The Village Detectives and the Deadly Brew, by Fiona Walker

 Publication July 29, 2026

Although we're privy to the murder scene in the prologue, it took awhile for us to get back to that point. I ultimately enjoyed the humor and mystery aspects of this sorta combo rom-com/mystery, but it did take me awhile to get into the story. We're introduced to rather a large cast and I struggled to sort out who was related to each other, who and whose parents/children, and so on. The two primary characters, Phoebe "Freddy" Fredericks and Juno Mulligan were definitely strong characters, however. Phoebe, an author of, what else, mysteries, is married to former model Felix, while Juno, a former standup comedian, seems to be stuck in angst mode over her crush on Mil, a former rugby star. Seems they have a history albeit it takes it awhile to be fully revealed. How long? Well, I think I was well past the half-way point before it mostly became clear and by that time they were sorta dancing around becoming involved. Well, Juno was. I'm not so sure about Mil although he was sorta interested.

As for the murder, as noted, we  "meet" the victim early on while the body is ....well, I won't share that bit of info. And, actually, it hadn't actually taken place when Juno and Phoebe's fledgling detective agency was brought in to investigate sabotage at the Wyche Craft Brewery by Mil. Juno is reluctant due to her fuzzy memory of an almost moment with Mil and is reluctant, but Phoebe basically strong-arms her into it. They are there when the body is discovered, let's just say. Lots of suspects and reasons to want the victim dead, from romance to greed to long time grudges and jealousy. Juno ropes in her son Eric to do some internet investigating, though not sure whether that means he'll be a continuing part of the detective team or not, while Phoebe involves Felix from his business trip in California. 

Bottom line, despite the slow to me start, once I got the  main characters sorted out and the true sleuthing began, the pace picked up. We do spend a lot of time in Phoebe and Juno's heads, which isn't always good, whether they're fixated on plotting the next book or, in Juno's case, trying to remember what happened "that night". I'm honestly not sure I actually liked any of the characters enough to care much much what happened to them, maybe even wishing a case of laryngitis on Juno at times when she went into full angst or pop girly fan mode, but it was a twisty, satisfying ending. That said, I think I was intrigued enough to be on the look out for a follow-up. Thanks #BoldwoodBooks for introducing me to this perplexing set of sleuths. Heck, I even learned a bit about the brewing process while reading.