My Thoughts:
Beyond Belief is a British cozy mystery novel, full of quirky, fun characters set against a scenic sea side back drop in a small British resort town. Emily Castle is a bored office worker—and she’s mostly content that way—but when psychics begin to predict the drowning death of someone at the Belief and Beyond Conference, she’s pulled in as a “Future Crimes Investigator” by her neighbor/Philosophy professor Dr. Muriel. Seizing the opportunity for an all-expenses paid weekend trip to Torquay, Emily figures that she’ll take a few notes on the psychics, magicians, tarot card readers, and other eclectic attendees that are there for the conference, and she’ll call it a weekend.
Famous magician Edmund Zenon is who everyone is predicting will drown in this picturesque resort town on the English seaside, and he has many enemies. He’s also offering up a million dollar award for anyone who can conclusively prove their psychic abilities, and he doesn’t think that he’ll be paying out that money any time soon. When the bodies do start turning up, some victims of drowning, Emily and Dr. Muriel must figure out what’s going on and who’s behind the plot to take down several key people attending this conference. Will they be able to figure it out before Mr. Zenon dies? Emily finds that the very real powers of observation and old-fashioned amateur detective work is more effective than psychic powers when finding a murderer.
Emily Castle is smart, studious, and it’s often stated that she thinks about her deceased dog a lot. I’m not sure if that’s a call out to book one, and since this is book two, I could be missing something, but the other psychic character seem to think that Emily has the ghost of her dog around her. Emily often seems a little dull and too conservative at times because the other characters can be so flamboyant. But it’s those characteristics that make her a good detective: she’s observant, seeing things that other people don’t notice and making the connections that most people wouldn’t.
I give Beyond Belief a 3.5 out of 5. This is a fun book, full of interesting characters and a very vivid, picturesque setting in the English seaside. This book is full-on British, so if interpreting the food and sayings native to Britain isn’t your thing, you might struggle with this book a bit. There a quite a few characters to keep track of in this book, and it was often confusing at times to figure out exactly who was who. While these secondary characters were easily distinguishable with their character traits, it was just a bit distracting. Overall, this is an entertaining, quick read for people who like cozy mysteries with quirky characters.
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This sounds fun. I’m a huge anglophile, so the idea of being immersed in British speak sounds fabulous.
Alison (@AlisonCanRead) recently posted..Manga Mondays #181: Death Note vol. 8 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
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Beyond Belief was super British. There were a few things that I had to read a couple of times to figure out what the author was talking about, LOL! This is a fun read.
Heather recently posted..Beyond Belief by Helen Smith
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“Full-on British” *snort* Love it! Maybe Dull Emily is supposed to be a quintessential British small towner? Not that British folks OR small towners are dull but maybe that’s what the author thinks? Just wondering out loud… Story sounds like fun!
Mary @ BookSwarm recently posted..Blog Tour, Review and Giveaway: THE SHADOW PRINCE by Bree Despain
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I’m not sure if Emily was supposed to be like that or not. I can’t help but think that I’m missing something from the first book. Beyond Belief is a fun book, and the full-on British-ness was amazing.
Heather recently posted..Beyond Belief by Helen Smith
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Oooo I really like the idea behind this book. Murder mystery around magic and illusions. Will definitely check it out!
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The book sure sounds a “must read”. Fun and mystery are totally my cup of tea and if it full on British, I would love to read this. I missed the first book. So it’s catch up time now. Thanks for the share.
Ganeshkumar recently posted..Going Beyond Belief – The “4 minute mile”
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