A really solid addition to the Kate Shackleton series. I was amazed at the level of detail that went into the brewery. I was shocked about the room with the closed door and why it was closed! Wow! Kate has done it again! I’m excited for the next book. Keep them coming!

This is the first time I have read this mystery series. However, I felt like I could not connect with Kate. She seemed cold and distant. I also find the mystery to be very predictable. Still, I recommend for fans of the Lady Evelyn series!

This was my least favorite of the series. Kate felt sidelined in the first part of the book, making it feel more like Syke's story. These have become more like one off mysteries to solve with less character development than in previous books in the series.

The 12th Kate Shackleton mystery takes Kate and her niece to the breweries and pubs of Yorkshire. This old-fashioned Agatha Christie-esque series is set in the period between the wars. The main characters, Kate, Harriet and Jim Sykes and his family all have roles in the book, although the multiple plot threads and background information on the brewing trade take center stage.

This is a very enjoyable series, and I highly recommend diving in at the beginning with “Dying in the Wool"

I haven't read too many books set in the time after WWI, but this was so interesting and well researched. The Yorkshire area comes alive and Kate brings her niece along for the festivities for the local ecomony.

This enjoyable 12th installment in the Kate Shackleton mystery series presents, yet again, an outstanding cast of characters in an engaging 1930 mystery, this time, at a North Yorkshire brewery.

Lots of twists and turns in this excellent historical mystery. I've now read the two most recent books in the series and would love to start at the beginning and see how these characters have developed.

Highly recommended to those who enjoy historical mysteries.

I used to love this series but find the last few books difficult to read. I didn't finish this one. The historical aspects are wonderful and well researched, but I feel that I don't know the main character, Kate, anymore. We seldom get a peek into her personal life or inner world.

One of my favorite things about the Frances Brody books is the wonderful, period evoking, cover illustration. I have enjoyed them over the twelve titles in this series and, of course, I have also enjoyed reading the novels.

Kate Shackleton is British, a widow and an investigator. The series is an historical one and, in this entry, the reader finds Kate is in 1930. A murder takes place at a brewery. Why was the victim killed? What other lives will be impacted? Leave it to the intrepid Kate to sort it all out.

While this title is part of a series, I think that the books can be read in any order. Those who enjoy a cozy mystery may well want to pick this book up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
I had a high expectations for this book which sadly failed to deliver. The writing is good and there are some interesting parts.
The story was quite dragged out and prolonged unnecessarily.
On the whole, an OK book.

MURDER IS IN THE AIR by Frances Brody is number 12 in Kate Shackleton mystery series. I always enjoy these charming mysteries set in the late 1920s and early 1930s Britain. Kate is a resourceful sleuth and this story begins as she sends her assistant, Jim Sykes, to a brewery in Yorkshire which is experiencing some financial and management issues. Sykes mingles well with the locals and becomes increasingly suspicious, particularly after the brewery's extremely capable and knowledgeable secretary, Miss Crawford, is killed while cycling. Exploring the role of women at this time, Brody interweaves the family story of Ruth Parnaby, another capable employee who works in the accounting area and is representing the brewery in a marketing contest. MURDER IS IN THE AIR features more than one puzzle and plenty of inter-relationships which give rise to numerous suspects. Enjoy!

Kate Shackleton is hired to find out what is wrong at a brewery in 1930 North Yorkshire. Kate and Mr. Sykes, her partner, find that the nephew of the brewer is suspect. The bodies start dropping. Ruth, the wages' clerk is a local brewers' company queen, but her father is a nasty character who abuses his children and missing wife. A brewery employee is asphyxiated in the fermentation room. Lots of local colour. A great read.

I really wanted to like this book but oh my goodness it was so slow.

I liked the idea and the plot was so interesting, I love a historical murder mystery and the main character had sass and ms Fisher vibes but I just couldn't deal with the slow pace.

Thank you for the advanced copy but I did not finish sadly.

1920s Yorkshire is still a rather traditional place. With a view of increasing business, an idea to have a competition for a woman of the area to be a representive of the Yorkshire pubs and ale in particular are put in place. The story is set amongst the brewing industry in Yorkshire and the descriptions of both the lifestyle of not just the owners of these breweries but the actual lives of those who work both in the breweries and in the pubs and the women that support them, added a lot of character to the original story.

Kate has been invited by the owner as he is unsettled by recent events at the brewery. His nephew gone on a protracted trip to Europe does not show any sign of returning to take up his position at the brewery and then pubs with a long standing relationship with the brewery cancels their orders.

Kate and her assistant Sykes comes in to just look into matters and immediately Sykes picks up on several failings within the brewery including the all important matter of security. Going on from there a series of small events tend to indicate that things are not quite right culminating in the murder of a drayman when matters take a much more serious turn, because now it is not just mischief but murder in play.

In a manner of an Agatha Christie story, the detection is slow but methodical and you know Sykes and Kate are not going to be side tracked by other events happening. The focus is on finding out the story and find out they do.

The history of the era, and history of the breweries including the setting added so much interest to this story.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is book 12 in the Kate Shackleton Mystery series, and you certainly don't need to have read the earlier books to enjoy this one. I have not read any others in the series (yet) and I still found this one easy to follow. However, I do think I lacked a little connectivity to the main characters as a result. Perhaps I would have understood them better if I had some background to go on.

All the same, this was an enjoyable read, a light mystery without being overly 'cosy'. It did feel a little drawn out in places, and unnecessarily slow at times, but not such that it detracts from the whole too greatly.

This book filled a lazy weekend perfectly, and I would be happy to try others from this author.

3 stars!

While this is the 12th Kate Shackleton book, it's the first one that I've had the pleasure to read. Set between the world wars in Yorkshire, England, Kate is a a classic private detective, collecting clues and observations to track down the murderer. This was a nice leisurely read, perfect for fans of Golden Age style mysteries.

Another excellent addition to this great series. It's engaging and entertaining and I couldn't put it down.
I was happy to catch up with the characters and they well thought as usual.
The historical background is well researched and the solid mystery kept me guessing.
It's highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Murder is in the Air is a wonderful book that takes you back to a much gentler, slower-paced time, post WWI, in North Yorkshire, England. Kate Shackleton, Private Investigator, and her assistant Jim Sykes, are called upon by William Lofthouse, owner of a local brewery, to look into some oddities in the operations at his Barleycorn Brewery. Kate contracts with William to send Jim to the brewery to investigate. Along the way, we meet the brewery owner's much younger wife Eleanor, and numerous employees including brewery queen Ruth Parnaby, her father Slater, and the drayman Joe Finch. Absent from the brewery but a very integral part of the story is Lofthouse's nephew, who is supposedly in Europe learning from the many brewery's in operation. Shortly after Jim Sykes begins his work at the brewery one murder occurs, and then another. Kate and Jim untangle the stories of the employees and the Lofthouse's, eventually working threw the puzzles to solve both murders.

Not only is this a fabulously written story, but well-researched as the author deftly drops you into brewery operations of this time and how they resorted to things like the "brewery queen" contests to supplement income. The characters and their lifestyles are vividly described and the differences among them very apparent. Amid the murders and shenanigans at the brewery is the heartbreaking story of Ruth Parnaby, her upbringing and her current relationship with her father, who thinks only of himself in wanting to benefit from Ruth's good fortunes as the brewery queen.

This book reminded me of many Agatha Christie's I've read and it is one that should not be missed.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this delighful book!

Another outing for Kate Shackleton and her niece Harriet. This series is beautifully written, with a lovely historical Yorkshire setting , and Frances Brody is on my must read list. The books are very popular with library customers.

Murder in the Air is the 12th book in the Kate Shackleton mystery series but this is the first one that I read. You can certainly read this as a standalone, as I did, but I think it would be more enjoyable to read others as I really didn't warm up to Kate and she really doesn't have a main role until almost midway through the book.

There were two unrelated deaths in this book. The first one is wrapped up and solved before the second occurs . In fact, the book blurb doesn't even mention that murder at all and goes right to the second. I'm not sure why the first murder was thrown in, the book would have done well to just focus on the second.

And when that murder is resolved, there was another villainous act that just drags the story on even longer. I can understand why it was added as it does wrap up a family situation but...


I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley. however, the opinion expressed is my own

Murder is in the Air is the 12th Kate Shackleton historical cozy by Frances Brody. Released 6th Oct 2020 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 316 pages and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats.
This is a gently written, engaging historical (1930s) mystery series set in England. This entry sees Kate and her partner investigating a series of incidents at a brewery in Yorkshire. I love the slow paced golden-age interwar classic feel of these mysteries and this one fits in well. For new readers, it works very well as a standalone; the author is adept at providing backstory in context without info-dumping.

There's a quite impressive verisimilitude. There has clearly been a prodigious amount of research behind the setting and workings of an English brewery of the time, and it shows. The plot is character driven and their interactions as they learn about one another and their interrelationships both past and present allow Kate to disentangle all the plot threads and turn them into a cohesive whole by the end of the book. The denouement was somewhat melancholy for me. Sometimes (most of the time?) there's no perfect "happily ever after" and this is true here as well.

I highly recommend the series as a whole, and this entry specifically to any readers who enjoy golden age interwar classic mysteries in the British style. The writing, plotting, and pacing will draw inevitable comparisons with Josephie Tey and Christie amongst the period selections, as well as Nicola Upson and Imogen Robertson's modern period pieces. This is one series I really look forward to, and this particular offering compares favorably with earlier volumes in the series.

Four stars

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.