Beryl and Edwina Mystery: Murder Flies the COOP (Series #2) (Hardcover)

In Ellicott's captivating second mystery set in post-WWI England (after 2017's Murder in an English Village), adventure-seeking American Beryl Helliwell and her old English school chum, Edwina Davenport, who share a household in the hamlet of Walmsley Parva, set up their own informal private investigation business. Their first client, Vicar Wilfred Lowethorpe, calls on them for help in a matter that requires sensitivity and discretion. One of the vicar's parishioners, Lionel Cunningham, who's treasurer of the local pigeon racing club, has gone missing with all the club's funds and some prize birds belonging to other members. After checking more obvious places, the women find Cunningham stabbed to death inside the man's pigeon loft. As usual, Constable Doris Gibbs resents Beryl and Edwina meddling in any police matter, but she can't prevent the spunky and determined sleuths from pursuing the case. Ellicott smoothly injects such serious issues as the impact of WWI on its survivors and the restrictions of the English class system into a light whodunit. One would hardly call them birds of a feather, but thrill-seeking American adventuress Beryl Helliwell and quietly reserved Brit Edwina Davenport do one thing very well together--solve murders . . .

Sharing lodging in the sleepy English village of Walmsley Parva has eased some of the financial strain on the two old school chums, but money is still tight in these lean years following the Great War. All of Beryl's ex-husbands have proven reluctant to part with her alimony, which is most inconvenient.

So when the local vicar--and pigeon-racing club president--approaches them with a private inquiry opportunity, the ladies eagerly accept. There's been a spot of bother: the treasurer has absconded with the club's funds and several prized birds.

Beryl and Edwina hope to flush out the missing man by checking his boardinghouse and place of employment at the coal mine. But when they visit the man's loft, they find their elusive quarry lying in white feathers and a pool of crimson blood, stabbed to death--the only witnesses cooing mournfully.

After a stiff gin fizz, the ladies resume their search for the missing funds and prized birds--and now a murderer. Beryl and Edwina aren't shy about ruffling a few feathers as they home in on their suspects. But they had better find the killer fast, before their sleuthing career is cut short . . .