Death in the Hills by Kate Wells is book 4 in her Malvern Farm Mystery series. If you haven’t read any of the earlier books in the series, don’t worry, this book is easily read as a standalone. I had not previously read any of the other books and was able to jump into this one with no problem.
Jude Gray is convinced by her friend D.I. Binnie Khatri to join a local walking group in the hopes that Jude will be able to mitigate some of the tension between the walkers and local farmers. Unfortunately the plan is not entirely successful, however things spin out of control when one of the walkers is killed as she is driving home. The police deem the death an unfortunate accident, but Jude thinks otherwise, and when another member of the walking group dies her suspicions are only heightened.
I found this to be a really interesting mystery. Due to the nature of the deaths there were lots of suspects to choose from, many of them with secrets to hide making it difficult to determine who the real culprit was.
In addition to the mystery keeping me guessing throughout the book, I enjoyed the sense of community amongst the residents of Malvern End and thought that the various animals and Jude’s nephew Sebbie really stole the show.
I’ll be looking for the previous books in this series to catch up on what I missed, and hope to read more about Jude and her companions.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Death in the Hills will be available on January 7 2025.
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