Tracy Kiely- "Murder at Longbourn"

I am too good for color

    I don't like to toot my own horn, but I have a very vivid imagination. It is why I love to read so much. It is easy for me to get lost in a book. However, because my mind can produce such awesome explosions of visions of machine gun toting unicorns, I always find myself guessing the outcome of the murder mystery novel I am reading. It ruins the book when I realize the outcome, not because I get distracted by the sheer force of my powers, but because the outcome is so cliche and predictable. Which brings me to Murder at Longbourn.

     I wasn't expecting this book to be good. My grandmother got a five pack of suspense paperback novels in the mail which included this one. Normally these books are time killers,but never anything too amazing. The black and white cover automatically peaked my interest and the quirky plot made it a no brainier for me to pick it to be the first to read. 

   The story follows a quirky English literature fanatic by the name of Elizabeth Parker. Elizabeth gets an invitation to her great aunt's bed and breakfast for a murder mystery themed dinner for New Year's Eve. Right away I knew I was going to love this book just from reading the first few paragraphs. First person narratives are always my favorite because there can ever be too much going on. You see it as it is happening and it's easier for surprises to pop up. 

   As the book progresses, you are introduced  to Elizabeth's  fun eccentric great aunt named Aunt Winnie. I hope that I am as awesome as this woman is when I hit 60. Red hair, and snazzy clothes, it is a shame that all old people are not as charming. Even the guests at the bed and breakfast are interesting. This book had not one moment of dullness. Eventually the night of the party arrives and by the end of the night the shit hits the fan and someone is really murdered. This is all I will reveal because it really is one book that you just love to try and solve the mystery right with Elizabeth and her aunt. 

" I am late for tea daahling!"

   For a split second I thought yet again I had guessed the ending. I closed the book, asked why I have been cursed with such an awesome imagination  and angrily read on. To my surprise I was totally wrong and the ending was like nothing I expected. It bind sighted me and I loved every surprising minute of it.

   This is the first book I have read by Tracy Kiely and will certainly not be the last. Murder at Longbourn was a breath of fresh air among the predictable smog in the murder mystery genre. I give this  book a golf clap and two lumps of sugar in some tea.