ReView of Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald

 

Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald

 Location, location, location, the old real estate truism is certainly true for this second or third book by Katarina Bivald.  You collect a group of young English authors, editors, and agents and tell them that they will spend three weeks in a lovely French chateau doing nothing but talking about or doing writing and you clearly have a nest of vipers. This is particularly true when the keynote speaker is a famous author who is poisoned by a glass of wine laced with hemlock just after he has delivered his speech.

Two French detectives are assigned to the case, but one of the other guest contributors is a published author who has recently helped solve a murder case back In England. This Miss Marple clone does what generally is done by an amateur sleuth—make things harder for the professionals, but in the end solves the mystery ahead of the constabulary.   

Since pretty much all of the participants seem to have some kind of motive for eliminating the famous author, the winnowing process is full of twists and turns. This is a good but not great mystery. Someone who has been involved with the writing process and its cutthroat commerciality might find it more interesting than the average reader. The French country background is handled nicely and is a slight change from the more usual English country house setting.

I give it a 3 out of 5.