of questioning her own ideas. It’s a good example of why these types of books can be so much fun. I look forward to seeing more to come from the author in this series.
Meg Miller finds a body in the Darrow Hours right before the annual house tours are supposed to begin. Of course, since she is the only person in the house she is seen as a suspect. Detective Penny Crawford intends to solve the murder, therefore, she interviewed Meg on several occasions. Meg doesn’t mind the interviews as long as she is cleared. Meg even does a little investigating of her own and tells Detective Crawford what she finds out. Can Meg help solve the crime or will she get into more trouble?
This is a great start of a new series. I really enjoyed Meg as a protagonist. It is a nice change of pace to see a detective listening to the protagonist. Meg is smart and observant. Although Detective Crawford wasn’t necessarily encouraging Meg (at least not at first) to be involved in the investigation she did not talk down to Meg and actually listened when Meg gave her information and leads. The mystery had a great pace with several twists and turns along the way to keep the reader guessing whodunit. I enjoyed this book and believe this series will only get better as we get to know the characters better. I am looking forward to future books and recommend this one to cozy mystery fans.
I received an arc of this book in hopes I would give a review. This did not influence my thoughts in any way. All the opinions of the book are honest and my own.
This was a great book with a ton of twists and turns. There were so many things that happened that I never saw coming. The story has a powerful message and I couldn’t stop reading. I had to know who the murderer was, and why they did it. The culprit wasn’t who I expected, and that made this book even better because the author had me thinking one way, but went in another direction which took me by surprise. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it.