Review of Judith Flanders's A Bed of Scorpions

A Bed of Scorpions, by Judith Flanders (Minotaur Books, March 1, 2016)

Samantha “Sam” Clair is an editor at a small London book publisher. The constants in Sam’s life are her colleagues, her powerful solicitor mother, Helen, her fatherly upstairs neighbor, Mr. Rudiger, and now her boyfriend, Jake, a homicide detective with London’s Metropolitan Police. If you want to know how Sam came to be in a romance with a police detective, read the first book in the series, A Murder of Magpies.

All seems well in Sam’s life this London summer. The weather is fine, her relationship with Jake has reached the almost-living-together stage, and the only fly in the ointment is the concern at the office that their company might be sold. That is, until Sam has lunch with an old friend, Aidan. Aidan, an art gallery owner, is distraught over his business partner’s having just been found shot.

Is it suicide, murder? No surprise, Jake is assigned to investigate and, of course, questions arise about whether this could have something to do with the gallery and Aidan. Since Aidan isn’t just an old friend of Sam's, he’s a former boyfriend, things quickly become awkward with Jake. Is it her desire to help Aidan that makes Sam start asking questions, or is it her crime fiction addiction that compels her? For whatever reason, she’s soon knee-deep in her own investigation.

Sam is an entertaining character. She’s the opposite of her super-confident, supremely groomed, socially connected powerhouse of a mother. Sam is a klutz, her wardrobe is marginal, she likes to lounge around at home, reading and going to bed early. She’s an amusingly snarky observer of her own foibles and everyone else’s.

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Though this is a cozy mystery, that doesn’t mean it’s just a bit of fluff. The plot is engrossing, with clever twists and turns, and details about the inside workings of art dealerships and publishers that are informative and add unique features to the story. And I can’t tell you anything about the climax except that it’s both inventive and hair-raising.

It’s not absolutely necessary to read the first book in the series before this one, but it’s a good idea if you can.

Image sources: Amazon.com, bbc.co.uk, Wikipedia.

Review of Judith Flanders's A Murder of Magpies

A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders (Minotaur, February 24, 2015)

Samantha "Sam" Clair is a book editor at a small but reputable London publishing firm. Sam has designed her wardrobe to function more as camouflage than style, so it's surprising that one of her best friends is Kit Lovell, a fashion journalist who also writes gossipy exposés about celebrity fashionistas.

When Kit disappears, and it looks like somebody is out to destroy all copies of his latest manuscript, which promises to be a tell-all about the death of designer Rodrigo Alemán and financial shenanigans in boutiques associated with him, Sam is worried and frustrated. The police aren't pulling out all the stops to find Kit, though they have assigned Detective Inspector Jake Field to ask questions about the death of a courier who may have been carrying a copy of the manuscript to Sam's office.

Much to Field's dismay, he's unable to get Sam to stop investigating on her own. But when he starts spending a lot more time with her, at least he can keep a little more of an eye on her . . .

Though this quick read has plenty of sleuthing, its main attraction is Sam's world. Sam appears to be a little gray mouse surrounded by much more colorful and fierce members of the animal kingdom. Sitting outside Sam's office is her sharp Goth secretary, Miranda. Ready to pounce across the meeting room table is Sam's chief rival editor, Ben, who thinks he's cornered the market for young and edgy novelists and that Sam is past it. But the alpha is Sam's mother, Helena, a supremely successful corporate attorney who has done a complete workout before Sam is out of bed in the morning, puts in a full day of work and then goes to every important play, gallery showing and party while Sam is curled up at home with a manuscript and a glass of wine.

Sam's office is in a drafty old building.
Not this one, though.

But underneath that unassuming exterior, Sam is clever and determined. She knows how to wage undercover office warfare, and how to make sense of the bits of information she is able to garner about the fashion world to try to find out what happened to Kit. She also knows when it's best to team up with Jake and Helena--and quite a team they make.

There are several other appealing side characters in the book, including Sam's reclusive upstairs neighbor, Mr. Rudiger. The inside look at the publishing world is also a pleasure, particularly Sam vs. Ben and a plot line about one of Sam's most successful authors, Breda––who sounds a lot like Maeve Binchy––and the resulting kerfuffle when Breda turns in what seems to be a disastrous wrong turn into chick-lit.

Sam Clair is likable new protagonist and her friends, family and workplace are entertaining. If this turns into a series, it's definitely one I will follow. I hope Jake becomes a more fleshed-out character in any future books.

I should note that if you're a cozy reader, there are several F-bombs dropped in the book, but it contains no graphic sex or violence.

It may also be worth noting that although this is a debut novel, author Judith Flanders has had a long career as an editor and is the author of the nonfiction book The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime (Thomas Dunne, 2013).


Note: Thanks to Minotaur and the Amazon Vine program for providing a complimentary review copy of the book. Versions of this review may appear on Amazon, Goodreads, BookLikes and other review sites under my usernames there.