Cryptic Crosswords

Fen has been working as a Land Girl in England during WWII. Her fiancé Arthur is a soldier somewhere, she does not know where. Fen receives a letter from him in a cryptic form which helps her figure out he was in a small town in France. The letter also says that if she is reading it he is probably no longer alive.

Fen goes to France to find out if Arthur is still alive, or if not what happened to him. No sooner has she arrived in France, and started to work at a winery in the small town she thinks Arthur's letter has led her, than people start being murdered.

Thus the mystery begins and she must solve it before the killer decides to come after her.

This is a good mystery with lots of twists and turns. Will Fen solve the mystery? Will she find Arthur? You have to read the book to find out how it ends.

I enjoyed reading the book, and I would recommend it.

Thanks to Fliss Chester, Bookouture, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love trying a new historical mystery series and A Dangerous Goodbye is a great find! Fenella Churche heads to France following WWII to find out what happened to her fiance. All she has to guide her is a puzzle he sent in his last letter. Using additional puzzles he has left in his last location helps her discover his fate and solve a horrible mystery. Along the way she makes both friends and enemies but finds closure as well. The characters are very well done and the plot kept me guessing. I am definitely looking forward to a second Fen Churche adventure!

I am not usually one for mystery’s but the historical fiction piece peaked my interested when requesting this book. I am glad it did Request it because I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns of this Fenn Churche mystery.

Set in 1944 Fenella is doing her part as a Land Girl in England. Fen and her fiancé Arther both have a love for crosswords and puzzles. He has been sent to France on an undercover operation but when he sends a cryptic letter to her telling her it might be the end she just knows in her heart that something isn’t right. She must figure out what the code means and what he is trying to tell her.

I read this one very quickly and found my mind wandering during the day, imagining what would happen next.
Loveable characters and characters you love to hate. The cryptic messages had me curious all the way through as to how this mystery was going to be solved.

Thank you to Bookouture and Net Galley for the advanced copy.

A Dangerous Goodbye tells the story of Fenella Churche, a land girl in England whose fiance went missing in France during the occupation. When Fen receives a letter from Arthur, her fiance, she discovers he has left her a series of hidden clues to help her find him. She knows his position in France was secretive, but she knows little else. Using the anagrams and hints he left her, she traces his path and searches for him.

This novel has an intriguing plotline and I loved the use of crosswords, anagrams, and clues that Fen followed to find Arthur. However, I found the language and sentences choppy and gramatically unappealing. A lot of the historical facts and characters are very caricatured and Fen doesn't have much of a personality or three dimensionality. It was a fun premise, but ultimately disappointing.

Cryptic crosswords helping a woman solve the mystery involving a series of murders, including her fiancé's

A Dangerous Goodbye is a post-WWII story about a woman that went to France to follow the clues left in her fiancé's last letter trying to figure out what happened to him.

Fen Churche was part of the Wrens (Women's Royal Navy Service) during WWII. While in service, she met her fiancé, Arthur, an intelligent and sweet man she dreamt of marrying and starting a family with.

They both loved cryptic crosswords and spent lots of their time working on their own puzzle hoping to one day send it to the Daily Telegraph.

But Arthur was sent to France and disappeared. He sent a last letter to Fen with what seemed like an encrypted message. If Fen wanted to know what happened to him, she would have to go to France, to a place called Burgundy.

After the war, Fen decided to follow the clue and ended up in the Chateau Morey-Fontaine, where she meets a french family, a former English soldier, and some shady employees.

It was fascinating to see how Fen used her love for cryptic crosswords to try to find out what happened to Arthur and to solve a series of deaths that start occurring around the castle.

I have never heard about cryptic crosswords before. If you want to know more, here is the link to the term on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptic_crossword).

Fen is a lovely heroine. Strong but vulnerable and not ashamed to shed a tear or ten. The side characters are very intriguing and clearly had something to hide.

The setting is a beautiful medieval castle in France and its adjacent vineyard. It sounded like a place I would love to visit.

The end was satisfying, and I was proud to be on the right track. Maybe I should give cryptic crosswords a try.

A Dangerous Goodbye is a must-read for cross-words fans that enjoy a charming historical mystery.

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

*This review will be posted on https://lureviewsbooks.com on 08/20/2020 as part of the book's blog tour*

Thank You to NetGalley for this ARC. At the end of WW2, Fen receives a letter from her fiancé that has been killed. As with every other letter written between them, this one is filled with clues. She must figure out the clues to find what happened to her love. Really good, fun mystery. #adangerousgoodbye #flisschester #August2020

My thanks to Fliss Chester, Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC of A DANGEROUS GOODBYE. What a wonderful setting for this post-war historical mystery, a quintessential French village. When Fen Church receives a seemingly posthumous letter from her fiance, Arthur, she isn't convinced he is dead. She and Arthur love setting crossword clues, and she realises that he has set clues for her in his letter, the contents of which otherwise would have been redacted. His clues send her to a winery chateau in France where he was staying and working, but from the moment she arrives she realises there is more to the clues than she thought, especially when the inhabitants of the winery chateau begin to be murdered one by one. A delightful romp with a jolly-hockey sticks kind of girl; Fen is extremely likeable as a character and I hope she undertakes some more mysterious circumstances. I'm sure she will be a popular character that will win fans.

Fen Churche sets out to France at the end of WW2 in search of her fiance who has not been heard and has not come home. Following clues he left her in his last letter, she finds herself in a small french village and working in a vineyard. And then people start dying........
What is going on? Fen has to try and work out the clues. This is an enthralling murder/mystery story set in France in 1945. Well written, with characters you believe in and root for, fab setting descriptions and a mystery to solve this is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

The war is over but the mystery of the disappearance of a loved one remains. Fen must solve the crossword clues to find her loved one who risked all in the S.O.E. to aid a French village. The story has a bittersweet ending.

This is a wonderful historical mystery and a fantastic start to a new series. The author has created a mystery that is set recently after the war where the protagonist, Fen Churche, travels to France in search of her missing in action fiancé, who had sent her a cryptic letter leaving a question as to what has possibly happened to him. Both Fen and her fianće love solving crossword puzzles together and he leaves possible clues as to what has happened to him. She finds the village that he had recently been in just before he disappeared and she meets some interesting villagers,many of them having a possible motive for murder. Unfortunately for Fen, there people end up dead within a short time after her arrival. While attempting to find her fiancé, Arthur, she attempts to solve the murders, along with the help of James Lancaster, a handsome friend of Arthur's. This story ends with a satisfying conclusion. I admit to having difficulty putting this book down and I look forward to the next in the series from Ms. Chester.series

I would like to thank Fliss Chester, Bookouture and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'A Dangerous Goodbye' by Fliss Chester

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 20th August 2020

This is the first book that I have read by this author. This is also the first book in the 'Fen Churche Mystery' series.

I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful cover, interesting title & intriguing blurb. It is also different to the typical crime genre I normally read so it looked like a good opportunity to expand my genres. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of 29 chapters and an epilogue which are a nice length so that you can read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is written from third person point of view and the protagonist is Fen (Fenella Church). It is set in England and mainly France.

I love the fact that the protagonist is female, being one myself, and that she has a strong personality and will not back down no matter what is thrown at her, including 3 murders!!!

The plot is intriguing and filled with mystery, spies, lies, romance, murder and more!!! It has plenty to keep the reader interested and has lots of little clues to help point to the killer. I didn't guess who the murderer was so bonus points there! Nothing worse than working out the killer less than half way through a book. Although the book is a crime one I thought it was still quite a light hearted read and I enjoyed the lovely descriptions and the feeling it gave me of being in France. The murders themselves were quite interesting and not straight forward death's and I love the cryptic clues left by Arthur.

The characters were all very interesting with heir own personalities, strengths and flaws and Estelle made me laugh on several occasions with he her strong personality and attitude.

Overall a very well written post war crime novel that was easy to read and kept me guessing throughout.

Genres covered include Historical, Romance and Mystery.

I would recommend this book to fans of the above genres and anyone looking for an interesting clue finding novel.

277 pages.

This book is 99p to purchase on kindle via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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This is a perfect historical mystery! What a beginning! Ms. Chester crafted a mystery set just after the war where Fen Churche goes in search of her fiancé, who sent her a cryptic letter. They both loved solving crossword puzzles and he leaves her many, many clues to guide her to him. She finds the village he was in just before he disappeared and meets an interesting cast of characters, each of them with their own motives for murder. It seems Fen is bad luck because 3 people end up dead just after her arrival. So, while trying to find her fiancé, Arthur, she solves the 3 murders with the help of the handsome James Lancaster, a friend of Arthur's. The story ends nicely and the murderer was number 3 on my mental list. I could not put this book down and look forward to more from Ms. Chester.

When the synopsis said A DANGEROUS GOODBYE would appeal to fans of J. Winspear, Charles Todd and Rhys Bowen, I was all in. They are among my fave HF authors, and now that I’ve read this first in a new series, Fliss Chester joins them.

This elegant debut is full of spies, codes, murder, and intrigue — all de rigueur for this genre.

But what makes this novel especially winning is the courageous protagonist, British Land Girl Fen Churche. She receives an “if you get this, I’m dead” letter from her fiancé Arthur, an Allied spy missing after being sent to France. Because they shared a love of codes, she searches for clues within the missive.

What she finds leads her to a quaint French village, where she discovers an item of Arthur’s and a new clue-filled letter. Murders ensue and it’s clear that someone doesn’t want war secrets spilled.

Why does the British War Office refuse to tell Fen anything? Is she a target now? Will she ever find out what happened to Arthur?

I read raptly to the end, unaware that a summer storm poured outside. Can’t wait ‘til Book Two!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 20 Aug 2020

Thanks to the author, Bookouture, and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#ADangerousGoodbye #NetGalley

Really loved this book a wonderful story that drew me in from the first pages.A mystery that is multilayered a story that kept me engrossed.A new author for me one I’m looking forward to reading more by,I#netgalley#bookouture

This is a light well written historical mystery novel. The premise and story line was fun and inventive and very entertaining. Chapters flowed nicely making the reader want to read more to see what happens next. This was a new author for me, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future. I recommend this book to readers who are looking for a interesting and different sort of mystery for the summer!

With thanks to netgalley and fliss chester for an early copy in return for an honest review.
First time reading this Author and what a fabulously intriguing read.
I was totally captivated from the very beginning and as the book progressed the most amazing story evolved there were so many times I was holding my breath.
Fen was such an amazing character strong no nonsense type but amazing with her cryptic clues its been a sheer joy and pleasure to read this outstanding book.
I can't praise this book enough .