Discover a new series of whodunits by million-selling author Faith Martin. You’ll be gripped from the first page to the last. These classic-style mysteries will have you scratching your head to work out who the murderer is, and look out for some real twists and turns.Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Please note this book was first published as “BIRTHDAYS CAN … first published as “BIRTHDAYS CAN BE MURDER” under Faith Martin’s pen name JOYCE CATO.
Jenny Starling is catering the twenty-first birthday party of upper-class twins, Alicia and Justin.
She arrives at their parents’ country house and is immediately met by the police. A young man has drowned in the pond. Was it an accident or murder?
But the birthday party goes ahead. Then just after midnight, everyone gathers for a champagne toast . . . and one of the guests falls down dead. The police are baffled and there is a whole party full of suspects.
When it comes to someone adding the extra ingredient of poison to her own precious recipes, Jenny isn’t going to take it lying down. She has a reputation to protect.
Jenny Starling won’t stop until the murderer is found.
This is the first of a series of enjoyable murder mysteries with a great cast of characters and baffling crimes which will keep you in suspense until the final page.
Perfect for fans of classic whodunits by authors like Agatha Christie, LJ Ross, TE Kinsey, and J.R. Ellis.
What readers are saying about THE BIRTHDAY MYSTERY
“It felt (in a way) like I was reading a young Miss Marple, with Jenny’s straight talking and the way she solved the mystery. It looks like we are in for another great series.” Louise
“I’m a huge fan of Faith Martin’s Hillary Greene series and I have a feeling I’m going to get just as hooked on the Jenny Starling series.” Nerys
“Plenty of action in the book with some light humour.” Barbara
“Probably even more atmospheric than the Hillary stories.” Jane
JENNY STARLING
In her late twenties, Jenny Starling is an impressive woman. Physically, she stands at 6ft 1inch, and has shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes. Curvaceous and sexy, she’s a modern single woman, living the lifestyle that suits her – that of a travelling cook. Her famous (and now very rich) father, is a ‘celebrity’ cook, divorced from Jenny’s mother. Jenny drives a disreputable cherry-red van, and is happy travelling the country catering events and cooking great food. She is on a one-woman crusade to bring back ‘real’ food. And definitely doesn’t like having to divert her attention from achieving the perfect Dundee cake or creating a new sauce recipe by having to solve a murder. She finds crime very distracting, especially when there is chocolate to temper or pike to poach. Nevertheless, she is very good at reading people, and with a quick and agile brain, becomes very good at unmasking killers. And her always-undaunted sense of humour goes a long way in keeping her sane when all around her people are dropping like flies.
FAITH MARTIN is the best-selling author of the DETECTIVE HILLARY GREENE mysteries, which have sold over 1 million copies globally in just over a year.
More JENNY STARLING mysteries coming soon. Join the Joffe Books mailing list to be the first to hear about the next in the series.
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A smart, funny mystery. Love this character!
Jenny Starling is catering for a 21st birthday party for twins Justin and Alicia in their parents’ country mansion in the Cotswolds. On the day she arrives, a worker from the estate is already dead, having drowned in a pond.
It soon becomes clear that all is not well in the house or between the twins, whose bitter rivalry and fighting comes under the spotlight when one of the guests dies at the party, poisoned by weed killer. The police arrive and begin an investigation, aware that Jenny is no slouch when it comes to solving murders.
Will she solve the case before the police, or will she hamper their investigation and land herself in hot water?
This light-hearted cosy mystery begins slowly, setting the scene, introducing the characters and the key relationships. Whether Jenny Starling is in the garden gathering herbs, checking out her sleeping accommodation in the house, or simply enjoying the country air, she’s never far from trouble, eavesdropping like a young Miss Marple to gather vital clues.
While some of the main characters seemed a little caricatured at the start, the story soon settled into a steady, entertaining rhythm, with plenty of humour to season the mystery. The competition between Jenny and the detective leading the enquiry was an enjoyable battle of wills as the cook pieced together the clues to solve the case.
This is an enjoyable first book in a series that features an excellent amateur sleuth, who’s more than a match for the police and killers. I look forward to reading the next in the series.
As someone growing up on Agatha Christie, it is hard to find authors that carry on in her style ….until I read Faith Martin’s book. It is so spot on perfect in the tradition of Miss Marple! Wonderful!
Miss Marple was notorious for observing everyday scenes between people and deciphering what was really going on. And Jenny Starling, is genius as a “cook” with the same skills as Jane Marrple. You always wondered how did so many suspects end up in the same area at the time of the murder. Jane as the cook extraordinaire, is at a large country estate handling a birthday bash for 21 year old twins.
Just like Jane, she handles staff and the rich with their dramas and secrets with quiet observations. Unlike Jane, Jenny is plump, curvaceous, well off and living in the present. But like Jane, she has little time for the foibles of the young and their carefree attitude with other people’s feelings.
This is so much like a Christie novel. The class distinctions, the setting of fancy homes and affairs, scandals, and the results ending in death. Close your eyes and this could be the early 1900s instead of now…plus the use of the British way of speaking and slang.
I highly recommend this book!! FIVE plus many more stars. I am ready to read her second in the series and hope she contines with Jenny Starling in these delightful mysteries…red herrings, subtle hints, clues, murder, blackmail, lies and gossip!
Jenny Stirling is a passionate cook and a reluctant sleuth. It is just her rotten luck that wherever she goes, murder seems to follow. And she is constantly on the move because she a “travelling” cook. At six-foot and with a curvaceous figure, Jenny is hard to miss. Her personality matches her stature. She is confident, intelligent and knows her stuff. That doesn’t apply only to cooking. Although reading about her culinary masterpieces I found my mouth water many a time.
This is Jenny first venture in the series. She is catering for a large and lavish double birthday party – I say double because it is for twins. As soon as Jenny arrives at the mansion where the party is to be held, a body of a young man is found. This is suspected to be an accidental death, though Jenny is wary. More mayhem follows at the party and, like it or not, Jenny is drawn into a murder investigation.
This is a classic example of cosy mystery. It has all the ingredients for an entertaining crime puzzle with minimum gore, but many suspects, a few red herrings and a very perceptive detective who saves the day.
The writing is smart, though perhaps the adjectives are overdone. I thoroughly enjoyed this mystery and would have given it five stars if it wasn’t for the motive. The method, the process of investigation and the characters were great, but the motive I found a little antiquated.
Good read. Good plot. Good characters. Moved along nicely.
Brand new series to dig into
One of my favourite authors, Faith Martin, has a new series staring a very tall, Junoesque young woman, who makes her living as a traveling chef. Jenny Starling is a brilliant cook, and as it turns out a brilliant detective. The Birthday Mystery is the first and The Winter Mystery is the sequel. I love this new series. Cheers Lynda Lock, author of Isla Mujeres Mysteries.