I’ve had a bit of a binge session reading these books, so I’ll do my reviews all on my post! They are fabulous books to pick up and put down when you have five minutes here and there. The books are all part of the Melissa Craig series, but they can be read as standalone books with no problems at all. They also have all been released under different titles in the past, but the book fairy has come along and brought them right up to date with new covers and titles! They are delightful in the way that they are “cosy crime” books, meaning that there is no blood and gore, no overly violent scenes and a little bit of humour thrown in for good measure. If you like books written by the great Agatha Christie or MC Beaton, then you will love these!

Murder on a Winter Afternoon
This has previously been released as Deadly Legacy. Crime author and amateur sleuth, Melissa Craig is back in this Christmas themed mystery. Following the death of local author, Leonora Jewell, Melissa is asked to finish off Leonora’s last book. But when she visits Leonora’s cottage, she finds an iron blood which is covered in blood and suspects that Leonora was murdered. With the Police not believing her, Melissa decides to investigate Leonora’s death herself.

Murder in the Orchard
This has previously been released as Malice Poetic. Melissa Craig is asked to investigate some threatening notes which have been received by the owner of a nearby country house, but before she can do any kind of investigating, the owner is found dead in his own orchard. Universally hated, Melissa discovers that he wouldn’t have won any prizes in a popularity contest, but who hated him enough to kill him. Can she find the killer before they strike again?

Murder at Larkfield Barn
This has been previously been released as Smiling at Death. We are back in Upper Benbury where Melissa is shocked to discover one of her old neighbours has been murdered and the killer has painted a horrific smile on her face. Looking at her other neighbours and people who live in the Village, is the killer closer to home than Melissa could have imagined?

These were all great books to read. I love the character of Melissa Craig! Being a crime writer, she obviously finds it useful when she is investigating all these terrible murders that she appears to always be caught up in! I would like to imagine her to be your typical quintessential English lady, all dressed in tweed with thick ribbed tights and very sensible shoes, but reality probably has Melissa as a bit more ‘normal’ than that! She comes across as a bit of a “nosey neighbour”, but one that definitely has a heart of hold! One thing you could definitely say of Melissa though is how unlucky she must be to always be around when a murder has been committed!!

The characters, not just in these three books but in all of them I’ve read so far, are fun, interesting and likeable. As the books move on and some of the earlier characters begin to come back into the later stories, you begin to build a relationship with not just Melissa, but some of her friends as well. The locations of the books, and particularly the village of Upper Benbury, are beautifully set and you can just picture Melissa rushing round the countryside looking for clues as you read!

I would whole heartedly recommend these books if you’re after a good old fashioned whodunit! You won’t have to cover your eyes from fear or rest your uneasy stomach after too much blood and gore! What you will get though is a series of very easy to read books that are fun and light-hearted, but with enough crime and mystery to keep you trying to work out the clues before Melissa does!! If you’ve never tried a cosy mystery book before, then what are you waiting for!

Excellent book! Loved the characters and it was a great storyline. I would highly recommend this book.

Betty Rowlands has written another fun novel where her protagonist Melissa Craig the famous writer gets in to unintentional trouble again, this time finishing the novel of a fellow writer who has been found dead at home, the question is was it an accident or something more sinister, The Melissa Craig stories are very much in the same vein as Midsomer Murders or Murder she wrote, but they are always a fun read, absolutely perfect for reading next to a roaring fire snuggled up with a coffee. Enjoy.

Murder on a Winter Afternoon is the fifth book in Betty Rowland’s Melissa Craig Mystery series. This story is set in the village of Upper Benbury in the Cotswold Hills. Author Melissa Craig has pretty much isolated herself to her Hawthorn Cottage except for the occasional walks with her neighbor at Elder Cottage, artist iris Ash. She has finally finished her rewrites and has sent it to her agent, Joe Martin, breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to a relaxing Christmas.

But when Joe calls her, it is not to discuss her novel, but rather her taking on the assignment to finish the chapters of the 100th book written by elderly author Leonora Jewell who has been found murdered in her remote cottage not far from Melissa. It is thought that she surprised a burglar and the struggle resulted in her death.

With much pleading, Melissa finally arranges with Joe to see the manuscript and visit the late author’s home to look at her notes and research. Her boyfriend, DCI Ken Harris of the Gloucestershire CID, is none too happy that again Melissa will be holed up in her study, but when he needs to travel for work, it becomes a moot point.

When Melissa takes on the assignment, she never expects to be drawn into a calculated murder and an international art theft ring. And even less does she expect who the mastermind will turn out to be!

An interesting story with many twists and turns, I did enjoy this book and would recommend it.

Winter always seems to enhance the attractiveness of murder mysteries, especially typically English ones like the Melissa Craig series. This is a particularly atmospheric story both in terms of snow and frost and the air of menace that follows the intrepid crime writer around as she becomes embroiled in another murder mystery.

This story sees the reappearance of Bruce, from earlier books in the series and he definitely brings out Mel's impulsive personality traits. There is a lot going on in the background of this story, some of which seems superfluous to the plot. I worked out whodunnit, early on, this is possibly the author's intention, as it shows up Mel's fallibility, and increases the danger she faces.

Perfect for reading on a cold, stormy Winter's day like today.

I received a copy of this book from Bookouture via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

These Mel Craig Mysteries just get better and better, I don't know if it's because I know the character a little better with each one. This book has, like the last one, a bit of an art theme going on. It's a bit of a different situation to in the previous book, but is interesting and works well all the same.
You might expect that by the third book, Mel might have been a bit more on the ball with this mystery. Mel is a mystery novelist herself, which is part of the reason that she gets involved in all of these crimes in the first place, so she should surely be able to solve things reasonably easy. In this book, she doesn't spot what I felt was fairly obvious though. I don't know if the mystery would have worked so well if she had, so I'll let her off, I was getting a little stressed and wanting to give her a shake.
One of the great things about reading a series is that you get to see the characters develop over time. In this instalment we see the development of a relationship that grew a little in the last book, I wonder if we'll see more of this in subsequent books?
The only slightly annoying thing about this series is that on the one hand, it is quintessentially English, but the book must have been prepared for the American market. There are a few too many cell phones and cookies for my liking that just detract very slightly from that British setting. Overall though, this is a great classic mystery series and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This is the perfect book for the winter to sit indoors in the warm and just totally relax with a good book. Recommend

Readable, cosy mysteries are my go to winter reading and I really enjoyed this one.

Set in the Cotswolds, writer Melissa Craig is called upon to help finish the 100th novel of veteran novelist Leonora Jewell who has died in mysterious circumstances. While visiting the late author's cottage to pick up the notes she need to finish the book, Melissa finds what could possibly be the murder weapon and starts an investigation of her own.

A great story with some interesting characters and an intriguing mystery. This is the 5th Melissa Craig mystery, and as soon as I finished the book I downloaded the first one in the series.

Thanks Betty Rowlands, Bookouture and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for a review

Keeping with my wintery reading theme, next up is Murder on a Winter Afternoon by Betty Rowlands. It’s also a Christmas read, kind of, since it takes place at that time of the year and two of the characters do help with the script and scenery for a Christmas show, even if it’s only mentioned once or twice. This is the 5th (or 7th depending on how you count) in the series starring Melissa Craig, but the first I’ve read and I though it worked quite well on its own.

Melissa is an author and she’s been asked to finish the last novel of her neighbor, Leonora Jewell. Leonora usually wrote family dramas, but this last one is more of a crime novel, right up Melissa’s ally. Leonora was killed, presumably by the burglars who had been making the rounds and not by the sex strangler who is making women in the area extra cautious. Of course it turns out to be neither and Melissa finds the weapon she was killed with; it had been hidden very purposefully but it disappears before the police show up. Melissa’s convinced Leonora was killed for something she found out during her research, which of course puts Melissa in danger as she is trying to follow Leonora’s thought process.

It’s a good mystery, with plenty of clues and several suspects. I like Bruce, the newspaper man who helps Melissa, he’s useful in ferreting out clues and helping Melissa get into situations that could lead to trouble. He’s a fun character. Melissa’s boyfriend is a detective, but he’s out of most of the action, sick in the hospital. Leonora’s book, Deadly Legacy, centers around shady dealings in the art world, and Melissa’s painter friend Iris is a huge help, too. I’m not sure why, but “art mysteries” tend to be some of my favorites.

I did figure out who the killer was and yelled at Melissa in my head to stop making stupid decisions, but it’s a cozy mystery. . .

Overall, it was a solid book, not outstanding, but enjoyable.

The more I read this series the better it becomes. This is the fifth instalment I read and it was amazing.
I love to see the evolution in the character and each time is like to meet again some old friends.
This book is fun to read, engaging and entertaining.
I loved the plot that kept me guessing till the end and I wasn't able to stop reading.
I'm happy there's a new book to review so it won't be long before I go back to reading about Melissa and her friends.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for this ARC

Murder on a Winter Afternoon by Betty Rowlands is the fifth in the Melissa Craig series and the third I have read. I loved it as much as the previous and this even though I knew all along who the villain was but that didn’t seem too important.

Melissa who is a mystery writer gets tasked with writing the last three chapters of a book whose author died. Of course Melissa can’t help herself and starts investigating the death. There are several sub-plots about with one of them being of Melissa’s boyfriend suffering acute appendicitis and probably surprising to US readers receive stitches and a lengthy stay in the hospital. These operations are almost always done by laparoscopic surgery requiring no stitches and hardly any hospital time.

I will definitely recommend this book and happily give it 5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for letting me read this advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

I enjoyed this book was easy to read and quite addictive . Melissa Craig is the main character who is also an author with friends being brought in to help. The plot is when another author Leonora Jewell is killed and Melissa is asked to finish the last three chapters in her book. Going through the notes on the book she is convinced that there was more to Leonora's death than just an accident.

This is a book that can be read and enjoyed leaving the reader guessing until the end.

Melissa Craig, mystery writer, girlfriend to DCI Harris; involved with a local murderer, art forgery, sex strangler! On top of this, she is able to finish a dead writer's book, have sex, but not love with the DCI, play amateur sleuth! All of this in the space of two weeks! Amazing! I am being facetious! I did like the story, it is okay for a rainy afternoon, or snowy even! Enjoy!
I recommend! Thank you Netgalley!
Carolintallahassee

This was an easy book to read. I haven’t read the earlier books in the series so there where a couple of things I was unsure of, but generally it can be read as a stand alone novel. It wasn’t the most taxing who-done-it, with me easily guessing who was involved early on, although it did keep my interest until the end. This is definitely a holiday-type of read.

I have read a few of Betty Rowlands books in the past and thoroughly enjoyed this one as well.
Melissa, the main character is an author who always finds herself in the midst of murders and tries
to solve the mysteries. In this particular story, a well-known female author has been murdered in
her secluded home. Melissa has signed on to finish the last three chapters in the late author’s book
and that is where things begin to unravel.
Thank you for the opportunity to read her latest book.

Another fantastic story from Betty Rowlands, Mel Craig getting into mischief while tracking down the murderer! A very easy read. Looking forward to more from this author and Mels antics.

Another good read in the Melissa Craig series. Some building upon prior books - mainly relationships - so the books don't need to be read in order. This author does a fantastic job with the details of the scenery, so you really feel like you are there. The mystery is interesting, although this time I was able to figure out who-done-it. Probably reading too many of the books back to back having just found this author. I like the character of Melissa, and the Detective.

I thank the publisher & NetGalley for my eARC received for an honest review.

Fantastic to read!

The story is gripping and full of tense moments. Twists and turns await every page! I really enjoyed reading this a lot and can highly recommend it.

I am absolutely loving this series, they are so different from what I normally read

Melissa Craig is once again drawn into the investigation surrounding the death of elderly author Lenora Jewell, asked to finish the last few chapters of the novel she was set to release Melissa must research the background concerning the story and this is when trouble strikes.....

Betty Rowlands just goes on giving with this new Melissa Craig mystery, with a murder, a little romance and some spills and thrills this book is a very enjoyable cozy read. Mind you this isn't a run of the mill cozy but one with substance and a good plot and storyline.
Enjoyed it very much