DEATH IN D MINOR – Alexia Gordon | Looking For a Good Book

Every mystery series has a gimmick (or two) as well as a regular crime-solver (often someone not in police work) and it’s usually the gimmick that will first attract a reader’s attention. That’s how I got interested in this series, anyway. The title of these Gethsemane Brown Mysteries have (so far) had a musical connotation or reference, and I love seeing music and literature combined in any way. The musical connection is that Gethsemane Brown is a classical musician who, through a series of unfortunate events, now finds herself working in a job that is perhaps below her skill set, but which she finds fulfilling.

The second gimmick featured, so far, in these first two Gethsemane Brown Mystery books, is that Ms. Brown finds herself working to solve mysteries alongside ghosts. Yeah, ghosts. And it’s awesome. These are not random spectres with grudges and a desire to haunt, but specific ghosts, called upon (even if accidentally) and helpful.

In Death in D Minor, Gethsemane Brown is looking for a peaceful holiday now that she has led her school orchestra to a win in a major competition, and she managed to help solve a string of murders (both with the help of Eamon McCarthy, the ghost of a composer and owner of the home Gethsemane now lives in). But of course there’s no such thing as a peaceful holiday in the world of mysteries!

Ms. Brown gets involved in a world of art theft and art forgery when local investigators ask Gethsemane to go undercover as a musician at a wealthy woman’s home in order to try to get a little inside information. At the same time, the home she lives in – Eamon McCarthy’s home – is now up for sale by the cottage’s owner, Billy McCarthy, and is about to become the grounds for a hotel. Gethsemane calls for Eamon to come help scare the new developer off, but his spirit is gone and no matter how much she calls for him he does not appear.

Author Alexia Gordon writes a tightly-knit mystery. Many describe this as a ‘cozy’ mystery, which by definition it is, but it doesn’t feel ‘simple’ like so many of the cozies I’ve read previously. This book has a great central character – she’s smart and talented and maybe a little out of her comfort zone – and a great couple of gimmicks with the music and the ghosts. And this book adds art (paintings and weavings) into the mix, which only enhances my enjoyment.

This is highly recommended.

Looking for a good book? Death in D Minor by Alexia Gordon is a well-written, exciting cozy mystery with a strong leading character and a clever series of events surrounding her.