Doomed by Blooms: A Josie Posey Mystery 

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       April 5, 2023

 

Author  Anna St John

Distributor:      Level Best Books
ISBN:                 978-1685122812
Publisher:         Level Best Books
Release Date:   February 2023  

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Josie Posey gets an assignment to interview former Prima Ballerina Beth Hamilton, for the local paper the Kansas City Star. It is her first interview since she retired to the small town of English Village and she is full of angst, which she considers ridiculous, as she was a much lauded big-city Crime Reporter.

The interview goes well with Beth’s husband Robert sitting on the sidelines, watching every move, listening to every word spoken. And so the scene is set for a lovely, warm-hearted cosy murder from Anna St John, Doomed By Blooms, as only hours later, Robert is found dead in the garden, face down in a bed of Naked Ladies.

As Josie has recorded the interview as well as taken notes she is asked by the Police Chief to come in and go through the interview in search of possible clues. This is all Josie needs to set out to discover, if possible, who has committed the murder.

She enlists the help of a group of friends, the Mahjong Mavens who love nothing better, after Mah-jong, than solving puzzles.

Set in the lovely old Cotswold Style town of English Village, we meet her beloved English Sheep dog Moe, her Mahjong Maven friends, Sharon, Nellie and Kate, Police Chief Marshall and a possible love interest in Harvey, the Blacksmith.

St John sets the stage well as she presents with protagonist Josey Posey, a gentle view of a lady settling into a new life after having been recently widowed, still relatively new to the community, feeling her way from a crime perspective and trying her best not to get too involved, in what has now turned the Hamilton household into a Crime scene.

The plot line is one that is familiar to cosy Murder readers, but the ‘who did it’ has been well disguised within the range of very possible suspects and the everyday life in a small community.

Doomed by Blooms is the first book in a new series from Anna St John and the next book is one to be looked forward to reading.