Review: THE BEEKEEPER, Stewart Giles

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1097 KB
• Print Length: 245 pages
• Publisher: Joffe Books (18 May 2017)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B072FKXNC8
• #1 in the Harriet Taylor series

Synopsis (Amazon)

A shocking discovery starts a trail of mayhem on the Cornish coast.

Alice Green is a beekeeper in the small Cornish village of Polgarrow. She lives with her pet jackdaw in a beautiful cottage not far from the sea. One evening, Alice finds something strange under the hollyhock bush in her garden. The gruesome discovery will change everyone’s lives. And then Alice’s best friend Milly disappears . . .

Detective Harriet Taylor has just transferred to the area from Edinburgh. As she investigates a series of shocking crimes, she grows close to the old beekeeper and is determined to bring the criminals to justice. But who is really what they seem and who can she trust?

A crime mystery with a touch of black humour. You’ll enjoy this fast-paced and dark unearthing of the secrets of a sleepy Cornish village.

My Take

I was tempted to classify this easy read as a cozy, although there are 3 rather ghastly murders: 3 elderly people who were part of a wedding party 40 years earlier are murdered within a week. The beekeeper Alice Green is the only one left standing.

When the local police can't solve the first murder in good time a "crack" team of outsiders with a rather pompous DI at the helm move in and come to a conclusion in double quick time. But even as they are celebrating Harriet Taylor proves them wrong.

This is the first in a series so readers can get in at the beginning of Harriet's career.

My rating: 4.3

About the author
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/stewart-giles/
Stewart Giles appears to be a British author with a couple of well established series available mainly in Kindle (Amazon Australia) for $0 

Review: THE BEEKEEPER, Stewart Giles

• format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 1300 KB
• Print Length: 245 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1912106515
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Joffe Books (May 18, 2017)
• Publication Date: May 18, 2017
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B072FKXNC8

Synopsis (Amazon)

A shocking discovery starts a trail of mayhem on the Cornish coast.

Alice Green is a beekeeper in the small Cornish village of Polgarrow. She lives with her pet jackdaw in a beautiful cottage not far from the sea. One evening, Alice finds something strange under the hollyhock bush in her garden. The gruesome discovery will change everyone’s lives. And then Alice’s best friend Milly disappears . . .

Detective Harriet Taylor has just transferred to the area from Edinburgh. As she investigates a series of shocking crimes, she grows close to the old beekeeper and is determined to bring the criminals to justice. But who is really what they seem and who can she trust?

A crime mystery with a touch of black humour. You’ll enjoy this fast-paced and dark unearthing of the secrets of a sleepy Cornish village.

My take

This was recommended to me as a lightish read, a cozy, and that is really how I found it.

Three elderly people who were part of a wedding party forty years before all die within the space of a week. And, even though I had my suspicions, the plot kept me guessing almost to the end. The detective, Harriet Taylor is an interesting character, and extra tension arises when she is included in the investigative team when a group of "experts" descend from Exeter because the local team are apparently not getting anywhere.

Alice Green was the fourth member of that wedding party. She is the beekeeper, and her bees have begun producing strange tasting honey, and Alice is worried. She becomes friends with Harriet Taylor and that seems to give her some sort of immunity from suspicion.

I've never read anything before from Stewart Giles and I might just give his other series a try.

My rating: 4.4

About the author
After reading English & Drama at three different English Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling and finally ended up in South Africa, where I still live. I enjoy the serene life running a boat shop on the banks of the Vaal Dam. I came up with the DS Jason Smith idea after my wife dropped a rather large speaker on my head. Whether it was intentional still remains a mystery. Smith, the first in the series was finished in September 2013 and was closely followed by Boomerang and Ladybird. Occam's Razor, Harlequin and Phobia (a series of short stories detailing Smith's early life) were all completed in one hazy 365 days and Selene was done and dusted a few months later. Horsemen, the seventh in the DS Smith thriller series is out now. The Beekeeper, a departure from the DS Smith series will be released through Joffe Books on 22 May.