| Title | : | What Sam Knew (Patricia Fisher Adventure Mysteries, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | Published March 13, 2020 |
When a climber suspiciously falls to his death and a local artist has her dog stolen, both cases fall into the lap of local sleuth, Patricia Fisher …
… but they should have come with a warning.
No sooner does she start to investigate, than a mysterious underworld figure issues a confusing threat. What has she uncovered?
Local boy, Sam Chalk, wants to help, his antics amusing but seemingly nothing more than a distraction. Does he know something though?
With time running out to save the dog, and the climber’s death looking like nothing more than a terrible accident, a chance discovery will rock Patricia’s world.
If only she had listened to Sam.
Get ready for a new series of thrills!
‘This series has it all; everything I want in a story and series ... humour, suspense, and colourful characters. It’s one of my top all-time favourite series.’
What Sam Knew (Patricia Fisher Adventure Mysteries, #1) Reviews
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Fun.
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Sleuthing pays well
Read this in one sitting, loving how Patricia is getting on with her life. She struggled with this mystery, but it all came together at the last moment. -
In this Patricia story, we get to see more of the village where she lives. We meet the post mistress, who is the town source of news, well, gossip. We also meet Sam and his mother, who help solve the mysteries. Patricia's new home and cars are provided by the Maharaja of Zangribar. And her friends from the earlier cruise mysteries are all here. And Anna has had her puppies--named after the Beatles: John, Paul, Ringo and Georgie, the only girl puppy. Fun cozy mystery. Recommended.
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murder mystery and trouble
I so enjoyed Patricia’s adventures during her cruise, and was really saddened when that came to an end, but her new adventures I’m glad to say, are just as entertaining on dry land
A really enjoyable murder mystery, with a little humour thrown in for good measure -
Classic who did it
This book was an okay read. Kind of reminded me of some of the old detective shows I watched on tv as a kid. Solve one case and a bonus case thrown in to make an interesting who’s the murderer plot. -
Enjoyable light mystery
I enjoyed reading this story. It was humorous with an unexpected ending. It was a pleasant change to some stories that have little imagination and rely mostly on vulgar four letter words. -
A good read
Follows the set of 10 short novels detailing the “rise of Patricia”. Good summer reading. Highly recommend if you’re tired if simple plots with no twists or turns. This book has it all. -
Back home in West Malling, Patricia’s new detective agency is already busy: a woman is convinced her husband’s accident was a murder, and an artist’s beloved dog has been kidnapped, with a $10,000 demand for his return. She’s on the case with Jermaine always at her side, whether he’s snatching angry vergers in mid-air, spying on suspects, or serving as her personal John Steed.
Despite the police’s conclusions, Sarah Foy is convinced her husband Edward was murdered, because he was such a careful and safety-conscious rock climber. Her daughter Susie, on the other hand, is infuriated her mother won’t accept the verdict and profanely impedes Patricia at every opportunity: her favorite insult is “cadaverous cow,” preceded by a two-word expletive beginning with F.
Meanwhile, in East Malling, artist Emma Maynard is heartbroken over the kidnapping of her beloved Yorkshire terrier, Horace. She suspects her missing boyfriend, Damien, not only abducted Horace, but pilfered several hundred dollars of her festival cash.
Out on a morning walk with Anna, Patricia runs into Sam Chalk, the intellectually impaired son of a longtime friend. He’s quite interested in Anna, but when Patricia invites him to visit the pups, who have been named after the Beatles, he assures her he visits one every day, a point he often repeats to no avail.
As the investigations continue, Patricia, Jermaine, and Barbie discover unsettling facts about Ed’s death, most notably a small item hidden in his backpack. As the two cases converge, Patricia is not only convinced the police were right, as she finally heeds Sam’s frequent remark, but that the killer was someone Ed trusted, literally, with his life.
Steve Higgs has kicked off Patricia’s new journey with all the humor, surprises, and love readers have come to expect of his mysteries. What Sam Knew is an excellent beginning to her promising new series. -
This was a fast paced, fun read which I really enjoyed.
Private Investigator Patricia Fisher has been hired to find a stolen pet taken from the owners back garden.
Also hired to take on a second case, Patricia sets out to prove or disprove that a capable rock climber has been murdered.
Both cases presented difficulties for Patricia due to the complete lack of evidence available.
The two cases are baffling to say the least. Who could have stolen the pet; there has been a ransom demand but two days later, nothing further has been heard of by the animal napper?
Also, what could have been the reason behind the climber's death? The cause of the his death seems to be a straight forward accidental one, but his wife is adamant that he didn't fall but was pushed. However, she has no proof.
I found myself getting right in there with this story, my brain ticking away. The author has a real gift for mixing interesting mystery with laugh out loud humour, which makes for a really fun read. I love a good murder mystery and the Patricia Fisher ones are always good value in that respect. Always filled with scrumptious morsels to get your teeth into, plus there is always a juicy cliffhanger right at the end; something tempting to draw you into the next book. I am always nicely hooked in the story and when the last scene plays out in my head, at which point I find myself cursing vehemently when I realize that that was the end of the book...gah! This book's cliffhanger is an absolute doozy, you won't be disappointed I promise you!
Gotta love Steve's style; the man is the very devil with a keyboard! -
She over 50, feisty, and oh so good at solving mysteries.
Patricia Fisher is not your average woman. To start with she lives in a seventy-three-room manor house and travels with a Jamaican butler who is part ninja and fakes his Downton Abbey accent. Then add to those facts that she just opened a private investigations business and throw in the worrying bit where people keep trying to kill her.
When a climber suspiciously falls to his death and a local artist has her dog stolen, Patricia finds herself investigating two cases that seem to have no motive and no clues. Even with the help of her friends these mysteries will be hard to unravel.
But as she starts to poke her nose in where it is most definitely not wanted, a name from the past comes back to haunt her, a mysterious underworld figure issues a confusing threat, and she begins to wonder if she has any idea what she is doing. Will her intuition get her through again? Or has she bitten off more than she can chew?
If only she had listened to Sam.
Wonderful start to this new series with Patricia!!
This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believeable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building that adds so much to the story.
Can't wait to read more of these.
Recommend reading.
I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review. -
Normally, you finish reading a good book and are left wondering what happens after the happy ending. Do they get to live happily ever after? What comes next?
Patricia is home from her world cruise and has opened a detective agency. Her name has been splashed all over the British papers from her past exploits and this ensures her success as a private detective.
Best of all, we get to see Patricia enjoying her new 74 room mansion and the fabulous cars in it's garage. Jermaine is still her butler and Barbie is also staying with her, as her Japanese boyfriend is now working in a London hospital.
A woman contacts Patricia when the police have declared the climbing accident death of her husband to be an accident. She knows her husband took all the necessary safety precautions and never climbed alone. Her unpleasant teen-aged daughter tells Patricia, in not so nice terms, to leave her stepfather's death alone.
We get to see the little min dachshund Anna as a new mother, with puppies John, Paul, Ringo, and the only girl puppy, Georgie.
A second client contacts Patricia when her mini Yorkie is kidnapped and being held for $10,000 ransom. When Patricia sets a trap, not only does she not catch the culprit, but they return to the dog's home to find it has been trashed and, "Slut" written on the wall.
The two cases do not appear to be related, but in Patricia's world, anything can happen! -
What Sam Knew This is a light, easy read that can be read as a stand alone mystery BUT if you like to follow events in sequence I recommend starting with Patricia Fisher's cruise mysteries.
I started reading the Patricia Fisher Series when she was a spurned wife who decided to get away from it all by taking a round the world cruise. I didn't read all of the entries in the series for one reason or another and when I next picked up Patricia's story discovered that quite a lot had happened in her life since the last book I read.
What Sam Knew is the first book in the series of books that I skipped over completely and starts out with Patricia settling in to life in a 74 room mansion complete with servants. Her faithful butler Jermaine is there, along with Barbie and Patricia's new dog. I enjoyed being able to 'work' along with Patricia as she gets her new detective agency off the ground but had to admit that I was a little bit blindsided by the eventual denoument and found the culprit a little bit dark for my taste in a cozy mystery.
Overall I enjoyed the mystery and am keeping the rest of the boxed set that I purchased (the first five mysteries of Patricia's Fasher Adventure Mysteries) for my quick bathtub reads. -
It had all the elements, but...
This was quite the fast paced and action packed novella (?), and coming in at less than 200 pages it certainly tried to cram a lot into the story. Patricia is a likeable and intelligent character, who along with her butler-come-bodyguard, Jermaine, seem to be constantly in motion. And while the plot was a good one it is because it is so fast paced and it rushes things that I really didn’t connect to any of the characters ( besides Patricia) because we really didn’t see much of them except for when they needed to impart information.
Oh, and I did have to check whether or not I’d accidentally picked up a book further on in the series as they often mention and refer to previous cases which also adds to the impression of always on the go action.
So, give this book an extra 100 pages to flesh out characters and scenes (plus a bit more of her backstory), and it would have been a 4 star book. Sadly being so busy it knocked it down to a 3 star read me. -
Yawn.
Patricia Fisher's husband cheats on her, she goes on a world cruise and solves a few crimes, and then a Maharajah gives her the use of his estate in her home town and ail of his luxury cars and his staff for perpetuity, so she goes home, starts a detective agency, and lives like a rich woman even though she isn't.
She also doesn't actually seem like a very good detective since she ignored major clues that were obvious to readers but hidden to her, and she talks about that cruise incessantly. Apparently there is a whole series about the cruise, and so she is just talking about it in case we didn't read that series. I did not. She also talks about her cars and the size of her house.
Another annoying detail: She doesn't know what a booty call is and doesn't take the time to Google it, but mentions several times that she doesn't know what it is despite the fact that people keep saying that phrase.
There were pleasant parts of this book, and so I kept reading, just to find the solutions to her cases. But I'm done. Patricia Fisher can solve crimes without me. And I'm pretty sure many people will enjoy these books. -
I thoroughly enjoyed the Patricia Fisher cruise series, the storylines and characters were great and this new Village Mysteries series looks to be continuing in the same vein.
Having set up her own detective agency Patricia continues to get involved in just as many hair-raising scrapes as she did on the ship, and of course she has she has her friends from the ship to help her.
I also really like that the mysteries are lightened by a healthy dose of humour, I particularly like the descriptions of the locals reactions to her new situation, living in a mansion with a butler and a fleet of expensive cars.
The main mystery itself, whether or not a climber died accidentally, is very satisfying, and the secondary mystery, a missing dog, provides some more intrigue.
Overall a very enjoyable read and I am very much looking forward to seeing how this series progresses. I received an advance copy of this book, but have voluntarily written this honest review. -
The story is well written and the two mysteries compelling, though no major plot twists. I'd call this a light cozy, a quick read that kept me interested in finding out the solutions. However, don't expect a clean read. No specifics, but so many references to casual sexual encounters and entanglements make the tale rather sordid, IMO.
There are also frequent mentions of past adventures--which is why Patricia has been given a mansion by some Maharaja. This is explained in the book description and readers familiar with those previous stories will know the history, but the mentions aren't really a problem, since this story is the beginning of a new setting and stands alone. There is a new case, plus a cliffhanger threat by some unknown criminal who has it in for her, that encourages you to read the nest in the series.
