A Body In the Brewery
(2026)(The second book in the Six Penny Cross Murder Mystery series)
A novel by Victoria Chatham
The village of Sixpenny Cross hosts a weekend-long Medieval Fayre, but Winnie Hatherall is relieved when the knights, their companies, vendors, and visitors pack up and head home.
All notions of chivalry are shattered when Langston Oldrieve, owner of the Black Knight Brewing Company and winner of the Fayre’s jousting tournament, is found dead in his brewery. A frantic phone call from his wife when she is accused of his murder has amateur sleuth Winnie racing to Virginia’s aid. Who else might have wanted Langston dead? Local rumours suggest the brewery is struggling financially. Was that the reason for the growing resentment between Langston and his brewmaster and rival jouster, Peter Eversleigh?
Winnie and her sister, Amy, ask questions of people who are unwilling to answer, but then Wizard Lothar Goodwynne reads the Runes for Winnie. What they reveal leads her and Amy along an unexpected path.
Editorial Review by J.L. Cartwright
Once again Victoria Chatham has delighted this reader with her wonderful characterizations and the familiarity and fun of being part of the witty and humorous byplay between sisters Winne and Amy, along with Detective Inspector Anthony and his assistant Rachel. The main characters in this series have the kind of familiarity that you can only find in the best of British Detective Fiction. A Body in the Brewery is fascinating reading, and the activities in the Brewery combined with the preparation for the jousting and performing, along with the costuming required for the jousters and the squires handling the horses in the stables create the diversity of events, which effectively confuses the motivation while all the activities work together to create a complex and challenging puzzle. It is a genuine pleasure to watch Winnie as she very cleverly manages to poke her nose into the investigation while still keeping just on the right side of Detective Inspector Anthony while continuing to frustrate him with her oh so clever discoveries.
Genre: Mystery
All notions of chivalry are shattered when Langston Oldrieve, owner of the Black Knight Brewing Company and winner of the Fayre’s jousting tournament, is found dead in his brewery. A frantic phone call from his wife when she is accused of his murder has amateur sleuth Winnie racing to Virginia’s aid. Who else might have wanted Langston dead? Local rumours suggest the brewery is struggling financially. Was that the reason for the growing resentment between Langston and his brewmaster and rival jouster, Peter Eversleigh?
Winnie and her sister, Amy, ask questions of people who are unwilling to answer, but then Wizard Lothar Goodwynne reads the Runes for Winnie. What they reveal leads her and Amy along an unexpected path.
Editorial Review by J.L. Cartwright
Once again Victoria Chatham has delighted this reader with her wonderful characterizations and the familiarity and fun of being part of the witty and humorous byplay between sisters Winne and Amy, along with Detective Inspector Anthony and his assistant Rachel. The main characters in this series have the kind of familiarity that you can only find in the best of British Detective Fiction. A Body in the Brewery is fascinating reading, and the activities in the Brewery combined with the preparation for the jousting and performing, along with the costuming required for the jousters and the squires handling the horses in the stables create the diversity of events, which effectively confuses the motivation while all the activities work together to create a complex and challenging puzzle. It is a genuine pleasure to watch Winnie as she very cleverly manages to poke her nose into the investigation while still keeping just on the right side of Detective Inspector Anthony while continuing to frustrate him with her oh so clever discoveries.
Genre: Mystery