The Best Corpse for the Job
4/5
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About this ebook
Tea and sympathy have never been so deadly.
Schoolteacher Adam Matthews just wants to help select a new headteacher and go home. The governors at Lindenshaw St Crispin’s have already failed miserably at finding the right candidate, so it’s make or break this second time round. But when one of the applicants is found strangled in the school, what should have been a straightforward decision turns tempestuous as a flash flood in their small English village.
Inspector Robin Bright isn’t thrilled to be back at St. Crispin’s. Memories of his days there are foul enough without tossing in a complicated murder case. And that handsome young teacher has him reminding himself not to fraternize with a witness. But it’s not long before Robin is relying on Adam for more than just his testimony.
As secrets amongst the governors emerge and a second person turns up dead, Robin needs to focus less on Adam and more on his investigation. But there are too many suspects, too many lies, and too many loose ends. Before they know it, Robin and Adam are fighting for their lives and their hearts.
Charlie Cochrane
Charlie Cochrane writes gay fiction, predominantly historical romances/mysteries, but with an increasing number of forays into the modern day. She's even been known to write about gay werewolves — highly respectable ones.Her ideal day would be a morning walking along a beach, an afternoon spent watching rugby, and a church service in the evening, with her husband and daughters tagging along, naturally. She loves reading, theatre, good food and watching sport.Charlie was named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name.
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Reviews for The Best Corpse for the Job
32 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5After one of the applicants for the new Headteacher post ends up dead in the school kitchen, it becomes clear that nothing at Lindenshaw St. Crispin's School is as it appears at first.
The two protagonists are local inspector Robin Bright, who is a former pupil of the school, and Adam Matthews, a young teacher who just wanted the interviews for the job to be over.
The Best Corpse for the Job is not a romance. It is a well written cozy mystery with two very likeable protagonists and a great dog. Bright's younger detective sergeant Anderson is never boring either.
Inspector Bright was bullied at school (by some teachers and pupils both) and it is very hard for him to be back at St. Crispin's.
I could easily relate to Adam and his issues with the educational dinosaurs around him; you know the in-my-days-we-used-to types. I have colleagues like that.
Unfortunately for Adam, he doesn't get enough space later in the book to make him something more than Robin's love interest and a witness. We are more in Robin's head than Adam's.
Adam and Robin have this 'instant chemistry' when they first meet, but nothing could happen between them until the case is solved. Not surprising since this is a cozy mystery after all. It isn't frustrating to read because there is a bit of humour regarding that problem.
As for the mystery, it is really good with a couple of decent suspects, some twists and a good resolution. I didn't quite like the way the explanation was given (or by whom), but it doesn't take away much from the story.
I would recommend this to cozy mystery lovers. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The plot is nicely interwoven with a few mysteries, clues slowly trickling in and reveals that are just WOW at times. Robin and Adam are attracted but there is the fact that Robin is working the case and Adam is a witness that is stopping them for going further. We watch them learn about one another and find a relationship beyond the attraction in the terms of friendship first. They learn to trust and respect one another. They lean on each other and help one another out before they act on the attraction. When they do act on the attraction, it is very understated in the book so it doesn’t take away from what the main plot is about. The author sticks nicely to the main plot about Robin solving the murders and how he goes about doing this. I had never read anything by this author but will find more as I would like to see more of Robin and Adam.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a fairly competent mystery, and I enjoyed it reasonably well. The mystery plot is sufficiently puzzling for me, with lots of potential suspects, although I think more could have been done with some of them--there is one person at least who is barely mentioned after the first few scenes. However, it seems the story as a whole (including the romance and characterization) failed to draw me in or win me over quite as much as it should have, because I noticed a lot of typos, which I don't so much in a really good book, even if they are present, and also had issues with various things, most of which are problems not unique to this book and/or which would require spoilers to explain and so I will not get into them here. I was a little bothered by some of the wording, which I think it is reasonable to bring up (after all, one of the main characters seems to have a case of PTSD regarding words applied to him when he was little--it is enough to interfere with his job and personal life, and he should probably see a therapist or something. It is interesting that he is so touchy about words when it comes to his own experiences, but is careless about words applied to other people by him or in his presence.) One male character casually refers to a female witness, who is not present, as "stupid cow" because she concealed a detail from the police that turned out to be relevant and could potentially get her killed, except of course she wouldn't know that as she is not privy to everything the police know about motivations by that time, and has no particular reason to suspect the murderer of being capable of murder. I believe that at this point the police are very frustrated because of many witnesses lying and not mentioning things, but couldn't they use a gender-neutral insult? "Bloody idiot" perhaps? This seems like careless misogyny on the author's part, as opposed to consciously writing a character who talks like that for a good reason. (Earlier, one of the characters had referred to herself as a stupid cow, which was understandable in context, but it strikes me as too vicious this time. Also, repetitive.)