Murder at the Mikado

What a delightful romp through clues and mysteries!  Murder at the Mikado is the third Drew Farthering mystery and is set in England around the main character's estate in the country, sometime in the 1930-40's. It has the feel of a classic black and white murder mystery movie and I felt like I was watching it unfold on the screen as I was reading.  It was great fun!  Drew Farthering is drawn into the investigation of a murder when a former girlfriend is suspected and subsequently arrested for the crime.  She fetchingly coaxes him to investigate the crime to hopefully clear her name.  But, there is more here than meets the eye.  Is he still attracted to her?  That would make him easy prey for her to make use of his detective skills to her benefit.  Further complicating things, Drew is engaged to be married to Madeline, the girl of his dreams, who also shares his amateur sleuthing adventures.  His best friend gets into the act also, as he jumps in to help solve this multi-layered puzzle.  Will Drew's devotion to the case risk his fiance's eagerness to tie the knot and threaten his upcoming wedding?  Does he risk losing her to solve the crime?  With each character having various side plots weaving into this story to complete the picture, I could not help but keep reading until I reached the last page.  This is my first Julianna Deering novel, but it will not be my last.  It is so well written that it flows easily through each seeming catastrophe and it kept me reading in the hopes that all would turn out o.k. for Drew and Madeline.  Each time I thought I knew who the guilty party was, some new wrinkle showed up and I was back at square one!   Ms. Deering writes this very well and that makes it easy to read and hard to put down. It was one of the most enjoyable books I have read in quite a while.  I give Murder at the Mikado five stars!  Read more about the Drew Farthering mysteries and Julianna Deering at http://www.juliannadeering.com/

I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher, Bethany House, in exchange for my honest review.  These words are my opinion.