Miss Christie Regrets: Book 2 of the Hampstead Murders - Guy Fraser-Sampson

The second in the Hampstead Murders series opens with a sudden death at an iconic local venue, which some of the team believe may be connected with an unsolved murder featuring Cold War betrayals worthy of George Smiley. It soon emerges that none other than Agatha Christie herself may be the key witness who is able to provide the missing link. 

As with its bestselling predecessor, Death in Profile, the book develops the lives and loves of the team at 'Hampstead Nick'. While the next phase of a complicated love triangle plays itself out, the protagonists, struggling to crack not one but two apparently insoluble murders, face issues of national security in working alongside Special Branch. 

What did I think?

I read Miss Christie Regrets quite soon after reading Death in Profile, the first book in the Hampstead Murders series, so it was good to meet the colourful characters of Hampstead Nick again.  You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a Victorian murder mystery as Guy Fraser-Sampson has such a unique writing style that transports the reader to the Golden Age of detective fiction whilst reading a story based in the present day.

DS Karen Willis and her partner, Dr Peter Collins, find themselves in the middle of a crime scene when a body is discovered as they are visiting an art exhibition at Burgh House.  As the police dig for clues using good old-fashioned police work, they could never have imagined the direction that this case would take them.  Could Agatha Christie hold the key to determining the murderer?

It's so very refreshing to read a modern book about a murder without expletives and gory details.  The reader really feels part of the investigation as the clues are gathered and you come to your own, inevitably wrong, conclusions.  I absolutely loved the references to Agatha Christie and whilst Death in Profile was labelled as a love letter to the detective novel, Miss Christie Regrets is surely a love letter to Dame Agatha herself.

I would recommend reading Death in Profile first to get the history of the characters, although it won't lessen the enjoyment of the story in Miss Christie Regrets as it's possible to be read as a standalone.  If you're a fan of blood and gore, you really won't enjoy this series but if you like to collect clues and try to work out the conclusion before it is revealed, you will absolutely love this series.  Guy Fraser-Sampson turns gold to platinum with his modern day golden age detective fiction series.  I'm really looking forward to the third book in the series: the brilliantly named A Whiff of Cyanide.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Death in Profile - Guy Fraser-Sampson

The genteel façade of London's Hampstead is shattered by a series of terrifying murders, and the ensuing police hunt is threatened by internal politics, and a burgeoning love triangle within the investigative team. Pressurised by senior officers desperate for a result a new initiative is clearly needed, but what? Intellectual analysis and police procedure vie with the gut instinct of 'copper's nose', and help appears to offer itself from a very unlikely source a famous fictional detective. A psychological profile of the murderer allows the police to narrow down their search, but will Scotland Yard lose patience with the team before they can crack the case?

Praised by fellow authors and readers alike, this is a truly original crime story, speaking to a contemporary audience yet harking back to the Golden Age of detective fiction. Intelligent, quirky and mannered, it has been described as 'a love letter to the detective novel'. Above it all hovers Hampstead, a magical village evoking the elegance of an earlier time, and the spirit of mystery-solving detectives. Guy Fraser-Sampson is an established writer best known for his series of Mapp and Lucia novels which have been featured on BBC Radio 4 and optioned by BBC television. This is his debut work of detective fiction, and the first title in the Hampstead Murders series.

What did I think?

If you're looking for a traditional yet quirky murder mystery then look no further than Death in Profile.  It went in directions I never saw coming and kept me on my toes and completely entertained throughout.  It's filled with good old-fashioned police work and is refreshingly devoid of expletives.

I knew from the first word, 'Boyo', that I was going to enjoy Death in Profile.  Boyo is a dog living on the street with his vagrant master. It is Boyo who finds a body in an alley one day and, in a move resembling Lassie, raises the alarm.  The police find this murder similar to other unsolved crimes and, when they run out of ideas, call in profiler Dr Peter Collins.  With Dr Collins' help, a suspect is arrested and found guilty but moments too late an alibi is discovered.

Dr Collins blames himself for the conviction of an innocent man and, like a tortoise in its shell, retreats into the safety of his own brain where Dr Peter Collins becomes Lord Peter Wimsey, the fictional detective.  Hilariously, his partner, DC Karen Willis, and her police colleagues all play along in order to bring him out of his delusion but to also track down the real murderer.

Death in Profile is such good fun and I was enjoying the Lord Peter Wimsey scenes so much that I forgot about trying to solve the crime, and completely missed the hidden clues by not questioning certain things.  WIth the Lord Peter Wimsey delusion, it felt like two books in one as the past and the present collide in order to solve a modern day crime, proving that even with so many technological advances, sometimes all it takes is a clever piece of deduction.

I really enjoyed Death in Profile and I'm eager to see how it compares to the second in the series, Miss Christie Regrets.  With such fresh and amusing writing, I'm sure the Hampstead Murders series will quickly become a modern classic for murder mystery fans.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon