Discover a new series of whodunits by million-selling author Faith Martin. These charming mysteries will have you scratching your head to work out who the murderer is. “Classic murder mystery story with a twist at the end” Oxford TimesMeet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Please note this book was first published as “A FATAL FALL OF SNOW” under Faith Martin’s pen … “A FATAL FALL OF SNOW” under Faith Martin’s pen name JOYCE CATO.
Jenny Starling is spending Christmas in a snowed-in country house cooking all the traditional food she loves. But the family she’s working for are not full of the seasonal spirit. In fact, they seem to hate each other.
On Christmas Eve, someone is found dead on the kitchen table. And the head of the family is blaming Jenny!
But with an incompetent detective called in, and seemingly no motive for the murder, Jenny will have to give the police a hand.
She will stop at nothing to clear her name and find the real murderer.
This is the second of a series of gripping murder mysteries with a great cast of characters and baffling crimes which will keep you in suspense to 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 WINTER MYSTERY
“Really enjoying this series.” Nerys
“Jenny is an attractive, intelligent Rubenesque heroine, and the cast of characters above and below stairs are captured affectionately and wittily.” EuroCrime
“Really enjoyable and easy to read.” Anne-marie
“A very nice cozy read.” Janet
THE SETTING
A snowed-in farmhouse in rural Oxford. A big Cotswold-stone Georgian house with stables, outhouses, cobbled courtyard and resident sheepdog. Charming, but cold and uncomfortable in winter.
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.
THE AUTHOR
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.
JENNY STARLING MYSTERIES
Book 1: THE BIRTHDAY MYSTERY
Book 2: THE WINTER MYSTERY
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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family-dynamics, amateur-sleuth, cosy-mystery, England, law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, rural*****
Freelance cook Jenny Starling has an intellect even more impressive than her cooking skills or her dramatic appearance and isn’t hesitant to wield it along with her powers of observation and deduction. This time she is working at a farm for the two weeks of Christmastide, but the head of the family is self important and very rude and abusive to family and everyone else as well. But he’s not the one who gets murdered during a horrendous snowfall! It’s his kind and frail brother! The police are stumped and even Jenny takes a long time to figure it out. Good sleuthing!
I was lucky to get the audio performed wonderfully by Charlotte Worthing.
The second book in the series sees roving caterer Jenny Starling taking a Christmas booking at a remote farm run by Stan. He’s an aggressive bully who rules with a rod of iron, keeping the rest of the family in check. His brother, Sid, who’s the rightful heir to the farm, is ill and in no position to fight.
When Sid’s found dead with a knife in his chest, the police arrive to investigate. The local inspector finds himself out of his depth and reliant on help from Jenny Starling, who’s already solved a few murders along the way.
It’s a very cosy mystery that’s well told with the usual red herrings and false trails to keep the reader guessing. Jenny Starling holds centre stage, slowly piecing together the clues to identify the killer. There’s a healthy helping of humour to lighten the mix and some well-drawn characters.
One of my pet peeves is police officers shown as incompetent or behaving unprofessionally to allow an amateur sleuth to shine. While it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story, I felt the portrayal of the police could have been handled better.
Loved the second book in the series by Faith Martin about Jenny Starling. This time Jenny is cooking up a storm in an old fashion farm house during a very cold December.
The beginning makes it clear that the farm is isolated, snowed in part of the time, and has a houseful of family filled with despair and hate. What has she gotten herself into?
You meet Sid Kelton, frail, pushed around by his younger brother Stan. Sid owns the farm, the sheep, and the land but Stan runs the place with an iron hand. His own daughter wears old clothes she has outgrown, son Bert misses his wife after she left him their son Jeremy, due to Stan. And Bill, the favored son of Stan is now treated the worst and no one knows why.
Stan is hated throughout the village but it seems everyone liked Sid….so why is Sid found dead and not Stan??
The inspector and sergeant rely on Jenny to ferret out the killer, this as tension and secrets and fear plays out in the cold farm. Jenny observes it all as she bakes and continually mops the floors ..and that mopping becimes a clue later on as does local gossip. As Christie pointed out, snall village gossip always has a kernel of truth in it.
Once the information is assembled you winder why Jenny is taking so long…she has the killer, and reasons….or does she? One final surprise at the end!!
Definitely in the style of Agatha Christie abd Miss Jenny Starling could very well be the 20th century younger Miss Marple. 5 shiny stars.
I’ve read all of Faith Martin’s DI Hillary Greene mysteries because they’re SO good.