Death in Elysium: A New Contemporary Cosy Murder Mystery Series

Jodie Welch is a very unconventional rector's wife. She has recently married Theo in her fifties after building up a high powered career in business and then being made redundant unexpectedly. She is finding it difficult to fit in with life in the small village where she and Theo live and she is tempted to barge in and take over everything. But this would just put people's backs up and she is unconventional enough for the villagers to have difficulty accepting her.

When out running one day Jodie notices some building work going on in the middle of nowhere and decides to investigate. This leads to her uncovering, and stirring up all sorts of murder and mayhem as well as putting her young protégée Burble in deadly danger. I really enjoyed this well written and interesting start to a new mystery series. I liked both Theo and Jodie as well as her cousin Dave - a former detective - who comes to visit and remains to help with Jodie's investigations. The finale is nail bitingly tense and very well done and as I neared the end I found myself reading faster and faster just to find out what happened.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cosy mysteries set in the English countryside. There is some bad language but it isn't overdone and it does fit the characters concerned. I loved it and I am looking forward to the next one in the series. I received a free copy of this book for review purposes from NetGalley.