Emma Mason – She Reads Novels

This is the second book in Emma Mason’s mystery series featuring retired police officer Midge McGowan. I enjoyed the first, Murder Most Haunted, with a few reservations, so was happy to give this one a try. You could definitely start with this one if you wanted to as it works as a standalone mystery, but reading in order will help you understand the backgrounds of the main characters and the relationships between them.

The novel begins with Midge’s friend, struggling pop star Rona, inviting her on a trip to the Scottish Highlands by steam train. Midge doesn’t really want to go, but accepts, thinking that at least it should be a relaxing break and a chance to do her embroidery. On arriving at the station, however, she finds that Rona, as usual, hasn’t been completely honest. The trip is actually part of a funeral procession, carrying the body of a recently deceased artist to his final resting place. Worse, the train itself has a tragic history and one of the carriages is said to be haunted – much to the delight of paranormal podcaster Noah, another friend who has joined them on the journey.

Before the train reaches its destination, a passenger is found dead in a locked carriage with no obvious cause of death. As the only detective on board, it naturally falls to Midge to investigate, but she’ll need to solve the mystery quickly before the killer strikes again. The suspects include a prisoner on temporary release to attend the funeral, accompanied by his prison guard, an undertaker responsible for the safe transport of the coffin, and a writer working on a biography of the dead artist. Is one of these people the murderer or could there be a more ghostly explanation?

First of all, I love the character of Midge McGowan; she feels so real and human. As a neurodivergent woman in her fifties with a bad knee she’s used to being ignored and underestimated and having spent most of her police career pushed into a backstage position in the property office, she’s an unlikely detective. But over the years Midge has learned to listen, observe and draw her own conclusions, skills that are invaluable when it comes to solving mysteries. She can be prickly at times – she likes her own space and to be allowed to do things in her own way – but her grief for the recent loss of her wife Bridie, who died of cancer, shows a more tender side of her personality. It’s good to see that the friendships with Rona and Noah formed in the previous book have continued although, as someone who hasn’t had many friends before, Midge isn’t always sure how to navigate those friendships.

My problem with the book was the same as with the first one: that apart from Midge, none of the other characters feel like real people and are a collection of stereotypes. Rona, for example, is the classic ‘pop star’ character – temperamental, entitled, in and out of rehab, obsessed with her appearance – and both she and Noah seem to be mainly in the book to provide some comedy. The same goes for the other characters who seem to have no personality beyond being an undertaker, a prisoner, an art curator etc. This isn’t a huge problem as these books are clearly intended to be funny and not taken too seriously (as you can tell from the titles) but I think they would definitely be improved by stronger characterisation.

The mystery is interesting, with some twists and turns, and I would never have guessed the solution! Trains are the perfect setting for locked room mysteries with all of the suspects and potential victims together in close confines, separated from the outside world until they arrive at a station. Despite Noah’s fascination with the ghost supposedly haunting the train, this is never really considered as a plausible theory by Midge, but it does provide some atmosphere.

Like the first book, this one was enjoyable enough to leave me looking forward to the next one. I’m assuming there will be more as this one ends with a new development in Midge’s life which should be interesting to explore.

Thanks to Bantam for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Reviewed for RIPXXI hosted by @perilreaders

Fifty-five-year-old Midge McGowan is retiring after thirty years as a police detective and her colleagues have given her a very unusual retirement gift: a ticket to spend the weekend before Christmas in a haunted house. The reason? The tour company, Haunting Holiday Excursions, is run by a former police officer, John Rendell, and HR get discounted tickets. Midge doesn’t want to go, especially as it will mean leaving behind her wife, Bridie, who is having chemotherapy, but Bridie persuades her that she’ll be fine for a few days and that it will be a good experience for Midge.

Soon, Midge finds herself getting off the bus at Atherton Hall with a small group of other guests: Dr Mortimer and his invalid wife, Gloria; Noah, who hosts a paranormal podcast; and Rona, a pop star in remission from a drug addiction. The bus driver, Harold, also ends up staying at the Hall with them after heavy snow leaves the roads impassable and cuts them off from the rest of the world. Almost as soon as they arrive, the guests begin to experience sightings of the White Lady of Atherton Moor drifting around the grounds of the estate, although not everyone believes they have truly seen a ghost. When their host, Rendell, is found dead in the bath, however, they have to decide whether ghosts are the culprits or whether there’s a human killer on the loose.

This is the book I thought A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Solving a Murder was going to be! Unlike that other book (which was good, but not as advertised), this one has an actual ghost hunter in it, in the form of Noah who arrives with his cameras and recording equipment hoping to get new material for his podcast. The book also has an interesting and unusual detective character in Midge, who is quickly dismissed – sometimes very cruelly – by the others as an overweight, middle-aged woman with no fashion sense and no social skills. It was great to see her come into her own and find her own identity away from the slightly overpowering Bridie.

Apart from Midge, the other characters feel like stereotypes at first: Noah, the ‘woke’ young person who clashes with Harold, the racist, sexist older man; Rona, the shallow pop star with a wild lifestyle; the domineering doctor and his fragile wife who takes to her bed at the first sign of danger. However, most of these people turn out to have secrets or hidden depths and aren’t quite what they appear to be on the surface.

The murder mystery element of the book is interesting; Midge never seriously considers Noah’s theory that ghostly activity is responsible, but even she has to admit that there are some spooky similarities between the murders taking place in the present and those described in an old diary belonging to the Atherton family doctor. My only criticism is that I found the killer and the motive too easy to guess, so wasn’t surprised at all when the solution was revealed. Still, this was an entertaining novel and the good news is that it’s the first in a series, with the second Midge McGowan mystery coming next year!

Thanks to Bantam for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Book 5 for RIP XX