In Love And Murder by MS Morris

In Love And Murder by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Fern

Deception. Death. A Deal with the Devil.

When Dr Nathan Frost, a lecturer in German literature at Oxford University, is invited to a lavish party at the country house of a wealthy businessman, he knows there’ll be a price to pay. After all, as an expert on the legend of Faust and Mephistopheles, he can recognise a deal with the devil easily enough. But even he’s not expecting such a sinister end to the evening.

Called to investigate a suspicious death at a country house, Detective Inspector Bridget Hart is surprised to find a government minister among the party guests. Her team must navigate powerful interests to find the truth. But in a world of favours, backhanders and corruption, nothing is as it seems and nobody can be trusted.

Set amongst the dreaming spires of Oxford University, the Bridget Hart series is perfect for fans of Elly Griffiths, JR Ellis, Faith Martin and classic British murder mysteries.

DI Bridget Hart and her team are called in to a local university when one of their Professors wakes up after a house party sleeping next to a young dead college student. The lecturer admits he has no recollection of the evening before after feeling unwell and going to bed. With numerous important people at the party and plenty of pressure for quick answers, can DI Hart navigate her way around the various conflicting accounts of that evening?

I have been enjoying this series and find that it has a good balance between the mystery of the British police procedural mystery and various growth and sub-plots involving the secondary characters and their personal lives. While it seems DI Hart’s personal life is finally starting to even out a little I was interested that two of her team members seemed to be entering murky waters. I thought the workplace romance – and all the issues that can cause – strongly relatable, but admit I was a little disappointed both by the cliched aspect of the “misunderstandings/jealousy” theme and also how both the characters fell into the trap of miscommunication. While utterly relatable and very common, I do find it a little annoying sometimes how cliched this sort of sub-plot can come across at times.

That said, I admit the romantic entanglements of the team made an excellent contrast to the murder plot, and made the various characters extremely realistic and empathetic. I also found the mystery plot itself interesting and set at a good pace. I was pleased that there were aspects to the plot I did guess early on, but there were still a few twists I didn’t see coming so I felt both proud of my own investigative skills but remained interested because there were enough aspects that were fresh and surprising to me.

I found this to be a very well written and solidly plotted British murder mystery. I am enjoying this series and can strongly recommend both the author and these works.