Our protagonist, Jude Gray, is a young, childless widow who now runs her large sheep farm with the help of Noah, her shepherd, and her loyal dogs, Pip and Archie – with memories of her late husband never far from her mind. When she met her husband Adam, he introduced her to his life-long friends and they accepted her into their warm fold. Now, it has been five years since Adam’s death and she shares her home with her half-sister Lucy, Lucy’s fiance Noah, and Lucy’s five year old son, Sebbie.
Jude cares for hundreds of sheep, her Bantam hens, her Indian Runner ducks, her pet Valais Blacknose sheep, her pet lamb ‘Pancake’, and Gertie, a golden Cheviot goat.
Jude is a loyal, empathetic and caring protagonist, whose personal motto is ‘be kind’. She has a strong work ethic and loves her farm, and the animals that inhabit it. She has a deep connection to the Malvern Hills area and walks the hills as a way to unwind and decompress.
Like most farms, Jude’s sheep farm is struggling financially. In a previous book she created a glamping site and is now taking in paying guests. Also, she is trying her hand at setting up a petting zoo to further entice visitors. This time out she has agreed for a film crew to use the farm as a location for their Christmas special show. Anything to make financial ends meet.
West Mercia policewoman Binita Khatri (Binnie), makes another appearance in this, the sixth novel. She has become a personal friend of Jude, and keeps her apprised of the police investigations. She has recently been promoted to Detective Inspector, and is just back to work after an injury that required both physical and emotional healing.
In the latest instalment of this delightful mystery series, Jude Gray is trying to meet the financial demands of her farm with yet another ‘side hustle’. She has agreed for a film company to use her farm as a location for the Christmas special of a popular program called ‘Countryside Live’.
What she thought would be a ‘doddle’, turns out to be a bit more demanding of her than she initially anticipated. The show’s director is a sleazy man who feels he is entitled to Jude’s time and attention. The two stars of the show, a much beloved married couple, have a marriage that is not as perfect as their fans believe.
Then, there is an attempt on the female lead’s life, then another member of the crew is murdered…
Once again, Jude’s good friend policewoman Binita Khatri is the lead on the murder investigation, despite her officially being on medical leave…
To further stress her out, Jude’s sister Lucy’s wedding to Noah will take place on the farm just after Christmas, so there is much to plan to make the day a special one.
Since this was the sixth book in the series, I was delighted to meet up with Jude Gray and her family and friends once again. They are strongly defined characters that are both well drawn and memorable. I’ve read all six books in the series and the quality of the plots and the writing are maintained strongly throughout.
Fans of this series will be satisfied that the whole ‘will they’ or ‘won’t they’ aspect of Jude’s relationship with Marco is resolved in this book.
With themes of the rigours of modern farming, sustainable farming, adultery, manipulative behaviours, and professional rivalries, this instalment of the series certainly was both enjoyable and entertaining.
The ending emphasized the contentment of Jude’s life, so it seemed like a warm hug. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in this engaging, cozy mystery series. After six books, this series is fast becoming one of my favourites.
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Boldwood Books via NetGalley.
Publication date: September 3, 2025
ISBN: 9781836781493 – ASIN: B0F4W5L2G6 – 322 pages
Kate Wells/Kate Poels is the author of a number of well-reviewed books for children, and is now writing a new cosy crime series set in the Malvern hills, inspired by the farm where she grew up. “Murder on the Farm” is the first book in that series, with “Stranger in the Village” being the second, and “A Body By The Henhouse” being the third.
Kate began her adult life training as a nurse before re-training as a teacher. She has worked in several primary schools, both mainstream and special needs, and continues to spend lots of time in classrooms and school halls one way or another. When she took a break to have her two daughters she began writing and hasn’t stopped!
Having spent time living and working on farms she developed a love of the rural life and often dreamt of running a sheep farm, especially when she married the son of a farmer. It wasn’t to be though, so instead, she lives her farming dreams through researching and writing her books. These days she can often be found in a field talking to sheep, or out on the Malvern Hills walking her border collie cross.
Connect with Kate Wells via Twitter, Instagram, and/or via her website.
Another compelling read from Gilly Macmillan which put me in mind of “The Da Vinci Code”, only with a feminist slant.
Gilly Macmillan is the Edgar nominated and New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew, The Perfect Girl, Odd Child Out, I Know You Know, and The Nanny. She grew up in Swindon, Wiltshire and lived in Northern California in her late teens. She worked at The Burlington Magazine and the Hayward Gallery before starting a family. Since then she’s worked as a part-time lecturer in photography, and now writes full-time. She resides in Bristol, England.
B P Walter was born and raised in Essex. After spending his childhood and teenage years reading compulsively, he worked in bookshops then went to the University of Southampton to study Film and English followed by an MA in Film & Cultural Management. He is an alumni of the Faber Academy and currently works in social media coordination for Waterstones in London.
Oliver J. Hembrough is an award-winning British actor and voice-over artist who was born in Bristol, Born in Bristol, England, Oliver J. Hembrough is an award-winning British actor and voice-over artist .
The rules are simple:
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Doubleday Canada via 
I have long been a fan of Eve Chase’s writing, so it is no surprise to anyone that I thoroughly enjoyed her latest offering “The Midnight Hour“. A dual time line mystery novel rife with family secrets… what’s not to love?
Lidingö Mysteries #2
This novel is the second in a crime series set on Lidingö, an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. I was quite surprised to discover that Emma Lindahl and Karl Rosén, the two main characters from the first novel, “Yule Island”, were not featured in this one. This time out the protagonists were Swedish policeman Kommissarie Aleksander Storm, a married father of two teenage girls, and former Police Commisioner Maïa Rehn, who has recently moved to Stockholm from Paris, after a tragic personal loss.
Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and Her critically acclaimed 
David Warriner grew up in the UK and escaped to Quebec after graduating from Oxford. A professional translator for more than two decades, David nurtures a passion for fiction in French and has translated a range of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s fiction by authors based in Quebec and France for Canadian and UK publishers. David has worked in France and Quebec and now lives in British Columbia, Canada.
Sarah Shoemaker grew up in a suburb of Chicago and by the time she was in the third grade, she knew she wanted to be a writer, but it has been a long and circuitous path to get there. She has been a high school English teacher, a wife, a stay-at-home mom, a librarian at the University of Michigan and, finally, a published writer. She has lived in several Midwestern states and abroad in Greece and Turkey, but for the last twenty years she has made her home in Northport. She is an avid hiker, especially on the long-distance paths of England, and is quite familiar with Yorkshire, the setting of Charlotte Bronte’s book, Jane Eyre. Sarah was able to use that knowledge in writing her book, Mr. Rochester, which imagines the background and life of the man who won Jane Eyre’s heart.
Fictionophile 
