Murder in the Air – Beatrice Fishback

All Daisy wanted was to finally be a full time writer, relocate to England from North Carolina, America and write her cozy-mysteries there. 

She had imagined it would be a nice adventure for her. But then Nicholas Mark,the guy sitting next to her in the flight, died and she found herself living a nightmare.

The guy was poisoned and the police now thinks she may have a hand in his death. On the other hand there are the real killers who think she knows too much and are threatening her with dire consequences.

Daisy McFarland – A mystery writer who had moved to England

Pillow – Daisy’s cat

Nicholas Mark – A guy who had met Daisy in the flight

Miss brown – Daisy’s real estate agent 

Sarah Mark – Nicholas’s mother

Matilda – Nicholas sister

Priscilla – Nicholas’ sister

Rosemary – A woman who had become Daisy’s friend in London

Jacob Mark – Nichloas’ father and guy who established Mark my Word Publishing

Murder in the Air is the first novel in Daisy McFarland series. 

The book begins with Daisy sitting in a police station as her co-passenger in  the flight had died and police thinks Daisy is somehow involved in it. This grabs the reader’s interest and one would want to know more about the situation.

As the story progress one gets to see that Daisy is not as good a detective as she should be and this leads her into a situations which keeps the interest maintained in the story.

The ending of the book is something which i think could have been better. It seems to come too quick without any major investigation done by the protagonist. I think if the protagonist had reached there by doing some kind of investigation then it could have been better.

I could also guess what the main reason for the murder was but the writer did keep some other twists for the end which for me was a pleasant surprise. This did make the plot a lot outlandish in the end but i went with the flow and enjoyed it.

I liked the setting of the book. The book is about an American who has moved to London and thus it shows the differences between the two cultures. These subtle differences are interspersed throughout the book and although i couldn’t discern whether differences were rightly portrayed or not but i liked that this was discussed.

 

I loved Daisy. I have read few of cozy-mysteries and have found that their main focus is on characters as compared to the mystery in the book. Here too Daisy is someone whom you would easily love. She’s like a neighbourhood friendly aunt whom you would love to meet over tea and discuss things that are happening.Most of the time she seems very naive here but i would love to see how her character is developed as the series progresses ahead. I also liked the equation between Rosemary and Daisy. It would be fun to see what role she plays in her other adventures. 

I also liked Priscilla’s character. She’s mean but then she does things that a good person would do and this contrast makes her interesting to read.

At the end i would say, I enjoyed reading Murder in the air. I loved Daisy McFarland and would love to read her other adventures. She didn’t get to detect much here but i hope it changes as the series progresses ahead.