Death at the Lychgate by T. A. Belshaw
AMY ROWLINGS RETURNS!
Sunday morning, and the body of Reverend Villiers has been found propped up on the vigil seat in the church’s lychgate. It appears that he has been poisoned.
When amateur sleuth and regular churchgoer, Amy Rowlings arrives she finds DI Bodkin already at the scene. Bodkin tells her about a cryptic scripture reference that has been scrawled in chalk on the stone slabs beneath the body. What the citation hints at, shocks everyone.
Amy, a huge Agatha Christie fan is determined to get involved in the investigation and despite a stern warning from the detective’s boss, Amy and Bodkin team up again to try to solve the most complex murder case he has ever been involved in. When the toxicology report comes back from the lab, the results only add to the mystery.
Meanwhile, Amy looks to her favourite Agatha Christie character, Hercule Poirot for help, and using his techniques, she narrows down the list of possible murderers to just nine suspects.
Can Amy fit together the jigsaw of clues to solve this, the most complex of cases?
About the author
T A Belshaw is from Derbyshire in the United Kingdom where he shares a house with his chatty rescue cat, Mia. He writes for both children and adults. A former miner and computer technician, Trevor studied Advanced Creative Writing at the Open University. He is the author of Tracy's Hot Mail, Tracy's Celebrity Hot Mail and the noir, suspense novella, Out of Control. Following the sudden death of his wife in 2015 Trevor took a five-year break from writing, returning during lockdown in 2020, when an injury forced him to take time off work. The result of this new creative burst was the Dual Timeline, Family Saga, Unspoken and the Historical Cosy Crime Whodunnit, Murder at the Mill.
Trevor signed his first contract with Spellbound Books Ltd in April 2021. He signed a further mullti-book contract with them in the spring of 2022.
His short stories have been published in various anthologies including 100 Stories for Haiti, 50 Stories for Pakistan, Another Haircut, Shambelurkling and Other Stories, Deck the Halls, 100 Stories for Queensland and The Cafe Lit anthology 2011, 2012 and 2013. He also has two pieces in Shambelurklers Return. 2014
Trevor is also the author of 15 children's adventure books written under the name of Trevor Forest.
His children's poem, Clicking Gran, was long listed for the Plough prize (children's section) in 2009 and his short poem, My Mistake, was rated Highly Commended and published in an anthology of the best entries in the Farringdon Poetry Competition.
Trevor's articles have been published in magazines as diverse as Ireland's Own, The Best of British and First Edition.
Follow him at:
Twitter : https://twitter.com/tabelshaw
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/trevorbelshaw
Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/T.A.BelshawAuthor
Website : https://trevorbelshaw.com/
Review
‘Death at the Lychgate’ has all the hallmarks of a brilliant historical cozy crime - female who loves solving mysteries, an attractive policeman at the ready, references to quintessential village life and its institutions. This is the second book in the Amy Rowlings series but it can definitely be read as a standalone as I haven't read the first one and I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't feel overwhelmed by missing the backstory. I am going to read the first book ‘Murder at the Mill’ as I love getting into a series right from the start.
Sometimes all you want is to read a cosy crime book and feel as if you are wrapped up in cotton wool! Books like these are my comfort reads and this one was fantastic. I feel in love with Amy from the start - intelligent, loyal, a fashion and music lover and a lovely young woman just embarking on her life! Her relationships with those close to her was so endearing and she came across as being thoroughly lovely. I wouldn’t mind being her friend. The empathy the author shows not just to the good guys is a style of writing that I love and in this case in particular it needed that touch of understanding.
As someone who sells vintage Agatha Christie books for a living, I was loving the references to Christie and using the list idea from Peril at End House was a great touch to show that the author actually know his Christie. I feel there are too many authors who name-drop AC or are hailed as the new Christie but honestly don't know anything about her. This didn't seem the case in this book and I was loving it. Okay Christie nerding now complete.
The plot line was full of twists and turns, red herrings and surprises. It kept me guessing for sure. I don’t like trying to guess the culprit when reading this type of book as it’s the reveal that is part of its charm! I’m sure Amy will be having one of the ‘big reveal’ scenes ala Hercule Poirot very soon and I can’t wait!
Hopefully it won’t be too long till the next book as I need more Amy Rowlings in my life!
