The Case of the Canterfell Codicil by P.J. Fitzsimmons

 Codicil per Miriam Webster: "a legal instrument made to modify an earlier will".

The Case of the Canterfell Codicil is the first book in the Anty Boisjoly Mysteries.

About: "There’s a literary niche for all tastes including those who think that either Agatha Christie wasn’t funny enough or that PG Wodehouse didn’t feature anywhere near as many baffling murders as he could have. The Case of the Canterfell Codicil is a classic, cosy, locked-room mystery written in the style of an homage to PG Wodehouse. The result, for those familiar with Wodehouse or Jerome K Jerome and Agatha Christie or Dorothy L Sayers, is either an inexcusable offence to several beloved canons, or a hilarious, fast-paced, manor house murder mystery.

 In The Case of the Canterfell Codicil, Wodehousian gadabout and clubman Anty Boisjoly takes on his first case when his old Oxford chum and coxswain is facing the gallows, accused of the murder of his wealthy uncle. Not one but two locked-room mysteries later, Boisjoly’s pitting his wits and witticisms against a subversive butler, a senile footman, a single-minded detective-inspector, an irascible goat, and the eccentric conventions of the pastoral Sussex countryside to untangle a multi-layered mystery of secret bequests, ancient writs, love triangles, revenge, and a teasing twist in the final paragraph."

My take: This is a good locked room mystery reminiscent of an Agatha Christie mystery and Clue. With the calm of Poirot and deduction skills of Sherlock Holmes, Anty Boisjoly helps his school mate, Fiddles, try to find out how his Uncle Sebastian came to be thrown/or fell out of an upstairs window from a room that was locked. Colorful characters, a wealthy aristocratic family in England, Earls, seats in Parliment...who stands to gain from Sebastian's death.

Anty is good at letting the local police and investigators work on the case but all the while is figuring it out himself as the locals try to solve it all in a day and lock up the first person they can think of. Just when things appear to be wrapping up, Sebastian's father is found dead by apparent suicide, again in a locked room. Anty is pretty sure these deaths are related to the Canterfell Codicil written 30 years ago. Anty calls everyone staying in the house to the conservatory a few times for his own questioning, pointing out what rooms everyone was in at the time of the "accidents", things in the room etc. Hence the reference to Clue. 

The story seems to take place in the 1930's, based on events mentioned. The dialogue is what I imagine to be aristocractic English (if that is a thing)of that time and I did have a little trouble following it sometimes. Anty does make some very funny comments and observations throughout the book. 

The story is very good, methodically unraveling  "who dunnit" peppered with hilarious quips. I look forward to book two.

About P.J. Fitzsimmons: "I’m a freelance ghost for mainstream genres but when I’m my own man I write strictly for the laughs. I dream of an alternative reality in which PG Wodehouse wrote locked room mysteries, and in which I’m PG Wodehouse." 

I received a free copy and voluntarily provided this review.

Open Season by C.J. Box

 I read three very different books in the past month. Two were mysteries, one was a historical woman's fiction. The great thing about belonging to a book club and read and review sites, is the exposure to books I may not pick up on my own. I will do separate posts this week or this would be really long.

Open Season by C.J. Box - Joe Picket #1

Our Mystery Book Club read C.J. Box for our January meeting, any C.J. Box book. I had not read any books by this author so I chose the first book in the C.J. Box series. Several of the members of the book club had recommended this series for years.

About: "Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts, and the game warden--especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way--is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police. As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear."

My take: I actually listened to this as an audio book. I will say at first I didn't think I would like it. Some of the characters are a bit too rough and crude for my liking and that is accentuated  when it is spoken words. But I ended up liking the book. Joe is a nice guy and great family man. His wife is a special person as the ending shows. I loved their daughter Sheridan. I believe she is 10 years old in the book but she is very smart, has a lot of common sense, brave and able to think things out way beyond her years. The main characters are very likeable but the other characters were pretty despicable. The ending was good - bittersweet. I would like to read more of this series. 

About the author: "C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction. He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017. The novels have been translated into 27 languages. Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he co-owns an international tourism marketing firm with his wife Laurie. They have three daughters. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. Box lives in Wyoming."

Next: The Case of the Canterfell Codicil

Happy 2021! Hallmark and Masterpiece Mysteries

 Gosh it has been a month since I posted. Didn't go anywhere. Quiet holidays. Not sure where the time went. 

Looks like television mysteries are back!

Hallmark

January: Ships in the Night - A Martha's Vineyard Mystery  Sunday January 17th 7 p.m. central

When an art gallery robbery leads to the death of the contemptible gallery manager, former Boston detective Jeff Jackson teams up with local Doctor – and old flame – Dr. Zee Madeiras, to catch the killer. Starring Jesse Metcalfe and Sarah Lind.

February: Crosswords Mysteries - Terminal Descent February 14 at 7 p.m. central

After volunteering to participate in a crossword solving competition with a new supercomputer, crossword puzzle editor Tess Harper finds herself swept into the investigation of the bizarre murder of a tech CEO. Starring Lacey Chabert, Brennan Elliott, Barbara Niven, and John Kapelos.

Masterpiece on PBS

January:

Miss Scarlet and the Duke Sunday January 17, 7 p.m. central

Six episodes in this new series. clap clap 

Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders) stars as the headstrong, first-ever female detective in Victorian London, who won’t let any naysayers stand in her way. Stuart Martin (Jamestown) plays her childhood friend and professional colleague Scotland Yard Detective Inspector William Wellington, a.k.a., The Duke.

Eliza Scarlet goes to work as a private detective to get out of debt. Luckily, a family friend is willing to help.

Inside the Mind of Agatha Christie - January 17, 9 p.m. central (check your local PBS station  for this)

A profile of Agatha Christie with access to the author's personal notebooks, letters and diaries as well as never-before-seen documents.

CW

Nancy Drew Season 2 January 20, 8 p.m. central

I did end up liking this show. Not really like the book series, but the characters have the same names as the books. It took on a paranormal twist but I like some of that. I will be watching it.

What about Big Sky you may ask. The t.v. series based on the novel The Highway by C.J. Box. I have not read The Highway, but others have told me the t.v. series is loosely based on the book. I watched the first episode, well half of it. Then I thought, oh maybe I should finish it. I watched some more. Then I said no this is not for me. I stayed quiet about it though. We had our Mystery Book Club meeting soon after that and guess what? Those from the group that has watched it turned it off also. 

Yes I did read a couple of books during the holidays. I will post those soon.