Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Starts a little slowly and a little repetitive (friends with benefits anyone!!) but it sucks you in!! Ted and Bob are fascinating characters and I look forward to seeing how this new case (no spoilers) impacts on Ted's blossoming relationship!

4.5★s
A Routine Infidelity is the second novel by Australian playwright, screenwriter and author, Elizabeth Coleman. Cheating spouses are Ted Bristol’s bread and butter. Edwina Bristol Investigations also handles the occasional serving of court summonses, but nothing meatier, meaning her seven older brothers tend not to take her chosen profession too seriously. One even dubs her “the barely civil investigator”.

It’s on just such an assignment that Ted gets her chance: the brawny accountant at the trucking company is not only having an affair with the pretty purchasing officer, but apparently also embezzling a significant amount of the profits. Finally, something that might put EBI on the map, if only her phone recording of their discussion can be made clearer.

While taking advantage of her niece Chuck’s techy talents, she learns that her sweet, kind, elder sister, Bob, has been catfished by one Captain William Ingram, an “SAS soldier serving in Afghanistan” to the tune of five hundred dollars. No way Ted can let that go unanswered. Bob is embarrassed, but takes Ted’s advice to warn the scammer off, so she is surprised to get a visit from someone who purports to be family of the soldier: could this be genuine?

Another potential infidelity case comes from Chantal Considine, grief counsellor turned spiritual medium. When Ted reports back that Andrew’s liaisons appear to be innocent, Chantal feels compelled to share with Ted a warning about her safety, something that involves her mother and the sea and a few other bizarre signs. Sceptical, Ted angrily dismisses this as nonsense, but it does bring to mind the guilty secret that, for three decades, has stifled her relationship with her father.

Chantal always rationalised her faking it as a medium as offering people the comfort they needed, but lately, her experiences have been disturbingly real and accurate…

As well as the excitement of Ted’s embezzlement case, there’s a hint of romance for each of the Bristol sisters: if Bob’s soldier isn’t real, there’s a widowed regular customer of her flower shop in the wings; Ted’s friends-with-benefits with Joel might be over, but despite their oppositional banter at Swordcraft, Senior Detective Spike Tereiti seems attracted to her.

Coleman’s protagonist is interesting and a little quirky; her clever miniature schnauzer, Miss Marple, will appeal to many readers; setting, dialogue and support characters are all well depicted; there’s plenty of humour in the lead up to the dramatic climax; and the final page hints at more books for this entertaining Australian cosy crime read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Pantera Press.

A Routine Infidelity is the debut novel by Australian author Elizabeth Coleman. Featuring newly minted PI Edwina (Ted) Bristol, this pacy crime caper blends a perfect mix of borderline craziness, light-hearted banter and serious detective work while also managing to throw in a darker, more guilt-ridden past once you get to know Ted a little better.

At first glance, it appears that we’re in for a fairly standard PI story. Ted Bristol is the principal, and sole, employee of Edwina Bristol Investigations (EBI). She’s a self-proclaimed kick-arse PI who, despite her diminutive size can hold her own when it comes to facing people down. She’s just starting out and is in the building phase of her business as a civil investigator with much of her work consisting of surveillance of possible insurance scams, cheating spouses and serving papers.

But it becomes apparent that there are a few aspects of Ted that sets her apart from her peers. The first is her sidekick, Miss Marple, a miniature schnauzer with a rather diffident attitude. The second is her weekly recreational activity of participating in Swordcraft, a medieval battle game that takes place every Saturday night (she’s a warrior elf). Throw in the fact that she has 7 older brothers and one older sister, she works next door to a maybe-psychic, she’s enjoying a friends-with-benefits relationship with Joel because she has commitment issues and she still can’t speak to her father 30 years after watching her mother drown. Yep, a lot is going on.

While working on what appears to be a reasonably straightforward case to confirm that a husband is cheating on his wife, Ted believes she’s stumbled across a much bigger corporate fraud scam. Sensing this to be the big break that EBI needs to attract future clients, she works it hard and walks straight into danger. And that’s where things really start to get interesting.

I really enjoyed A Routine Infidelity, firstly because of the slightly offbeat humour dotted throughout as well as the rapid-fire action. But mainly for the multi-dimensional subplots that continually added a freshness to the storyline. The traditional private eye work was a good start, but then the hint of the mystical gave it a solid woo-woo feel, the overly large family provides boundless potential for antagonistic showdowns and finally, the hint of a budding romance or two.

Just when it seemed this would be a purely plot-driven mystery we are taken to a darker place to find that Ted is hiding a guilt-ridden past. An exploration of what took place 30 years ago and its effects on her now, plus the impact it had on older sister Bob provides much needed character development.

This is clearly the first book in a series with a tantalising case in the offing providing an appetite whetting ending. I’ll be looking forward to the next case taken on by Edwina Bristol Investigations.

With thanks to NetGalley and Pantera Press for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

A whimsical suburban detective delight - if Peregrine Fisher lived in current day Abbotsford, she would have adventures in the vein of Edwina "Ted" Bristol, private investigator.

This adventure begins with her clairvoyant neighbour asking her to investigate her husband for infidelity, and ends with murder, a bit of mayhem and that fleeting will-they-wont-they romance of the genre.

My favourite parts were sightseeing around Melbourne with Ted and her schnauzer Miss Marple