Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: When activist Jessica Tartinck took over leadership of the Dembley Walkers, she turned the once casual rambling group into an outlet to attack local landowners over rights of passage through their private property. Her latest target is Sir Charles Fraith despite Sir Charles' willingness to work out a compromise. When Jessica is found murdered on Sir Charles' property, he becomes the primary suspect. However, Deborah Camden, a Dembley Walker who has secretly been dating Sir Charles believes he is innocent and asks Agatha Raisin to investigate. Review: I started reading M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin books right around the same time I actively started reading Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries. Of the two detectives, I found I've enjoyed Agatha Raisin more. Unfortunately, this fourth book in the series was one of the exceptions to that. OK, to be fair, I didn't hate the book. The overall story involving Agatha and her neighbor/would-be boyfriend...

Synopsis: For 36 years, Lucy Vereker has believed her lover, Paul Ackerley, murdered his former best friend (and her former crush) Gerry Grantworth. Now, nearing death, she learns Paul has believed she was the one responsible for Gerry's death. Seeking to find the truth, the couple tries recollect their separate versions of the event leading up to that day in the hopes of solving the mystery. Review: I first noticed this book at our local library a couple months ago and, while I wasn't interested in checking it out at the time, did think it sounded interesting enough to consider for a future date. I finally wound up checking the book out the last time I was at the library, a couple weeks ago, and finished reading it last night. After doing so, my opinion of it was a bit mixed. I'll start out by saying there were a couple things about this book I really did enjoy. For one, I thought the various characters were interesting to read about. This included the main charact...

Synopsis: Feeling down because of his recent demotion and shunned by his neighbors because of his breakup with Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, Constable Hamish Macbeth decides to take a vacation at the Friendly House bed and breakfast on the coast. However, his vacation is ruined when another guest, abusive husband Bob Harris, is murdered and, because of an earlier altercation, Hamish becomes the prime suspect. Review: I finished reading this book a couple days ago but found I needed some time to reflect on it before drawing a conclusion about it. After taking time to think it over, I am going to say I very much enjoyed this murder mystery. There are a couple things about this book that really stood out for me. One of the big ones was the murder mystery itself. Even though his wife had the most to gain from his death (especially since she seemed to have romantic interest in another guest), Bob Harris was just mean enough for just about everyone to want to murder him. And, while my...

Synopsis: The village of Drim is normally a quiet, largely forgotten part of Sergeant Hamish MacBeth's beat. However, when the young, handsome and single Peter Hynd buys a house there, the local women fall head over heels for him. When Peter goes missing, Hamish suspects the worst, especially when one of the local women is found dead under suspicious circumstances. With his superiors convinced Peter just moved away and the woman's death was accidental, Hamish puts his career on the line by investigating without authorization while, at the same time, trying to save his rocky relationship with Priscilla Halburton-Smythe. Review: It was probably because of the weather, but I found I wasn't overly enthused with doing some of the chores I had planned on doing this past weekend and, instead, found myself reading this murder mystery. Fortunately for me, this turned out to be a really good one. I've read enough murder mysteries (and seen plenty of movie mysteries as w...