Choked Off by Andrea Frazer

First Line: The posters had been up for a month, taped in windows, glued to village noticeboards and pinned to the walls of the public house.

The villagers of Stoney Cross have been preparing for their first Arts Festival in which all their talents-- painting, sculpture, writing, singing, dancing, and more-- can be showcased over a weekend. They hope it's the first of many festivals to come, and when they're able to enlist the help of a local radio broadcaster, their hopes skyrocket.

Unfortunately when that very same radio personality actually moves to Stoney Cross, the villagers learn that he is a mean-spirited, hypocritical drunk, and several realize that Marcus Willoughby has played parts in their pasts that they wanted to forget. When Willoughby is found dead in his new home, no one mourns, and when Detective Inspector Harry Falconer and Acting Detective Sergeant Davey Carmichael come to investigate, they have a long line of suspects. But murder isn't the only thing on Falconer's mind. One of the villagers has the inspector's thoughts turning lightly to love....

The first book in the Falconer Files series, Death of an Old Git, was a delightful surprise, filled with humor and wit, and I looked forward to reading this second book in the series. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as enjoyable. The plot of Choked Off follows the one in the first book exactly. The scene in a village filled with artistic residents  is set, the villagers are introduced one by one, and some obnoxious soul whom everyone hated is killed off. In walk Falconer and Carmichael who proceed to interview all the villagers silly until the killer is uncovered. Way too much formula for my taste.

The humor that I enjoyed so much in the first book is lacking in the second, which was a huge letdown, although I was glad to see that good-natured Carmichael is coming into his own despite the grumblings of the fastidious Falconer. Falconer falls in love for the first time, and his experience in the romance department reminded me of the fate of so many heroes in the television shows I watched as a child. As for the killer... for readers who don't take everything-- and everyone-- at face value, the reveal will come as no surprise.

If I hadn't enjoyed the first book so much I might not have finished this one. I've seen this author's way with words, and I don't find all that many writers who can make me laugh out loud, so instead of continuing with the Falconer Files, I'm tempted to sample her other series in a quest to recapture that sparkle.
 

Choked Off by Andrea Frazer

ASIN: B00QU8O3VI

Accent Press © 2013

eBook, 180 pages

Police Procedural/Humorous Mystery, #2 Falconer Files

Rating: C-

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

 

Written Out by Andrea Frazer

First Line: Emily Jarvis sat in her favourite battered armchair in front of the fire grinding her dentures together.

Having enjoyed the first Falconer File book so much, I decided to break the bank (a whole whopping 99¢) and treat myself to a Falconer File Christmas digital short story.

The Christmas episode of popular television program Get One Over is to be filmed in Market Darley. While the contestants search for antiques and other valuable objects in the local shops, fans are gathering to rub elbows with the stars. Detective Inspector Falconer and Detective Sergeant Carmichael will both be there-- Carmichael because he loves the humorous commentator-- but Falconer has the exact opposite reaction to the star... and so do many other viewers.

Although it was fun to see Market Darley decked out for Christmas, I have to admit that this story was a few pages too short. Just as I'd gotten settled in-- boom!-- it was over. Still, I did enjoy watching Falconer and Carmichael discover that some people take their television much too seriously!
 

Written Out: A Falconer File Christmas Short Story by Andrea Frazer

eISBN: 9781783752218

Accent Press © 2014

eBook, 30 pages

Short Story featuring characters from The Falconer Files

Rating: B

Source: Purchased from Amazon. 

Death of an Old Git by Andrea Frazer

First Line: The village of Castle Farthing drowsed in the heat of the July sunshine, postcard-pretty with its diamond-shaped green, duck pond, and Saxon church.

Old Reg Morley is the man everyone loves to hate there in the village of Castle Farthing. He's a petty thief, a peeping Tom, a troublemaker who insists that children should be neither seen nor heard, and he seems to have trained his dog to defecate on demand in his neighbors' gardens. When he's found strangled to death in his kitchen, the entire village breathes a sigh of relief.

When Detective Inspector Harry Falconer and his partner, Acting Detective Sergeant Davey Carmichael, drive from Market Darley to begin their investigation, they discover most of Castle Farthing's residents hovering as near to old Morley's place as they can get-- and that the local constable has let the vicar into the crime scene. They've barely gotten their bearings when Falconer realizes that practically everyone in the village had a reason to want the old man dead. Uncovering all the village secrets-- and the killer-- is going to be a long, hard slog, but Falconer will not rest until the case is solved.

I was first attracted to this book by its title, which is proof that, not only am I an Anglophile, I have an English husband as well. But trouble quickly loomed on the horizon. The writing was stiff, and there was far more telling me what was going on rather than leaving the characters alone to show me. Just as I was thinking of stopping and choosing a different book to read (at the end of chapter two), something shifted and all the separate parts of this little mystery clicked into place. From a book I'd decided not to finish, Death of an Old Git turned into a very fun, enjoyable read.

The reason for this abrupt about-face is the author's marvelous sense of humor. I lost count of the times Andrea Frazer either made me smile or made me laugh out loud. Falconer is one of those fussy men; everything-- from his clothing and appearance to his home, car, and office-- must be just so before he's happy. Imagine this meticulous man partnered with "the human ironing board" Acting Detective Sergeant Davey Carmichael-- a towering young man who has all the fashion sense of a manic, colorblind stork. To Falconer's astounded and agonized eyes, Carmichael's choice of clothing alone sets the tone for each day of the investigation. And the humor certainly isn't limited to clothing.

The plot of Death of an Old Git isn't complicated. Falconer and Carmichael go 'round and 'round Castle Farthing reinterviewing all the suspects until they finally piece things together. The identity of the killer should be rather clear, and Frazer even has an interactive element in the story when Falconer finds something at the crime scene, slips it into his pocket, and promptly forgets it. Each time it was mentioned, I wanted to grab Falconer by his freshly starched and ironed collar and shake him just a little bit. See? Interactive!

So... a shaky start and a simple plot usually elicits a thumb down from me, but not this time. I was quite frankly hooked and bedazzled by Frazer's wit, humor, and her two main characters. I already have the next book in the series lined up and ready to read. 
 

Death of an Old Git by Andrea Frazer

ASIN: B00F54ZHQI

Accent Press © 2014

eBook, 210 pages

Cozy/Police Procedural, #1 Falconer Files

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.