A good book, a good mystery and with quirky characters and a story that keeps you guessing in this unique and quirky story. I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery behind the manuscript. There are some historical links, some secrets, some intrigue and overall was a good read but I must say it lacked some depth and form and wasn't one of my favourites

Thank you NetGalley and The Book Guild for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

A murder mystery with historical links and a feminist lead
Eve Brook is a literary investigator who’s drawn into the hunt for a manuscript following the death of it’s author
Found the story was mainly focusing on Eve trying to track down the manuscript and was a bit unclear of the plot - didn’t read like a cosy crime and was a bit too much on the feminism and Oxford college politics, but keep with it better in the second half
Thanks @anna_beer_author @thebookguild & @netgalley for the debut novel

Thanks to NetGalley and BookGuild Publishing for the ARC!

Death of an Englishman is a murder mystery, and Beer’s debut novel. I wanted to love this book, as a feminist murder mystery seemed right up my alley. The murder seemed rushed, as the first half of the book focused solely on a missing manuscript. The book also had a large theme of both feminism and anti-wokeness, but a lot of it felt thrown in rather than worked in naturally. It often took me out of the story whenever these two themes came up. I think another round of edits on the book to help that flow naturally, and also introduce the murder earlier would have helped the book immensely.

Fabulous cover! And...that's about it.

I expected to be the target audience for this mystery novel, but the writing lacked depth and was almost pandering. The "anti-wokeness" that is continually brought up is very in-your-face but never discussed with any level of value. "Death of an Englishman" is not good for escapist reading, nor does it offer valuable discourse on feminism or the current political landscape.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

I was drawn to this story, as I love a cozy mystery set in and around Oxford. It follows the death of a professor who was writing an anti-woke book. Although the storyline was intriguing, this could use another round of edits to smooth out transitions, conciseness, and clarity. Additionally, the story would benefit from the author doing more showing and not telling. I recommend some reworking so the mystery shines more, rather than overt messaging about wokeness that has its relevance but could benefit from more subtlety.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

Literary Sleuth Investigates..
Literary sleuth tackles first mystery in this enjoyable and well written whodunnit set against the backdrop of Oxford colleges. When Oxford don, David Morrow, is discovered dead, Eve Brook is employed to complete his latest manuscript. Eve soon discovers that the manuscript is missing and that there are many people who wanted Morrow dead. So begins the investigation. A traditional mystery given a contemporary and unique edge with a well crafted cast of characters populating a steady and immersive plot.

I'm really sorry about this novel. I went into it hoping to love it. It is usually my kind of novel: a strong feminist protagonist, a murder mystery, a link with history. On the surface, it's right up my alley. The issue is that the book is terrible. There was nothing 'cosy' about it, despite the marketing. There also wasn't much murder mystery either, making the whole marketing ploy fall on its face.

A very brief overview of the plot is that Eve (our protangonist) is hired to finish a manuscript that was almost-written by a right-wing pundit before his death. 80% of the book is her hunting down that manuscript. The murder part of the novel seems to be added on as an afterthought, and I'm not sure where the mystery came in... except maybe where the mystery is of the missing manuscript.

The writing needs a good editor. There are too many run along sentences that weave in and out of the plot. Speaking of the plot, I still don't understand what Sir Philip had to do with it (beyond being the subject of the missing manuscript), but it was linked throughout and parellels were made... sometimes at a stretch.

The worst part of the book, unfortunately, was the soap boxing. Although I agree with the overall message (I think?), there was no subtlety. It was like being hit in the face with a feminism pan over and over. And I say that as a militant feminist. It made the book feel like a chore or, worse, an assignment.

A real shame, as I really liked the premise. If it wasn't an ARC, I wouldn't have forcced myself to finish. Yet force I did.

Eve Brook is a literary investigator who's drawn into the hunt for a manuscript and the death of its author. This unusual mystery sees her travelling around to discover the manuscript and uncover what happened to the controversial figure behind it.

The book is described as 'cosy crime with a very contemporary edge', which appealed to my love of murder mysteries - both Golden Age and modern. However, I didn't enjoy this story.

Firstly, it doesn't read like a cosy mystery. Most of the book focuses on Eve trying to track down the manuscript. The murder investigation seems like an afterthought and is rushed through late in the book. New characters also emerge and help to solve the mystery.

With the setting of Oxford, I was hoping this would be brought to life to provide a cosy vibe. Unfortunately, there was more emphasis on Oxford college politics than on creating a relatable impression of the city. As someone unfamiliar with the location, I found the setting hard to imagine.

There's definitely a contemporary feel to the story, which is set in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. One of the key conflicts in the story is between the manuscript author's political views (bigoted and misogynistic) and Eve's feminism. However, this element dominated the book to the detriment of the storytelling. At several points, it felt like the conflict was compensating for a lack of depth in the story.

Readers need to be aware that the contemporary style of the book includes sexual references and swearing. These are mild and infrequent but may surprise some readers.

The most challenging part of the book though, is the writing itself. Too much of the story is told through Eve's internal monologue, often repetitive and confusing. Much irrelevant information is shared in long-winded, complex sentences, making the reading hard. What's more, some scenes merge together, and you suddenly realise that Eve is in a different setting without any context or explanation.

A positive point was the refreshing diversity of the characters. I would have liked to see more development of them. However, the dialogue for a character with an accent felt contrived.

Overall, the book didn't live up to my expectations of a murder mystery.

Thanks to the Book Guild and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of the book in return for my honest review.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

What a fun debut novel to read! This book was a neat twist on a cozy mystery, with the literary concept at Oxford working well in it. I did feel a little bored at times while reading, mostly because I tend to read books with a lot of dialogue more easily. I enjoyed the ending wrap up and look forward to reading another book by this author. Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC of #TheDeathOfAnEnglishman.

It took a while to get into this book. It’s third person past tense and uses the past perfect a lot. Not my preffered narrative form. But after the past perfect was dropped, it got easier to read.

Eve Brook is hired as manuscript doctor for a biography on an Elizabethan hero. First, she has to find the manuscript. The author is dead and his widow doesn’t have it (or care where it’s gone off too). Eve sets out of a quest to find the missing manuscript. After a few meetings with people who might know more, I started to wonder: why bother? The author doesn’t seem to have been a pleasant man to be around and the biography would probably be more of a coat rack for his anti-woke world view, than an honest biography of Philip Sidney. I believe Eve would have a hard time sloughing herself through that manuscript.

It seems, though, there is no manuscript. Hurray for that. Then Eve is asked it arrange the memorial service for the author. And she decides to accept.

I decided I had read enough. Arranging events is not her usual job and she neither knew nor liked the man. She decided to accept because it would give her another chance to talk to the people the author left behind.

I don’t want to know.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Anna Beer for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Death of an Englishman coming out April 28, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is a debut novel. I really love cozy mysteries and I’ve read a lot of them. I really love mysteries set in England. Unfortunately, this one didn’t feel as cozy to me. I wasn’t really into the mystery. I felt like some elements were lacking. I just wanted more. The characters didn’t really do it for me. I would check out other books by this author.

The Title and description of this book really appealed to me.
An literary detective sleuthing for a lots manuscript in an enchanting Oxford setting - what's not to like?
Unfortunately, somehow this book just didn't hit the spot.

Things I liked:
I liked Eve's character. She was smart and considerate, yet fallible. Her relationship with her daughter was lovely.
I enjoyed the nods to Oxfords hidden world of University traditions and language.
Eve's love of train travel and stationery was quirky and endearing.
The premise of a lost manuscript and the inner familial tensions of the author's family were all intriguing.

However....

Things I did not enjoy:
I don't quite think this book made up it's mind what to be.
Was it a cosy mystery?
Was it a veiled feminist commentary on academia and society?
Was it a showcase for Philip Sydney's lesser known sister?
Was is an examination of middle age female relationships and friendships?
Was it an examination of dysfunctional family dynamics and the repercussions of abusive relationships?

The story starts as a search for a manuscript after the death of an author. It's only half way through the book that Eve begins to suspect foul play. There's a lot of travelling back and forth on public transport and long walks in which the reader is presented with Eve rehashing her thoughts and theories.
The conclusion is obscure and disappointing.

I felt like the bones of this story had real promise but there was just too much going on and sometimes the segues were clunky and hard to follow. I'm not sure I'd follow Eve into another mystery.

I was really drawn in at the start—I love a good Oxford setting, and Eve felt like a refreshingly real character. She’s smart, principled, and independent, and I was curious to see where her assignment would lead. But the story started to lose momentum around the halfway point, with Eve retracing the same steps and inner thoughts a bit too often. The mystery had potential, but the ending didn’t quite land for me. Still, I liked the writing and would read more by this author.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This started put well for me: I like an Oxford setting, and I thought the character of the protagonist Eve was well-drawn and fully rounded. She had actual friends, an interesting job, a relationship with her daughter, feminist principles, and persevered in taking public transport wherever she went. But... then, instead of doing her job (which had initially been to finish off and get ready for publication a book by a sort of Jordan Peterson type, the recently dead David Morrow, and which then morphed into discovering if he had indeed written a word of the book before his death) she decides there is something off about Morrow's death and that it is her responsibility to get to the bottom of things. To this end she travels all around England and to France, stirring things up with all Morrow's family and contacts, keeping secrets and spilling secrets and suspecting everyone of nebulous things.

Even setting aside the strangeness of what she is doing, at about the 50% mark the narrative got really bogged down. Eve would go on a journey and thrash things out in her own mind and then she would do it again, and then again and so on. The ending was an anticlimax and also the sort of ending of which I disapprove. A pity, as I liked the writing and I liked Eve.

I thought there was a lot of potential for this book but it fell short for me. I loved the idea of the MC, a scholar who has chosen to live a bit off the social grid, but found her at times to be so unaware of the world it felt unrealistic. As she tries to find the lost manuscript of a universally disliked colleague, I found myself simply not caring at some points.

I did like many of the secondary characters and wish there was a bit more of them in the story.

Dr. Eve Brook is hired to finish a biography by author/right-wing media personality David Morrow who died . . . or was he murdered? Eve searches for the unfinished manuscript, the secrets of Morrow's life, and the answer to whether he was murdered. "Death of an Englishman" has the bones of an interesting book, but I found myself skimming through long passages and chapters filled with Eve's musings on what had possibly happened, the nature of biography and memory, and the motivations of the various suspects and family members. Thank you to NetGalley and the Book Guild for the eARC.

I was so interested in the description of this book and I was excited to wander around Oxford on this journey but I just could not get over all the woke vs. anti-woke pandering. Not only that, but it was a chore to read. The writing was hard to engage in.

While I did finish this book, it felt like an assignment.

Thank you NetGalley and The Book Guild for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

This was a fun mystery novel, and I enjoyed it a lot. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

I should have DNF'd. This flat piece of prose hammers on about important things that are not fully relevant to the story. It's a mystery and it take over half the book to get to the crux of the point. Also, I know it's on the cover, "an Oxford mystery," yet so many of the readers are not of the Oxfordian culture and will have to break their reading to look-up terms and colloquialisms that are not natural to them, and have no further context clues to aid the aforementioned readers.