A delightfully sharp and clever murder mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club.
Private investigator Edwina ‘Ted’ Bristol deals in the cheating husbands and missing chihuahuas of Melbourne, but yearns for the heart-stopping excitement of real crime.
When Ted discovers her sister, Bob, has fallen prey to an internet catfishing scam, she sets out with her beloved miniature schnauzer and shrewd sidekick, Miss Marple, to catch the swindler. Meanwhile, when conducting routine surveillance on a couple suspected of having an affair, she uncovers a plot to embezzle millions.
As Bob’s case takes a series of bizarre twists and turns and the embezzlement investigation escalates into murder, Ted finds her own life in peril. Will she crack her first criminal case before it’s too late?
Elizabeth Coleman is a successful screenwriter and playwright – author of the hit play Secret Bridesmaids Business which was adapted into a telemovie, and more recently wrote on every season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Miss Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. It’s clear Coleman is no stranger to putting pen to paper, and now she lends her skills to books. If you love the madcap adventures of Phryne Fisher, you’re sure to love Ted Bristol in A Routine Infidelity, Coleman’s debut novel.
Ted is an interesting and quirky Private Investigator who usually deals with cheating spouses and missing pets. While working on a seemingly typical and straightforward case of infidelity, she blunders across a much more intriguing embezzlement case. That’s when the fun really ramps up, and readers go on a rollercoaster ride, complete with twists, turns, hidden truths and heart-racing action.
Coleman fantastically delivers a well-driven plot with superb setting and dialogue, imbued with a hint of budding romances and humour. Sisters Ted and Bob have an interesting sibling dynamic, and the past that comes to haunt them now, thirty years later, shapes them and helps them grow as sisters; their character development is poignant and impactful. There are also a host of subplots and characters who add a lot to this cosy crime novel.
Dramatic, climactic and unputdownable, I just couldn’t get enough of A Routine Infidelity. And luckily enough, it’s the first in a series of Ted Bristol books with the final page hinting at what we can possibly expect next.
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