The Murders in Great Diddling: A Novel

by Katarina Bivald

Overview

The best stories are the ones we didn't know needed to be told

The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories—author Berit Gardner can feel it. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers… Berit can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she's just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript (not even the idea for a manuscript, truth be told), Berit doesn't just want this story. She needs it.

Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself. An explosion in the library of the village's grand manor kills a local man, and the resulting investigation and influx of outsiders sends the quiet, rundown community into chaos. The residents of Great Diddling, each one more eccentric and interesting than any character Berit could have invented, rewrite their own narrative and transform the death of one of their own from a tragedy into a new beginning. Taking advantage of Great Diddling's new notoriety, the villagers band together to start a book and murder festival designed to bring desperately-needed tourists to their town. What they couldn't have predicted is how the new story they've begun to tell will change all their lives forever.

Uplifting, charming, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Murders in Great Diddling by New York Times bestselling author Katarina Bivald is a celebration of the life-changing magic of books and the people who love them. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728295770
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	08/13/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	12,337
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Katarina Bivald is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller and #1 Indie Next Pick The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. She lives outside of Stockholm, Sweden. She grew up working part-time in a bookshop.

Editorial Reviews

"With its focus on books and book lovers, eccentric villagers and frauds, this first mystery from the author of The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a delightful traditional, filled with fascinating characters. Those who escape to Louise Penny’s Three Pines might want to check out Great Diddling." — Library Journal, Starred Review

"This quirky, twisty, quintessentially British cozy is frothy and funny with a hint of dark and menacing." — Booklist

"On the charming side of humorous and self-consciously charming." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2024

Author Berit Gardner has writer's block. On impulse, she buys a cottage in the village of Great Diddling in Cornwall, suspecting there are stories and characters there. When she attends a tea party at Tawny Hall, she senses a restlessness in the crowd of people, all of whom hate Reginald Trent, nephew of Tawny Hall's owner. Reginald already told four local tenants he's selling their shops. When Reginald is blown up in his study during the tea party, Berit suspects everyone and calls Detective Chief Inspector Ian Ahmed to the scene. The villagers of Great Diddling know how to hide the truth, and they're desperate to save their town. In order to capitalize on the notoriety, they start a book and murder festival. Sometimes, notoriety brings the wrong people to town, and Ahmed isn't shocked when he receives another phone call from Berit, reporting another murder. VERDICT With its focus on books and book lovers, eccentric villagers and frauds, this first mystery from the author of The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a delightful traditional, filled with fascinating characters. Those who escape to Louise Penny's Three Pines might want to check out Great Diddling.—Lesa Holstine

Library Journal

2024-06-15
An explosion in an English village leads an author to seek inspiration for her languishing project through informal investigation.

Author and observer Berit Gardner has settled in Great Diddling, the perfect place to avoid writing her next novel. The citizens are simultaneously low-key and richly backstoried, which is perfect for Berit, who’s keen on taking in the sights and people around her without causing too much of a stir while she waits for inspiration to strike. Berit’s plans for respite go sideways when she’s invited to a tea party at Tawny Hall. Daphne Trent’s home is a testament to her everlasting love of books of all types, and the gathering promises to be a time for Berit to mingle among other townspeople and their tales. But getting to her destination, she’s nearly sidetracked by a gift from her literary agent in the form of Sally Marsch, a new assistant who arrives on her doorstep unbidden. As both of them struggle to recover from the disorienting circumstances, Sally and Berit make it to the tea party in time for disaster to strike as a blast in Tawny Hall kills one guest and destroys several highly loved books. Berit’s natural reaction is to be intrigued. Because the deceased was well loathed, DCI Ian Ahmed has quite a task at hand. Poking into villagers’ lives in his outsider role proves fruitless, so he enters into an uneasy alliance with Berit, whose keen observational skills flush out secrets that some villagers have been working overtime to keep hidden. Slowly unearthing the connections between past and present provides pleasure to both the heroine and her audience.

On the charming side of humorous and self-consciously charming.

Kirkus Reviews