Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Review - Rules of Murder

Rules of Murder
A Drew Farthering Mystery
By Julianna Deering
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: August 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0764210952
Pages: 336


In the style of Agatha Christie's classic mysteries, comes Rules of Murder, book one in A Drew Farthering Mystery series by Julianna Deering.

Drew Farthering has always loved reading a good mystery, especially the books by his favorite detective author, Ronald Knox. Little did he realize that he would be thrown into a real murder mystery when returns to his family home n Hampshire, England, where his mother and stepfather are throwing a party on the grounds of their country estate. The estate is filled with interesting guests, including the lovely and intelligent American, Madeline Parker, who happens to be his stepfather's niece.

Suddenly, one of the guests ends up dead. Don't forget this is the early 1900s, so there are no cell phones to call for the authorities. Like the game Clue, Drew Farthering plans on finding the murderer himself, but it isn't going to be easy, as no one wants to confess to the crime.

Luckily, Madeline was with him when the murder occurred, so he can rule her out as a prime suspect. Using the murder guidelines he learned from reading Knox's books, Drew along with his best-friend, Nick, (the family's butler's son) plan on unraveling the mystery before someone else ends up dead.

With two Sherlock Holmes television series and the Robert Downey Jr. movies being popular, I wasn't too surprise to see a throwback to the Agatha Christie style of writings, but I was surprised to see a Christian murder mystery. With a nifty cover similar to the golden age dime novels, I was excited to read Rules of Murder, but the religious aspects were a bit of a distraction and aren’t needed in a murder mystery. Even though the book is targeted for Christian readers, I'm surprised by the step-cousins flirtatious romance throughout the novel. Overall, Rules of Murder is a fun murder mystery. Its not prefect, but I do recommend it other readers.


*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

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