Shades of Murder

Written by Ann Granger

Narrated by Judith Boyd

The two elderly sisters of the Oakley family live in poverty in an ancient mansion, and have decided to sell up to live comfortably from the profits. However, things become more complicated when a young Polish man appears claiming rights to half the fortune. When he dies in circumstances familiar to the Oakley family, the sisters are haunted by the shadow of crime, and Superintendent Markby must look back at the events of a century ago to find the killer...

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Nov 1, 2006
• ISBN: 9781846322044

Ann Granger

Ann Granger is a British author of cozy crime. Born in Portsmouth, England, she went on to study at the University of London. She has written over thirty murder mysteries, including the Mitchell & Markby Mysteries, the Fran Varady Mysteries, the Lizzie Martin Mysteries and the Campbell and Carter Mysteries. Her books are set in Britain, and feature female detectives, murderous twists and characters full of humor and color.

Reviews for Shades of Murder

[Mari Melting · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My favourite of the series to date. These are very low key murder mysteries but well written with believable characters.

[romonko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book refers back to a previous death of an Oakley family member in 1889. Cora Oakley was found burned to death in her bedchamber. Her husband William was charged with murder since many felt that he had poisoned her with arsenic fumes which caused her to knock over the lamp and start the fire. William was acquitted and left the country, leaving a young son behind him. Descendents of that son are now living in the family home. A stranger comes to town saying he's a descendent of Cora's husband. This puts the elderly Oakley sisters in a quandary and upsets everyone in the village of Bamford. When a present-day murder occurs. Alan Markby and Meredith Mitchell are on the case. Alan, although a Superintendent, has been side-lined for this investigation because he is too close to the principals in this case, so he works from the sidelines with Meredith trying to uncover some long-buried family secrets. Ann Granger does a wonderful job of the English village mystery and her two sleuths are two of my favourites. Meredith and Alan's personal relationship always adds some interest to the mystery.

[the7ken7petersen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book was very light on police procedure. Accepting that Markby would be allowed anywhere near a murder in which he had direct contact with all of the suspects, even living with one of them; because such stretches are sometimes necessary for a crime novel, the police seemed to operate upon a Sherlock Holmes/Hercule Poirot approach whereby the little grey cells were all and finger prints, etc. were non existent. I would have forgiven this, but a good whodunnit should have a twist: this one did not. After a very long build up - over 150 pages before the murder is committed, the book proceeded quite well, until the end. I would have liked some of the frightfully upper class villagers to get their comeuppance but the green wellie brigade came out on top; even though one of their number was a murderer. The complex series of events that lead to Jan Oakley's demise were unconvincing and left me feeling a little cheated. The writing style was good and the 400 pages slipped by without effort. This is one of a series of 'Mitchell and Markby' books and I may well try another because this has the air of being out of kilter with said collection: Markby is very much a secondary character, having been somewhat sidelined by the pedestrian Minchin (due to Markby's connection to the case) and Meredith Mitchell is relegated to a point even further towards the edge of the picture. I am guessing that this might be a rogue offering - the one that didn't quite work.

[midkid88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was an excellent read. There are two murders in the Shade family, a hundred years apart. You switch back and forth between the two times getting information from both murders. It was well written with both times separate and yet parallel.

[ansy_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nice one of this series, also the who-done-it is not so mysterious.