3.5 Stars

Ruth Finlay, a feature writer, and her senior neighbor, Doris Cleaver, visit the local antique store. They come across a dying man, Ruth’s old tennis coach, and are stunned to see that someone killed him. The duo decides to investigate the case but realizes that the small town managed to give them way too many suspects. 

Undeterred by the developments (or the lack of them), Ruth and Doris spend the next few days digging, debating, and discovering details that led to the murder. Can the duo catch the killer before there’s another death in Myrtle Bay? 

The story comes from Ruth Finlay’s first-person POV. 

This is the first book (standalone) in the series set in a Southern coastal town in Australia. As expected, the book divides time between character development and the central mystery. It sets the stage for the series to take off in the subsequent books. 

Ruth and Doris share a warm friendship. I like how it is very realistic, with minor disagreements and differences of opinion. Both women have strong personalities, though Doris tops the list with her too-definite views in some aspects. The flaws add to their character development, though I wish the narration was in the third-person POV to give us a glimpse into Doris’ thought process. 

The timeline is contemporary, around the 2000s, but has an old-world feel. While I struggled a little to align the two, I could see how it helped define the town and its people. It’s a small town anyway, so we can expect some older stuff to be a natural part of it. 

Ruth and Doris have their preconceived notions about people (can’t help it in a small town setting). And both take time to accept information or consider details that don’t align with their opinions. However, they work towards the end goal of solving the crime. I wouldn’t call this a negative. After all, that’s how people react in real life. 

I have to mention the food in this book. Ruth is a fab cook and enjoys it too. We see her cooking multiple times, and the desserts made my mouth water. Yum! I also like how Doris is not the typical older neighbor who likes to feed her younger friend. Ruth is the one in charge of cooking and timely meals. Ruth also juggles too many things, and I could feel her exhaustion.  

I like the setting and began to enjoy its sort of erratic climate. It takes a while to visualize Myrtle Bay, but I did enjoy the process of discovering it, even if I don’t like being termed ‘geographically challenged’ for not knowing it rains in the region during October. I have no reason to know that! 

The mystery, as such, is decent. We have many suspects and a few red herrings and slight twists. However, I don’t like how a major development (reveal) is done. It is a coincidence rather than a logical solution because of the sleuthing duo’s efforts (doesn’t help that they admit it). However, the ending is detailed and ticks off each issue one by one. This is well done without rushing through a multi-page explanation. 

My biggest issue is with the pacing. The book feels long and slow despite being less than 300 pages. It takes time to understand the character dynamics during the initial pages. This further reduced the reading pace as I had to re-read a few paragraphs to understand who, what, and why. 

There are many characters (active and mentioned) in the book. Most of them are also interrelated to each other. The whole thing can be confusing unless you want to draw a family tree. Just wing it like I did and go with the flow. Details will make sense along the way. 

To summarize, Murder in Myrtle Bay is a good introduction to a new cozy mystery series with an uncommon sleuthing pair. It takes some time, but the characters will grow on you. My best wished for the rest of the series. 

My thanks to the author and Coffee and Thorn for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.