The Colours of Murder by Ali Carter, Book Review

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This is a book about Susie Mahl, pet portraitist to the gentry and nosey parker with a penchant for dead bodies. When her interfering mother wangles her an entrée into a country house party, she decides to go along as it happens to be near the estate where she is currently painting a series of racehorses. What it is about amateur sleuths? They turn up and sure enough, a dead body follows.

It’s amusing seeing a country house weekend party through the eyes of someone who doesn’t belong to the ‘right set’ and wouldn’t normally be there in the first place. True to form, a murder takes place at said country house estate. Miss Dune, a flirtatious American, is found dead in bed in the early hours of the morning. So, who better to investigate on the sly? Susie Mahl, our heroine, is a modern Miss Marple, only young and active and not a knitting needle in sight. The only thing I can fault her for is her taste in men. Listen to me girl, kick Toby into touch, he’s a boring fart.

This isn’t Susie’s first rodeo, in fact, in Ali Carter’s previous book, A Brush with Death, Susie makes a bit of a name for herself when she solves a murder. I think she’s on a roll …

The author, Ali Carter, has had an eclectic career from investment management to retail and now also as an artist. Among other areas of artistic endeavour, she draws pet portraits to commission. I wonder if that is where her astute yet gentle social observations come from? Cosy yet witty and entertaining crime is the result.

The Colours of Murder was first published by Point Blank in June 2019 in original paperback (£8.99)