A Murder of Crows is the first book in a new modern cozy(ish) mystery series by Dr. Sarah Yarwood-Lovett. Released 1st July 2022 by Bonnier on their imprint Embla Books, it's 368 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a diverting series starter with an academically experienced female ecologist who finds herself in a dangerous and difficult situation when an ecological impact survey for a potential construction project lands her as the chief suspect in a homicide which occurred on the site at the same time she was present. Although it has the bones of a cozy mystery, there are elements of procedural and some slightly more graphic violence and descriptions than are usually present in cozies. The usual romantic plot elements are present in abundance and for readers who don't like any romance in their cozies, proceed with caution - there's an unresolved dramatic triangle here which saw me raising my eyes heavenward on a couple occasions.

The main protagonist is a conservation ecologist and it's a profession which she shares with the author. It's an oft-said proverb that authors should write what they know, and Dr. Yarwood-Lovett has done just that; describing the realities of crawling through brambles to map badger setts and collecting and analyzing bat poop with gleeful abandon. Did you know bat droppings are (logically enough) full of insects and they crumble, whilst rodent poo *squishes*? I didn't, and now we both do. It's relevant to the story.

The book is full of science tidbits and trivia and for me, that was the highlight. Without being pedantic or lecturing, the author pulls back the curtain on a tantalizing bit of nature most never see. There are technical terms bandied about, and there are some places (courtroom expert testimony) which require a little more attention on the part of the reader - but they're relatively few and far between and I think most readers will have no problem understanding the jargon from context.

The plot is overshadowed by the attraction triangle of the MC and a male colleague and (of course) the handsome detective investigating the crimes. There is so much drama and ridiculous convoluted *unnecessary* sighing and angst which could be resolved with a one sentence explanation that I had to just power through. There are many readers who enjoy that in their books and they'll be in raptures.

Four stars. It does move slowly in places, but the author does a thorough job of building up the characters' back-stories and settings. Definitely looking forward to finding out what comes next.

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

A Murder of Crows is the first in the mystery series following Dr Nell Ward, renowned ecologist.
I really enjoyed getting to know Nell throughout this story and feel there’s more to come from her as a character in the series. Little snippets of her past are given to show an insight into what drives her and why she is the person she’s become.
The story is a clever one, with lots of twists and turns and a few red herrings thrown in to keep you guessing. With engaging and interesting characters aside from Nell, it was a definite page turner for me, and I’m intrigued to see where this will go in the next instalment.

Happy Publication Day 🎉 Today launches the debut in what promises to be an amazing new murder mystery come detective series featuring Ecologist Dr Nell Ward. A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett sees Dr Nell Ward alone on a bat survey at a remote old manor house. She feels inexplicably uneasy, buy pushes tensions down, only to later discover she has been at the scene of a murder and is now a prime suspect. Using her meticulous skills as an Ecologist Dr Nell Ward begins to follow the clues in order to extricate herself from the crime. We are introduced to a host of fantastic new characters: the handsome detective James with his eye on Nell; Nell's colleague and flirtatious friend Adam (the three form a frustrating, but intriguing love triangle); the formidable detective Val, the murdered heiress Crows, her questionable husband with control of the finances and a penchant for lies, plus her wily grandmother. I was drawn in right from page one and our introduction to Nell, who is fastidious in her work. The chilling murder scene and unsettling atmosphere paved the way for the action to follow. I love a cosy mystery and this story combined the mystery alongside the unique skills of Nell's Ecology background, as well as combining this with the detective investigation. Lots of fast paced reveals as you progress, plus set up well for the next book in ther series. I look forward to seeing where this series will take me next! #amurderofcrows #sarahyarwoodlovett #embla #netgalley #cosymurder #murdermystery #detectivenovel #crime #murder #oldmanorhouse #ecology #drnellward #karla_bookishlife

(3.5 rounded up)

I received a complimentary ARC copy of A Murder of Crows (A Nell Ward Mystery #1) by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett from Net Galley and Embla Books in order to read and give an honest review.

…Intelligent, authentic, and quirky, A Murder of Crows really had some great moments where the story did shine.…

While Dr. Nell Ward is doing an ecological survey of an estate by herself; she stumbles across the body of the estate’s owner bludgeoned in a tunnel. Nell inevitably becomes a prime suspect in the investigation and when her past, which she has taken extreme care to keep hidden, comes to light, the evidence against her piles up. With her friend and colleague Adam as well as a few connections Nell tries to get to the bottom of the murder herself before she is incarcerated or becomes the real murderer’s next victim.

I really wanted to love this book and it had a lot of things I did enjoy but it did not work for me in a few ways. Very much a write-what-you know type of book this debut from author Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, draws from her personal vocation. Yarwood-Lovett created an intelligent likeable protagonist, Dr. Nell Ward who, like the author, is an ecologist. I love learning about ecology and although I did find some of the information interesting at times it seemed a bit too much to the point where it detracted from the mystery at hand, which often caused me to skim over passages.

Intelligent, authentic, and quirky, A Murder of Crows really had some great moments where the story did shine but unfortunately in my opinion it was dulled a great deal by a rambling prose, the overuse of red herrings and the dreaded, often overdone love triangle. I really enjoyed Nell’s character and the interactions between her and Adam but the last third of the book felt a bit over the top for me. Although I was disappointed in parts I feel this has the potential to be a really fun series and I will give this author another shot.

I really liked the premis of this book but there was too much factual bat knowledge which took away from the crime mystery and I think it needed more editing - it didn't need to be as long as it was.

I did like the main character but wasn't too interested in the love triangle - I wanted more of her friend Percy as she was a fun character. It came a little into tearing women down with the younger employee being seen as competition which wasn't needed.

I did love the cover artwork.

Goodreads is pretty split on either loving it not and sadly it wasn't for me.

Thank you for the arc.

An excellent start to a new cosy crime series !
Dr Nell Ward is an ecologist , and she becomes embroiled in a murder case initially as a suspect but then turns detective herself.
Nell is a private person and is keeping a secret from her colleagues and the police ,once the secrets out will this change their opinion of her?
The writing is excellent and easy to read the characters are affable and the story is an enjoyable read.
I found this to be a strong start to a new series and can’t wait to find out what Dr Nell Ward will get up to next .
A great read ,highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and Embla Books .

Just as blissfully ignorant Nell is completing her ecological study of a fancy but rundown manor, the granddaughter of the manor's owner is murdered. As Nell is the only person anywhere near the scene and the dead woman's husband has an alibi, officers James and Val quickly narrow their focus on Nell as their prime suspect. Once the investigation continues and there is yet another murder, things only look worse for Nell. Complicating and distracting from all of it is Nell's confusing feelings for both James and her co-worker, Adam, from whom she has kept some pertinent information.

I wanted to like this book but I just didn't. The mystery itself is fine and the ecological and bat information could have dragged everything down too much but fell just on the right side of giving context without being too boring. Maybe it's the romance reader in me that hated the love triangle (if you could even call it that), but it was awful. Nell clearly likes the very unworthy Adam more than James and Adam is basically the worst. Just when he seems to have redeemed himself, Adam tanks everything and Nell's reaction is to blame herself. I was hoping any future books in the series would focus on James and leave Nell and her poor taste in men in the dust, but it appears Nell is the star, as it were. Thanks to Netgalley and Embla Books for the eARC. Available 7/1/2022.

Dr Nell Ward is an ecologist, not a detective. But when she’s the prime suspect in a murder, only her unique set of skills could help to clear her name. If you like the Ruth Galloway series you will like this book as well. This is the first in what I am hoping will be a long series. Nell is a really delightful lead character and so are the other characters we are introduced to during the story. I really enjoyed this book. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

An interesting murder mystery, though I couldn’t really gel with the main suspect, Nell. There are a lot of characters but the story is told at a good pace and kept me interested throughout.

This cozy-ish mystery follows Dr. Nell Ward, an ecologist, as she becomes a prime suspect in a murder. After spending hours evaluating the grounds of a manor, the last thing Nell expects to overhear is a murder. But with no other suspects and with Nell providing ample proof that she was at the location during the time of the murder, mere feet away from the scene of the crime, the police are very suspicious of her. In order to clear her name, Nell and her fellow ecologist, Adam, set out to uncover the truth of what happened that night.

TW/CW: stalking, revenge porn

I'd categorize this as a cozy-ish mystery because we do partially follow the police during their investigation. I'd say 70% of the book centers Nell and her investigation and the other 30% follows the police so this really didn't feel much like a police procedural. I haven't read a ton of cozy mysteries, but the more I read the more I really like them and this one was no exception. I think Nell is a really great main character and I really believed how she gets involved in the investigation. I know a common complaint of cozy mysteries is how the main character getting involved is sometimes a bit of a stretch and a little unbelievable. In this case, however, I think Nell's characterization was so consistent that I didn't for one second question why she would keep sticking her nose in the investigation. Also, I can completely see her continuing to do so which makes me really excited that this is the beginning of a series.

I loved the characters but did find some of the side characters to be a little less useful than I was expecting. I'm sure they'll play a bigger role going forward in the series, but they just felt a little flat in this book. I could see exactly why they were in the book, but it didn't feel like there was much more to their character than that reason. I'm hoping we continue to see them going forward and maybe have their characterization and relationships fleshed out a bit more. Nell is a fantastic character and even if the next book didn't have any other side characters, I'd still read it. I thought her background was really smartly woven into the narrative so we would learn more about her without it getting into info-dump territory. There is a bit of a love triangle by the end of the book which normally isn't my thing but I did feel like both potential partners for Nell were well developed so I could completely see her choosing either person. I also loved the amount of character development we get from Nell in this book but there's still an obvious path forward for her personal growth as well for the future books.

The ecology angle was a really interesting aspect to the book and I think it really added a great layer to the reading experience. Yarwood-Lovett spent 16 years as an ecologist and all that knowledge and passion really comes across on the page. There were so many little details that really added to the overall narrative that felt seamless. I think this aspect really tapped into my inner love for nature documentaries of all sorts. There's also some great information in the end of the book where Yarwood-Lovett gives some more details about some of the ecological-based twists and reveals in the book and how they're based in reality, even if they seem a little far-fetched at the time. I think Nell's investigation was really well balanced between the ecology side as well as some good old fashioned sneaking around so this didn't feel overly science-y.

I did find the ending to be a little info-dumpy but I don't think there was really a better way to get all the information across to the reader. I think the reveals were presented in the most entertaining way, even if it was a little heavy-handed. I did enjoy the mix of interpersonal, character reveals alongside the reveals of the mystery and since we basically knew all the main details by the ending, I was more intrigued in the interpersonal reveals. The last 20% of the story was really fast paced with a lot of pieces falling into place. There were a number of threads outside the main murder mystery that suddenly ended up being connected which made the main mystery more complex than I was expecting. Since a lot of these initial reveals came really fast and didn't give the reader a lot of time to adjust to them, I think having a slower explanation really helped clear up some foggy bits for me.

Overall, this was a really great cozy-ish mystery. I loved the characters and the investigation path. The ecology angle worked so well and I cannot wait to continue on in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Embla Books for the ARC
Expected publication date is July 1, 2022

Her first published book, A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett is a murder mystery. Ecologist Nell Ward works in a Manor House where she discovers a body in an old tunnel. Being on the scene of the crime makes her a major suspect and her helpful assistance raises the police’s suspicions even further. Hiding secrets of her own and trying to solve the case herself, leads to Nell’s arrest. Intended as the first in a series, the murder was solved three-quarters of the way through the story, leaving the final section of the book superfluous, except for the character development and setting up the next instalment. With the plethora of soft crime renaissance occurring, this captivatingly titled book was somewhat disappointing with an okay two and a half star rating. With thanks to Embla Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

I really wanted to like this but this seemed to be just all over the place. Way too many tropes in one book, too many investigators, too much not adding up. Sadly not for me.

A Murder of Crows is the first book in the Nell Ward Mystery series by British-born ecologist and author, Sarah Yarwood-Lovett. When Sophie Crows head is bashed in with a half brick in a tunnel under Manor House Farm, it turns out there are quite a few people with motive and opportunity, and it’s up to DS James Clark to untangle that mess.

Sophie had a meeting scheduled with ecologist Dr Nell Ward on the afternoon she died, but never turned up. Nell had spent all day doing a survey of Manor Park Farm, and was somewhere in that tunnel when Sophie was murdered, so now she’s a suspect.

Sophie’s husband of eight months, developer David Stephenson was, at the time of Sophie’s murder, at a conference in nearby Pendlebury, networking to get council approval for the development he has planned for Manor House Farm, which is not, in fact, the equestrian centre that Sophie thought they were creating. Was he aware that Sophie had learned of this betrayal, had changed her will, and begun divorce proceedings?

It was the intended bequest of Sophie’s grandmother Marjorie Crows that would allow her to build her longed-for centre. Together with her solicitor, Andrew Arden, this fit and healthy elderly woman, living at Applewood Residential Care Home, was determined to thwart David’s plans. So when Marjorie is suddenly rushed to hospital, James and his team suspect foul play.

Within days of Sophie’s murder, the police have two main suspects: one with no alibi and no apparent motive; the other with plenty of motive but a strong alibi; concentrating on the former puts Nell’s true identity and an unhappy past incident under the spotlight as the police jump to erroneous conclusions.

Against the advice of her legal counsel, Nell decides she needs to conduct her own investigation to prove her innocence and, luckily, her colleague, Dr Adam Kashyap is ready to help. Of course, the pair are doing this without the benefit of information the police have about the convoluted situation with the wills and their conditions, prospective divorce proceedings, and alibis. Our ecologists are working it from the plant and wildlife angle.

Yarwood-Lovett’s first novel is cleverly plotted, has some appealing characters and enough twists and red herrings to keep the pages turning right up to the dramatic climax. There’s also potential romance with Nell’s admirers to add a bit of spice. This cosy mystery is followed by at least two more: A Cast of Falcons and A Mischief of Rats. A very entertaining debut.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Embla Books

Nell is hiding something from her colleagues and friends. The police have found traces of her presence next to a murdered woman, and Nell's reticence plays into being Suspect Number One.
Can she clear her name before being charged with murder, and while protecting a very rare bat species?

I love when authors come upon writing after another career - Dr. Sarah Yarwood-Lovett is an ecologist herself, and has drawn upon her extensive experience to create a new cozy mystery series. I'm so happy to see that a sequel will be released in the winter!

The scientific information is engaging and very accessible, without being pedantic. And of course, since it's a cozy, there's a cat. But there's also deception, a supercar, mistaken identity, revenge porn, and blood.

Loved it!
4.2/5

A terrific debut with a unique and interesting MC in Dr Nell Ward, an ecologist - a career I've not come across before in a cosy series. I love when authors utilise their own expertise/career to infuse the story, it definitely helps bring some realistic limitations and capabilities into the life of the MC. I liked the environmental aspect of it; not all of us knit or sew or bake or like weddings or decoupage, so while I appreciate it's an unusual lean for a cosy MC, I was drawn in immediately simply because it felt a bit different from the get go.

I zoomed through this in a few hours, and loved the characters, the writing, the theme and mystery (okay, yes, let's not overlook the slightly convenient ex-SAS employee of this secret aristocrat). Nell, despite her background, has worked incredibly hard to prove to herself and everyone around her that she is her own person and has not used her background or connections to succeed. This secret, however, becomes a point of contention between her and her fellow ecologist, Adam, who had better be the only love interest left coming into book 2. I love him.

Suspension of belief is pretty much the cornerstone of cosies. It's less difficult for me to believe this SAS/aristo connection than, say, a baker or knitter getting involved in a murder investigation. They're all amateurs, and the likelihood of it happening is thin, which is part of the fun, as is trying to solve the mystery. It's all how you put it together. And there's always some kind of coincidence/convenient connection - how many MCs date the investigating officer, for example?

I picked this off NetGalley because of the cover (I'm *that* kind of reader), and am very glad that I did. Not every book is for every body, but you'd do yourself a real disservice if you didn't at least try this one. Can't wait for the second one now!

I loved this start to a new mystery series! Nell is a delight and the book has the typical aspects of the cozy genre that make it feel comfortable but not boring. I appreciate a main character with a sciency job!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and Embla books for providing an ARC to review.

I give this book a solid 3/5 stars. The mystery was solid and had some cozy mystery vibes that I enjoyed. I appreciate how in-depth the writer went with Nell's career as a wildlife surveyor. The added details regarding her job helped flesh out the crime scene and the clues pointing towards the killer. The conclusion was fast-paced and interesting. There were several plot points that I had not guessed before they were revealed. The negative was Nell's possible love interests. I didn't think they gave much in moving the plot forward, and in the end, I didn't' care about Nel's personal life. The fact that this aspect was left a bit open-ended just made me roll my eyes.

This cozy debut has a solid foundation, but the building itself is a bit wobbly. While the protagonist, Nell, is fairly delightful, they're our primary suspect-- as with most first in a series cozies. I found the copious amounts of red herrings a bit tiresome, but they didn't overstay their welcome. Generally speaking, the world built is a good one, so I'd be really stoked to read the next book because it had strong bones. Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy for review!

This is an excellent start to a new cozy mystery series. I enjoyed the main character Nell and her "playing defective" to clear her own name. If you like Richard Osman you will probably enjoy this, though I feel Osman does it best.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

I did find this to be a very engaging read and there were times when I had a hard time putting it down, but I did have a few issues with it as well.

I really liked the characters, especially Nell. I found her to be quite relatable and I was super interested in her job, which sounded amazing. The author does a really good job of explaining her work without it becoming boring or overwhelming. Nell is meticulous and a very private person, which causes some issues for her when she is accused of murder. I also liked Adam, her coworker, and I enjoyed their banter and flirting. Adam supported her when she was accused and helps her find out what really happens. The detective, James, was a little hard to like at first, but eventually he does come around.

The story itself was where this novel becomes a bit troublesome. The evidence that brings the police to have Nell as their primary suspect, is pretty weak. And they seem to ignore the motives of some of the other people involved as they try to shore up this weak evidence. There were many red herrings as well, almost too many. Also, this is being touted as an ecologist using her skills to solve a murder, and well frankly that never really happened? She makes a suggestion about using bat droppings, but that was about it. Mostly she just spies on who she thinks did it until she gets the evidence needed to confront him. Finally, I kind of had an issue with the romance aspect. Not sure why we needed a love triangle, and there were a few times where the romance overrode the mystery narrative.

The writing was a plus however. For a debut novel, it was really well written. Lovely descriptions of the places Nell visited and the dialogue was well written and witty and fun. As I mentioned before I think she does a great job of describing Nell’s job and all of the interesting things she does without it overwhelming the reader.

Overall, this is a fun read with some interesting characters. This is the first in a series and it is one that I would certainly consider continuing. The set up for the next book happens at the end of this one, and it sounds like it will be an interesting one. I do recommend you give this one a chance, especially if you like cozy mysteries with a romance.