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Coffee and Thorn Book Tour: Murder in Myrtle Bay by Isobel Blackthorn
ABOUT MURDER IN MYRTLE BAY
When feature writer Ruth Finlay and her elderly neighbor Doris Cleaver visit an antique and collectibles market in the small town of Myrtle Bay, they get a lot more than they bargained for.
After Ruth’s old tennis coach is found dead, they discover that there’s no lack of people who harbor a grudge against the victim, and a tangled web of family ties and lies begins to unravel. But can Ruth and Doris find the killer in time to avert a second murder?
A quirky feel-good mystery laced with intrigue, Murder in Myrtle Bay is the first book in Isobel Blackthorn’s ‘Ruth Finlay Mysteries’ series. Set in small town Australia, it is a sure pick for any fan of classic whodunits and cozy mysteries!
MY REVIEW
When forty something feature writer, Ruth, takes her best friend and neighbor, 75 year old Doris, to the market to buy a rare Tupperware lid, the last thing they expect to find is a dead man.
Now intimately involved in the murder, and suspicious of everyone in the small town of Myrtle Bay, Ruth and Doris set out to find who done it. Of course, Doris thinks she already knows, but is she right?
I enjoyed this cozy mystery. Ruth is a wonderful main character. I loved the descriptions of her coffee making and numerous cooking endeavors. Her kindness and care to Doris, but most especially to her elderly father in a care home, drew me to her.
The setting of Myrtle Bay was well drawn. I love stories set in Australian, and I could see, smell and hear the picturesque town by the sea with its odd assortment of characters. At times is reminded me in a pleasant way of the first series of “My Life is Murder”, which was set in Melbourne. While Lucy Lawless played a very different character on that show, I think she’d be great as Ruth, with maybe Tina Bursill as Doris.
The murder mystery was well set out, with lots of clues that gave the reader a chance to guess who the murderer was. I appreciated the complexity of the plot and lots of little things that foreshadowed what was to come, as well as the red herrings. It made the scenario believable and the resolution extremely satisfying.
Blackthorn has set up a great pairing with Ruth and Doris, placed them in a vibrant location and left enough lose threads that made me intrigued about what happens next in Myrtle Bay. I hope there is a sequel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, historical fiction and dark psychological thrillers. Her Canary Islands collection begins with The Drago Tree and includes A Matter of Latitude, Clarissa’s Warning and A Prison in the Sun. Her interest in the occult is explored in The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey and the dark mystery A Perfect Square.
Her dark thriller The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018. Isobel’s biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’ which forms the first chapter of Emma’s Tapestry was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019. A Prison in the Sun was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2020 and the International Book Awards 2021. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards.
Isobel writes non fiction too. She is the author of the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy.
Isobel’s first work, which she wrote in 2008, is Voltaire’s Garden. This memoir is set in the mid 2000s and tells the story of building a sustainable lifestyle B&B in Cobargo on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, which gained international attention when a firestorm razed the idyllic historic village on New Year’s Eve 2019.
Isobel’s writing appears in journals and websites around the world, including Esoteric Quarterly, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia, Mused Literary Review, Trip Fiction, Backhand Stories, Fictive Dream and On Line Opinion. Isobel was a judge for the Shadow Awards 2020 long fiction category. Her book reviews have appeared in New Dawn Magazine, Esoteric Quarterly, Shiny New Books, Sisters in Crime, Australian Women Writers, Trip Fiction and Newtown Review of Books.
Isobel’s interests are many and varied. She has a long-standing association with the Canary Islands, having lived in Lanzarote in the late 1980s. A humanitarian and campaigner for social justice, in 1999 Isobel founded the internationally acclaimed Ghana Link, uniting two high schools, one a relatively privileged state school located in the heart of England, the other a materially impoverished school in a remote part of the Upper Volta region of Ghana, West Africa.
Isobel has a background in Western Esotericism. She holds 1st Class Honours in Social Studies, and a PhD from the University of Western Sydney for her ground-breaking research on the works of Alice A. Bailey. After working as a teacher, market trader and PA to a literary agent, she arrived at writing in her forties, and her stories are as diverse and intriguing as her life has been.
Isobel has performed her literary works at events in a range of settings and given workshops in creative writing.
British by birth, Isobel entered this world in Farnborough, Kent, She has lived in England, Australia, Spain and the Canary Islands.
• Website: https://isobelblackthorn.com/
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