The King's Market Killer (DI Jack Dawes #6) by Frances Lloyd

The King's Market Killer (DI Jack Dawes #6) Reviews

• 
  8stitches 9lives

  The Kings Market Killer is the sixth instalment in the Detective Inspector Jack Dawes Mystery series, set in the fictional town of Kings Richington in the Borough of Richmond. This is a series that is best described as cosy mystery crossed with a police procedural and as each instalment has a self-contained plot, it isn't necessary to have read any of the previous five before diving into this one. The Kings Market is renowned for its vibrant, noisy multitude of stalls offering fresh artisan produce each and every weekend. Should you visit on a Saturday or Sunday you'll find everything from florists with their glorious, colourful offerings to interesting antiques and from tasty street food to stunning vintage fashion. Fenella Wilson is a local artist and children’s book illustrator who is fed up to the back teeth of her interfering mother-in-law, Ida, and her bullying behaviour. She often supplies the stall belonging to Richington Ladies’ Guild with homemade jams and chutneys to supplement her income. Fenella and friend Jude decide to take vengeance on both Ida and her soft touch husband, David, who always supports her actions no matter how infantile, by poisoning their strawberry jam with antifreeze but the situation swiftly spins out of their control...
  
  This is a compelling, interesting and well-plotted mystery which was extra enjoyable due to the mouthwatering and delectable descriptions of food, and what was a planned poisoning predictably starts to kill unintended targets much to Fenella’s dismay. Jack Dawes, who is already busy with a rising crime rate in the local area, finds himself thrust to the helm of a serious and rather sizeable investigation, and as a former Scotland Yard officer who is now a well-respected member of the Murder Squad, he earned his stripes by being a career copper until he met his wife Coriander, or Corrie, during a money-laundering investigation. He is a likeable and intelligent chap who has extraordinarily accurate gut instincts. Corrie is a superb and affable communicator, so when their skills are combined they make a formidable team. I loved the market setting, the well-sketched characters and the perfect pace at which it moves and there is a few surprising twists and turns throughout the narrative. It's a quick, easy and thoroughly entertaining mystery and one I highly recommend to cosy fans, in particular, yet there's enough action and exciting developments to keep any crime reader gripped and absorbed. Many thanks to Joffe for an ARC.
• 
  Louise Wilson

  3.5 stars rounded up to 4
  
  DI Jack Dawes #6
  
  You can get anything at Kings Market which is full of stalls and bustling traders, each with their own colourful stories. Fenella Wilson has had enough her rude uninspiring mother-in-law, Ida. Her husband always takes his mother's side. So Fenella and her friend cook up a plan to put antifreeze into her home made jam. Jerico, the elderly owner of the Jamacian music stall is found dead. Was it a suspected heart attack? Or something more sinister?
  
  This is the the first book that I've read in this series but it did read well as a standalone. Set in a small Market town called Kings Richington where a Market is held every weekend. There's a lot of deaths occurring a.ong with an investigation into fraudulent art works. There's also some humour thrown into the mix. There's some great characters in this book. This is a nice cosy read.
  
  I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #FrancesLlyod for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Ted Tayler

  "An acquired taste"
  
  The overriding memory I will take from this book will be wondering how the author managed to write it with her tongue stuck firmly in her cheek throughout. If this is what passes for an enthralling murder mystery in 2020 then all I can say is it's an acquired taste. Not for me, regardless of the never-ending descriptions of food that littered the chapters.
• 
  Rachael

  Best book of the series yet
• 
  Amanda

  I have a little confession to make- yes yet another one. Although I have the previous five books in the series featuring Detective Jack Dawes on my ‘to be read’ mountain, I haven’t actually read one of them…..until now that is. When I was invited to take part in the blog tour for ‘The Kings Market Killer’ I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to become acquainted with Detective Jack Dawes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Kings Market Killer’ but more about that in a bit.
  It didn’t take me long to get into this book. In fact by the time I got to the end of the first few pages, I knew that I was going to be in for a cracking read. I must admit that the book was different to the book I was expecting it to be- in fact it was even better than I had expected. The quirky characters and the places mentioned put me in mind of an episode of ‘Midsomer Murders’. I couldn’t turn the pages of the book fast enough. I was intrigued by the crime, by the characters and the way in which the characters seemed linked to each other. I sped through the story and before I knew what was happening I had reached the end of the story, which I was disappointed about. I wasn’t disappointed with how the story ended but I had enjoyed reading the book so much that I just wish the book had been longer. I soon cheered up when I realised that I had the previous books in the series to catch up on.
  ‘The Kings Market Killer’ is well written. Frances certainly knows how to grab your attention from the start and draws you into the story. That’s how I felt at any rate. For me, ‘The Kings Market Killer’ hit the ground running and maintained a fairly fast pace throughout. I was gripped by the story from start to finish and at times I was on the edge of my seat. I felt as though I was part of the story and that’s thanks to Frances’ very vivid and realistic storytelling.
  In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Kings Market Killer’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Frances’ work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.
  
• 
  Cynthia Rodrigues

  Read Full & Detailed review:
  https://cynthology.blogspot.com/2021/...
  
  The style is that of a cosy mystery combined with the grit of a police procedural. But the mystery quickly escalated. The author maintained the balance, but the book kept swaying from one genre to another, without losing reading interest. For instance, when Cynthia, Corrie and Carlene decide to investigate the fiasco of Cynthia’s dinner party, it’s back to cosy mystery again. The description of the food and the vibes of the restaurant gave the book a warm and homely feel.
  
  Even though the identity of the killers is known to us from the beginning, the author does a great job of keeping the tension high, as we watch the police attempt to figure things out.
  
  It was nice to see so many female characters being so enterprising. Fenella is a book illustrator, while Corrie and Carlene run their own food businesses. Judith is a car mechanic, successful in what is traditionally a male-dominated profession.
  
  While they all ran their own enterprises, I wasn’t sure of my feelings for any of the characters. Fenella, in particular, wasn’t likeable at all; there were extenuating circumstances, but I still didn’t feel sympathetic towards her.
  
  My feelings towards the characters were mixed. Ida was the stereotype of an Indian mother-in-law, blustering, over-dramatic and deceitful. While David was a soft sod who worshipped his mother and rode roughshod over his wife. These two were easy to dislike. I couldn’t approve of what Fenella did but I could understand her motivation.
  
  The Prologue was entirely unnecessary, merely providing local colour and history to the King’s Market.
  
  One error: In an altercation between Ludovic and his wife, Sasha, the narrative tells us that David’s backhander knocks Sasha down to the ground.
  
  A cosy mystery doesn’t really leave scope for the delineation of character, and yet this book managed to do just that. Fenella and Judith were both remarkable examples of amoral characters. Neither of them felt any remorse or regret for their actions. Neither woman spared a moment to think about whether it was right to take away a life. How there was no going back after a definitive act like that. Even after their actions lead to the death of Jericho, they express no regret for the death of a man who had done them no harm at all.
  
  As readers, we are left to contemplate the manner in which events play out. The inevitability of certain actions, the inexorability of fate, and how you cannot escape the consequences of your actions.
• 
  Alyson Read

  This is the sixth in the highly popular series featuring DI Jack Dawes and his sergeant DS Mike "Bugsy" Malone of the Metropolitan Murder Investigation Team in Kings Richington, Richmond, and what a great team they make! Jack is married to Coriander, a clever lady who runs a highly successful catering company and occasionally "helps" him with his investigations. Bugsy used to be a confirmed bachelor whose only love was Arsenal football team, but recently has met and got engaged to Iris, bringing more very welcome additions to the superb cast of characters. The story begins in the historic Richington Market, now known simply as Kings Market, in the affluent town of Kings Richington, where all manner of high and low end items can be purchased. Particularly popular is the stall run by the Ladies’ Guild where their homemade produce simply flies off the stall. The market is the last place anyone would expect to find a killer. Fenella Wilson is one such lady who supplies the stall in her free time. Not that her nagging sniping mother-in-law Ida gives her much time to herself. Ever since she and David were married, Ida has lived with them and demanded Fenella waits on her hand and foot. David can’t stand up to his mother and Fenella has finally had enough. Fantasizing about a life without the old harridan, she and best friend Judith, a mechanic, decide that Ida needs to die and contemplate the best method of murder. Antifreeze seems a good choice and the friends select a target for a dummy run. After all, they need to get the dosage right! Jericho, the owner of a reggae music stall on the market, should make a good subject and he’s not going to die from a tiny drop, is he? Meanwhile at the police station things have been pretty quiet for the team which includes regulars DCs Aled Williams, Gemma Fox and ”Mitch” Mitchell. Not too many people have been attempting murder and manslaughter lately, but that all looks set to change. Also in the story we meet Ludovic and Sasha de Coleville, the glamorous owners of a local art gallery. Ludovic is up to no good and needs the help of a private detective, but just what has he got himself involved with? DI Ash Banerjee from the Met’s Art and Antiques Fraud Unit comes to Kings Richington on the trail of forgeries and shows the detectives there how art crime has some very serious links to ruthless organized gangs. Enlisting Jack and Bugsy’s help, he sets off to rattle a few cages and make some people very nervous indeed. Soon we start to see how all these different characters are mixed up with each other, as events take a sinister turn and people start to die. Everyone seems to have something to hide and there is some wonderful black humour as their many nefarious schemes go wrong causing panic amongst them and events quickly spiral out of control. Will Jack and his team spot the killer before anyone else gets hurt? There are some fantastic warm and loveable characters featuring in this “not quite cosy" police procedural series ranging from Big Ron (Dr Veronica Hardacre) the pathologist with her voluminous knickers and Chief Supt George Garwood ever panicking that he might not look so efficient if Jack ever left, to Carlene with her fierce loyalty to the Dawes, and there are some real laugh out loud moments and phrases. As always, it was most enjoyable wondering if the various culprits would go undetected and get away with their crimes as Dawes and his team ploughed their way through a remarkable array of red herrings, secrets and surprise discoveries. Despite the fact that there are some serious crimes going on, there is a lot of humour and charm in the conversations and interactions between the characters, making these books an absolute pleasure to read. One of my very favourite series!! 5*
• 
  Cherry London

  Fenella and Judith, what a scary couple, having worked out every detail of their plan, they then did a test run, showing no remorse, for what they did to old Jericho. I’m ashamed to say, I agree with Fennella, but she was correct, her mother-in-law needed to be put in a home, it was the ideal thing to do, the sane and right thing to do, but alas nothing seemed to be going her way, she placed her in the wrong home. A story with many parts and each character having their own agenda, turning this murder mystery was like a merry-go-round. It was hilarious, intriguing, engaging, and entertaining.
• 
  Victoria Slotto

  Enjoyed this series featuring D.I. Jack Dawes that offered well-rounded characters and complex plots. At times the "background music" was a bit didactic and slowed the projectory of the story. but was interesting and informative...an example, the play of mythology in a number of the novels and Greek culture in the first book of the series. All-in-all, I recommend this series for readers interested in British Detective novels.
• 
  Helen Raspin

  I love this series and this instalment was eagerly awaited. However, the one downside is that the murderer (no spoilers) was far too obvious from the start, which has detracted from the suspense created in previous works. It is still thoroughly enjoyable and I do want more, but at the same time I want to know less about whodunit.
• 
  MRS G

  I just adore these Jack and Corrie Dawes books. Especially apt on these Winter lockdown days. Sitting by the fire, stuffing my face and reading about scrumptious food and murder! What more can you ask for in life eh?? 😁
• 
  Rhane

  A thoroughly satisfying mystery
  
  DI Dawes and Inspector Mike Malone are an excellent pair with a flair for using their brains and experience. The addition of the talented wives and friends made this a delightful read.
• 
  Mr M Morrell

  Brilliant
  
  It can be difficult praising a book without giving anything away. The writer really draws you in. I felt like I could actually be in the place at the time. Superbly written
• 
  Sue

  Really enjoyable! The epilogue has a finality to it, I hope this isn't the last book in this series.