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    A Brush with Death
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    A Brush with Death
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    A Brush with Death
    Ebook308 pages4 hours

    A Brush with Death

    By Ali Carter

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

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    About this ebook

    Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey in this delightful new series introducing pet portraitist and amateur super-sleuth, Susie Mahl

    In the village of Spire, murder is afoot. Rich landowner Alexander, 9th Earl of Greengrass is caught with his trousers down in the village graveyard before meeting a gruesome end.

    Luckily Susie Mahl happens to be on hand. With her artist’s eye for detail and her curious nature she is soon on the scent of the murderer…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOneworld Publications
    Release dateJun 7, 2018
    ISBN9781786072771
    Author

    Ali Carter

    Ali Carter lives on the Norfolk Broads with her husband, a retired Met. Police Officer who helps ensure the legalities and procedure of a police investigation are correct. Her previous two books in this series are ‘Blood List’, and ‘Dead Girls Don’t Cry’. A fourth, ‘Fire & Ice’, is currently in progress. 

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    Reviews for A Brush with Death

    3.5/5

    26 ratings8 reviews

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    • 2/5
      While I do enjoy English cozy murder mysteries, this was, unfortunately, a poor example of the genre. The lead didn’t have much personality outside of constantly thinking about men and reminding the reader how nosy she is. She also removed or disturbed evidence from crime scenes on a few occasions while acting like she and the police were in some kind of competition. I know it’s usually the way for these amateur detectives to turn out to be smarter than the professionals in these kinds of books, but the way she kept casually dismissing them rubbed me the wrong way.As for the plot, the killer was immediately obvious, and the rest of the book was slow-moving. One recurring problem was that the author fell into the trap of going into lengthy legal and medical talk, presumably to show that she did her research. Overall, a disappointing read.
    • 3/5
      I requested this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program because it sounded like a cute cozy mystery. When I think of cozy mysteries, usually the woman who tries to solve the mystery ends up in some trouble due to her nosing around. This book does not follow the typical cozy mystery arc that I expected and wanted, which left it a little boring and slow-moving. For people interested in reading a light, British mystery, I'd recommend trying this, but it wasn't my favorite. I will not be continuing with the series, despite the concept of the pet portraitist as a main character being very appealing. Who knows, maybe the next one will be more exciting?
    • 4/5
      Susie Mahl is an artist who travels around England visiting families who want her to draw their pets. In doing so she has made a number of friends including an Earl and Countess. When the Earl dies suddenly, Susie happens to be in the area and agrees to help Diana (the Countess) in her time of grief. When Susie finds out that the Earl’s death may have been murder, she decides to help the police investigate - whether or not they want her help.“A Brush with Death” is a nicely done first novel by Ali Carter. This is what I call a very British novel - with an Earl, Countess, mention of a Princess, complicated inheritances - and I loved every minute of it. This is not quite an Agatha Christie type of mystery but it still reminded me of her books. I just adore Susie as a character –a pet artist who doesn't have any pets of her own with a penchant of spending her money on fancy undergarments (well done by Carter). The mystery is a lot of fun and a bit tongue-in-cheek at times - readers will enjoy reading this as Susie and her new friend Toby try to solve the murder. I did figure out early on who the killer was but I still enjoyed reading the book as the killer’s motives were slowly unveiled - I was surprised by a revelation or two. All in all this was a very fun mystery to read.
    • 5/5
      This was an enjoyable read. The Susie Mahl character is delightful, amusing, creative and intelligent. The overall story moved right along, no slow or drawn out chapters. The list of suspects was also diverse, making the story even more enjoyable. I look forward to more books in the Susie Mahl Mystery series.
    • 4/5
      This is a cozy little mystery set in a small English village. The characters are likable and the plot is interesting, with the main character's profession as a pet portrait artist adding additional interest. Recommended for fans of dogs, mysteries or the English countryside.
    • 4/5
      I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Susie Mahl is an artist who does commission work, portraits of pets. She travels in the world of the aristocracy, as they are her best clients. And has learned the ways and manners of this British social class.While visiting the Greengrasses at Beckenstale Manor, the family estate, she is introduced to the Codringtons who have just moved into Glebe House. The Codringtons commission Susie to do a portrait of their dog, at a later date.During her stay with the Codringtons, Susie finds Lord Greengrass dead on the ground in the church cemetery. True, he is 75, but still active. Why should he suddenly be dead? The police suspect murder. Tops on the list of suspects are Arthur and Asquintha, the son and his wife of Lord Greengrass. Diana, Lady Greengrass, also has suspicions about Asquintha.Diana asks Susie to stay on with her, while the investigation goes on and till after the funeral. With Susie's eye for detail and her drive for knowing if it truly is murder and who the killer is, she is out to solve the mystery.When she meets up with mortuary clerk, Dr. Toby Cropper, she finds a helpmate of sorts in finding clues.A fun, quick moving British cozy, I am looking forward to reading following books in this new series.
    • 4/5
      This was my first introduction to Ali Carter. I was looking forward to a fun cozy mystery, however, I had trouble getting into the story. I felt disconnected from the characters and a bit lost at times. The beginning chapters held too many details and I found myself trying to memorize information instead of enjoying the story. I did like the mystery, but I'm hesitant to try another.~I was sent a free copy of this book from LibraryThing for an honest review~
    • 3/5
      Didn't really like this book, though it wasn't the stuff of DNF.  I think a number of factors were involved, including what might be a cultural divide in terms of narrative style. Susie Mahl is a fine artist who supplements her income by doing high-end pet portraits, something that also allows her to move amongst those that occupy the rarefied air of wealth.  While working on a commission that came about through a recommendation by Lady Greengrass to a neighbor, Lord Greengrass is murdered.  Susie is close enough to the family that Lady Greengrass calls on her to stay until the funeral, a request Susie uses as an opportunity to solve the mystery. I'll start with the plotting; it was lacking.  There was never any question for me as to who the murderer was.  In fact: the reader enters the scene seconds after the murder has occurred, as the murderer has just finished and so is still right there (sitting atop the victim if I remember correctly).(hide spoiler)The whole thing was truly transparent and the author never came close to convincing me that there were any other viable suspects. Susie Mahl, as a character, was problematic for me.  She is strong, independent and opinionated.  Things I generally like in my MCs.  But she also had an ego that often ventured into "I'm better than everyone else" territory, and I didn't care for that.  This arrogance spanned across several subjects, but the most distasteful, to me, were the multiple times she expressed her belief that she alone could solve the mystery, and the inspectors would never figure it out.  How I'd have loved to see one of those inspectors tell her they could do portraits better than she could. Finally, the overall writing style just didn't do it for me; it felt choppy and the dialog simplistic and unnatural.  Some of this might be a cultural style, as I mentioned above, and some of it could be first-book-learning-curve, but added to my other issues, the result is a lack of desire to continue the series.