Today at the British Library an event is running called Deadly: The Festival of Women Writing Crime. The event is described as ‘a celebration of the very best in contemporary crime writing by women. This inaugural festival features non-fiction as well as fiction, with brand-new work from celebrated authors as well as lively exploration of themes and perceptions relating to the genre.’
I thought it would be fun to join in with this celebration by setting you, my readers, some puzzles, all of which are centred on modern female crime writers – naturally. I will be publishing two further puzzle post today, so do come back and check for new ones. I will be doing a roundup post of all the answers in April.
For my inaugural puzzle I decided to choose a crime writer who has created a body of female characters who frankly are the worst holiday companions! The high body count and the threat to personal safety are both rather off-putting, as are the snarky comments. It is not very encouraging when the Smart women try to minimise their corpse-magnet status by stating they have come across fewer bodies than an undertaker! However, I am getting ahead of myself. Whilst you might not want to go on holiday with these characters, you will definitely want to read about them in Victoria Dowd’s five-book Smart Women’s Mystery series, the titles for which are:
- The Smart Women’s Guide to Murder
- Body on the Island
- The Supper Club Murders
- A Book of Murder
- Murder Most Cold
Victoria’s methods of murder are fiendish, so I would never want to get into her bad books! These five books chart the adventures of Ursula Smart, her mother Pandora, her Aunt Charlotte, Pandora’s friends including Bridget, and Bridget’s assorted pets. Their notoriety begins when they decide to have a book club trip to a country house and it is only further cemented by the trials they face when going on a survival course, a supper club crawl and more. Whilst you could say these difficult experiences bind them closer together, this is not a harmonious process, and nor does it bring out their good sides. Friction and tension are understatements with these ladies.
So, if you’re new to the series hopefully that has whetted your appetite, as these are books that I very much enjoyed reading. However, on to the puzzle! In light of the popularity of logic puzzles (due to books such as Murdle) I decided to have a go at making one of my own (although my clues require a little more inference). So, it is a first for me and also a first, I suspect, for the Smart Women. I am sure Ursula would have this puzzle solved in no time at all, but how will you fare?
One day Ursula arrived at her mother’s home, brandishing a winning ticket. What was the prize you ask? A weekend trip for one to a swanky Edinburgh hotel (as the author of this puzzle would quite like a holiday there herself). Surely, if Ursula goes on a vacation by herself, then the Smart Women’s curse of always finding a dead body, might not follow her. However, having been driven mad by her mother, Ursula temporarily leaves to do some errands, namely, to buy some chocolate cake (the author of this puzzle is definitely in the mood for some) and to go to the library to look up details on how to get someone stuffed. It was an interest that had occurred to her during their first adventure:
‘The house was the kind of monolith the rampantly wealthy Victorians created as a mausoleum to live in. It was an unnerving old house and it wasn’t too much of a leap to imagine someone stuffing their mother and sitting them in the window. I looked over at Mother. It was a tempting thought.’
Recent conversations had placed the idea back into her head. I can’t imagine why! Unfortunately, Ursula left her winning ticket at Pandora’s house and when she returned, she discovered it had gone! Who had taken it? Like all good detectives Ursula decided to collate her evidence and clues.
Clues
- Bridget was trying to find out what Pandora was going to publish in her forthcoming blog post.* She came away empty handed.
- Aunt Charlotte was also looking for something, but got distracted by the freshly made pot of Pandora’s ‘first-blush Darjeeling’.**
- Dupin was reading a collection of Agatha Christie’s short stories. The title of his current read also contains the name of his location.***
- Pandora did not want to risk missing the doorbell ring.
- The ticket was eventually found among some circulars.
In the books… (not needed for the puzzle)
* Bridget is right to be wary of Pandora’s blog posts, as in The Supper Club Murders, Aunt Charlotte painfully finds out how much artistic license Pandora uses when writing about her life and the crimes they have encountered:
“We’re all grist to your mother’s mill. She did a piece on sibling rivalry last month entitled ‘How to cope if your sister is an emotional vampire.’ I’d only asked her if I could borrow the Vax.”
Mother looked defiant. ‘You can’t blame me for embroidering on my tatty relatives. I need to market the blog. It needs sensational, clickbait titles.’
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** Ursula would like to point out that it is ‘flush’ not ‘blush’ since the tea is not embarrassed. This is a verbal mistake Pandora makes in Body on the Island.
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*** I should probably point out that Dupin is Bridget’s primate pet, with whom she has been practising ballroom dancing in Murder Most Cold. A cheeky Charleston is his preference.
Good luck!
Don’t forget that in September Victoria is launching a new mystery series, with the publication of Death in the Aviary, featuring protagonist Charlotte Blood.
