A Body in the Backyard by Elizabeth Spann Craig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I won this book in an #indiechat giveaway on Twitter, and I was pleased as punch because it’s been awhile since I’d read a cosy mystery, and my brain felt in need of this kind of comfy book.
A Body in the Backyard is, I believe, number four in the Myrtle Clover (love the plant-based name) mystery series. I hadn’t read this series before, and coming in in the middle was a mite discombobulating; yet all the regular characters and their relationships were described so well and in a natural way, I was able to get the gist of their lives.
I liked how the main character is an octogenarian, and in particular, a tall one. That totally knocked my assumptions out the window. I’d been picturing a tiny, wizened lady with a frizz of white hair until Craig revealed that Myrtle is tall. I liked, too, the different cast of characters that surrounded Myrtle; my only puzzlement was the ages of her son and grandson. They seem to have to be horrendously younger than they should be, given Myrtle’s age. I suppose people with much older parents would find it familiar.
The mystery itself was a nicely woven knot, and despite the typos (really does any ebook come sans them, these days?), this book was a quick, flowing read.
