Sometimes you want to read something fun and light-hearted, as a break from “important reads” on your list. Kinsey delivers this, following in the British countryside mystery footsteps of the great Agatha Christie, and doing an admirable job of infusing gay-level camp for a straight man. This is the second book in his series I’ve read.

Here’s the premise: Lady Hardcastle has a bunch of inherited money. She lives with her maid/friend Florence Armstrong. They retire from a life of espionage abroad (which is only ever alluded to, creating a sense of mystery about both of them) in Asia, India, Africa and other places white people find exotic. They move to the fictional village of Chipping Bevington. The village is full of all the eccentric turn-of-the-century English countryside characters you’d expect.

Murder happens here with a frequency that should be far more concerning than the locals seem to find it. After a man falls dead face first in his pie on Market Day, Lady Hardcastle and Flo naturally must jump in and find the murderer.

Okay, this is not high literature. But they are utterly enjoyable, quick reads and I need a bit of escapism sometimes. I’m sure they aren’t for everyone, but if you like the old British mysteries, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries from Australia, or even the high-camp Murder, She Wrote TV show, you’ll probably enjoy these too. Also, I would be absolutely shocked if these didn’t get made into a TV series at some point - Kinsey worked for years at IMDb before retiring to become an author, so he knows a scriptable plot.

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