Invitation to Die (Emily Castles Mysteries)
Invitation to Die (Emily Castles Mysteries) book cover

Invitation to Die (Emily Castles Mysteries)

Paperback – May 14, 2013

by
Price
$6.83
Format
Paperback
Pages
196
Publisher
Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1477807309
Dimensions
5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
Weight
10.4 ounces

Description

“ Invitation to Die is a quintessentially English murder mystery featuring an astutely drawn mix of larger-than-life characters…The book is very funny indeed…There seems to be a winning line on every page.” ―The bookbag.co.uk “An intelligent, likeable contemporary heroine and a clever plotline…Like a modern day Agatha Christie.” ― Just a Normal Girl in London “Quirky, whimsical, smart, and engaging…I flat-out loved it. A must-read for romance readers.” ―Connie Brockway, bestselling romance author and two-time RITA award winner “Entertaining, gripping and fast paced with laugh-out loud moments.” ― Bookfabulous “This book is full of great lines. I was giggling through the book.” ― Wall-to-Wall Books " Invitation to Die is a quintessentially English murder mystery featuring an astutely drawn mix of larger-than-life characters... The book is very funny indeed... There seems to be a winning line on every page." -The bookbag.co.uk "An intelligent, likeable contemporary heroine and a clever plotline… Like a modern day Agatha Christie." - Just a Normal Girl in London "Quirky, whimsical, smart, and engaging... I flat-out loved it. A must-read for romance readers." -Connie Brockway, bestselling romance author and two-time RITA award winner "Entertaining, gripping and fast paced with laugh-out loud moments." - Bookfabulous "This book is full of great lines. I was giggling through the book." - Wall-to-Wall Books Emily Castles is a twenty-six-year-old Londoner who lives in Brixton, south London, where I live. The London that you'll find in the Emily Castles Mysteries has familiar locations and landmarks. But it has a village feel that is typical in cozy mystery books (and not very typical of a big city like London): neighbors know each other and help each other out. I started out reading Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Arthur Conan Doyle, and I go back to their stories time and again, both on the page and on TV and film. Miss Marple has to be one of my all-time favorite characters in a book! More recently, I have enjoyed mysteries written by Charlaine Harris, Alexander McCall Smith and M C Beaton. With the Emily Castles Mysteries , I wanted to create stories that use some of the enduringly popular ingredients from the golden age of British crime writing. But I have set them in the present day, so there's a little grit mixed in with the fun. Emily herself, with her dimples and her dark brown hair, her sweet nature, her good humor and her love of solving mysteries, is partly based on my daughter, who is around the same age. Unlike my daughter, Emily will never get older... only a little wiser, perhaps, and a little more adept at sleuthing as the series develops. Like all my books, the Emily Castles Mysteries feature strong, interesting female characters, and plenty of funny lines. But unlike the other books, there's no profanity. There are no drug references or sexual references. These are clean, comic mysteries that can be enjoyed by readers of any age. They're slightly camp and very British. They're not to be taken too seriously. I hope readers will enjoy them and keep coming back for more. Helen Smith is a novelist and playwright who lives in London. In addition to the Emily Castles mysteries, she is the author of Alison Wonderland , Being Light and The Miracle Inspector . Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Twenty-six-year-old Emily Castles is out of work…again. So when famous romance author Morgana Blakely offers her a job helping out at a conference in London, Emily accepts. Just as eagerly, American blogger Winnie Kraster accepts an invitation from Morgana to attend as a guest, not realizing she has, in effect, accepted an
  • invitation to die
  • .
  • As a cast of oddball characters assembles at the conference hotel, grievances, differences, and secrets begin to emerge. When Winnie goes missing, and then is found murdered nearby, Emily begins to suspect that someone involved with the conference is responsible. Could it be one of the organizers, one of the authors, a member of the hotel staff, or even the supplier of the chocolates for the conference gift bags? Emily teams up with guest speaker and eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel to find out.
  • Offbeat and engaging, this entertaining comic mystery is the first full-length novel featuring amateur British sleuth Emily Castles.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(98)
★★★★
20%
(65)
★★★
15%
(49)
★★
7%
(23)
★
28%
(91)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Almost, but not quite

What a wonderful setting for a murder mystery - a murder at a Romance Writers of Great Britain conference. A cast of eccentric writers as the main characters and suspects, a British hotel as the setting, and a young female as the happenstance sleuth. Throw in a hint of romance and some humour and you have the recipe for a classic great read. One would think.

I only started to like this book about half way through. The way the characters are introduced at the start of the book just doesn't work for me. The introduction of each character, one at a time, bringing them all together at the conference didn't work. This is a method I find works well in a movie or television show but not as well in writing. It leaves me with a kind of stop, go, stop, go feeling. You are just getting into one character and that character's story when you are abruptly brought to the next character. As a result, I felt the tension in the story line was considerably reduced.

Once past the rather lengthy intros, the story line and cast of characters keeps you amused. Since this is a about a conference for authors and bloggers, there are some discussions around the ethics of writing, issues of race and the writing method.

If you like the Mrs. Pollifax stories by Dorothy Gilman or enjoy Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, you will probably enjoy this book. I prefer my murder mysteries to be a little less sedate and a lot more intense.
16 people found this helpful
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boring

I am so bored I don't want to finish it.I don't know how this got 4 or 5 star ratings.
2 people found this helpful
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Another Quirky Emily Castle Mystery

This is the 3rd Emily Castle story that I've read though this is the first actual full-length novel. I read the first two short stories several months ago and really enjoyed them. If you haven't read the first two, you should read them before this. You need to get a sense of Emily's personality before reading this one.

The characters in the book are quirky and the humor is as well. It's very British :) The plot is quite fun and moves quickly. The murder mystery aspect of the book comes to a satisfying conclusion when Emily puts all of the nonsense clues together to figure out who-done-it.

I look forward to reading more Emily stories, whether they are in full-length or short story format!
1 people found this helpful
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Invitation to Die

This is the first book I've read by Helen Smith and even though this is a serial, and I hadn't read any of the other stories, I didn't feel lost. From the start the story tells who is going to be the person that is killed, so that wasn't a surprise, but then there are lots of quirky characters introduced, but who is the killer. I was kind of surprised by who the killer really was. Great job Helen Smith

I received a complimentary copy of this book for my honest review
1 people found this helpful
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A new pen..

I enjoyed the book, will look for more by the same author. I love mysteries, but do not enjoy the very graphic ones that seem to more and more take over the list.
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wonderful book

I recieved a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. I had never read a Helen Smith book so I was not sure what to expect. I enjoyed this book cover to cover.
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Overseas to Die!

Ok, first off I don't like Romance books lol but I love the Emily Castle books I have read in the recent past besides this is a mystery, Winnie Kraster an American blogger received an invitation to a Romance conference in London, but there's a problem she has turned up dead before anyone has welcomed her?. I really liked this book
However I did have a feeling who the murderer was before it was made known but I read a lot of mystery books can't be fooled all the time. I do really like the Emily Castle series and will try to read all. I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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love Emily

In the first full-length Emily Castles story, three book bloggers are invited to the Romance Writers of Great Britain conference after being declared winners in a short story contest. No one involved with the conference seems to remember voting for those three entries though. It becomes all the more suspicious when one of the bloggers, who had just posted a 1-star review of a book written by one of the attending authors, is found murdered.

Reviewing a book about a book blogger who gets murdered after posting a 1-star review feels a little meta (it also made me a little nervous!), but that aspect of the plot made Invitation to Die pretty great. There were plenty of funny moments related to book blogging and what the authors thought of their reviews. The humorous murder mystery kept me guessing at every turn and Emily made for an excellent protagonist. Where Invitation to Die suffered was in the beginning when the numerous characters were introduced. It seemed like they could’ve been brought in a little more organically (having Emily meet Nick, for example, rather than giving Nick an introductory scene of his own) than they were.

About the audiobook: When Invitation to Die started off with the American Winnie, I wasn’t too sure about the choice of Alison Larkin, who grew up in England, as a narrator. As it turned out, she was the perfect choice. Her varying accents made it easier to distinguish between the many characters.

review copy from author
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All the characters made good suspects

The openning of this novel was really well pictured. Helen Smith plunges the reader into the world of bloggers, reviewers with their doubts, aspirations and the strange relationship they have with the authors. I've found it accurate and it made ​​me smile. So, my curiosity was picked from the start by an interesting and original plot.

The author also took her time setting the decor, the atmosphere. She describes perfectly the future suspects's personalities before the protagonists start their game of Cluedo.
Helen Smith shows neuroses and both sides of each character. The mask worn in public and the more intimate one, and perhaps less glamorous, wears in private.
So, after the first murder, all the characters made good suspects.

As for the plot itself, I found a little bit long and Emily too neutral. There is a lack of suspense or intense moments of fear, but still the whole story is read with pleasure.

An interesting novel.

Lucie
newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr
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60%0f a book

Is there a reviewer out there that recommends for the Prime Library? This book is more of an outline than an actual book. The characters are flat and without substance, dialog is forced and sometimes out of context with the conversation. while the setting is good the book is bad. There was an opportunity for the author to craft a 5 star storyline ,but I get the feeling this was written in a hurry with no rewriting or attention to detail. I leave the worst for last......the mystery was solved using clues that were never passed on to the reader. Creative writing classes could wonders for this book.

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