The Crystal Crypt by Fiona Veitch Smith – Book Review
The Crystal Crypt by Fiona Veitch Smith – Book Review
The Crystal Crypt
Poppy Denby Investigates Book Six
Author – Fiona Veitch Smith
Publisher – Lion Fiction
Pages – 352
Released – 19th November 2021
ISBN-13 – 978-1782643593
Format – ebook, paperback, audio
Rating – 5 Stars
I received a free copy of this book.
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Synopsis
The 1920s most stylish sleuth returns in The Crystal Crypt for another thrilling murder mystery!
“But accidents can still happen… Perhaps there was something out of her control, something she couldn’t have foreseen…”
“Like someone plotting to kill her?”
Reporter sleuth Poppy Denby is asked to investigate the mysterious death of an up-and-coming female scientist in an Oxford laboratory known as the Crystal Crypt. The official verdict is that Dr June Leighton died in a tragic accident, but Dr Leighton’s lab assistant believes it was murder.
However, when Poppy discovers that the colleague has spent time in a mental institution and has an unresolved murder in her own past, Poppy wonders if she is being misled. But then, another female academic is attacked, and Poppy herself becomes a target.
Review by Stacey
I have loved the Poppy Denby Investigates series since the first book, The Jazz Files, which I reviewed back in 2015. The series is set in 1920s London and began in 1920 with Poppy being new to the city and her first job as a journalist working for The Globe newspaper, taking over the cases of a newly deceased journalist, Bert Isaac.
We are now in 1925 and the fiancée of the deceased journalist, Sophie Blackburn, has asked Poppy to look into a suspicious death at an Oxford laboratory known as the Crystal Crypt. She believes that the death of her colleague wasn’t an accident and that she was murdered.
Poppy’s boss Rollo wants her to tread carefully as Sophie has recently spent some time in a mental institution. Where will Poppy’s investigation take her, towards a murder verdict, or is Sophie needing more mental health help?
What a fascinating book The Crystal Crypt is. There is so much going on within the pages that it feels like you never really come up for air once you begin. I loved the historical figures and a nod to the amazing women who were pioneers in their fields.
As always Poppy is fearless and determined to uncover the truth, whether that be a murder verdict or accidental death as has been reported. These books will make you feel like you have taken a step back in time and as always contain a tremendous plot that has many secondary off-shoots and a whole cast of fictional and real characters from the period.
I loved the setting of Oxford and I think this has to be up there as one of my Poppy Denby favourites. If you love historical mysteries then this really is the series to read.
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Fiona Veitch Smith is the author of the Poppy Denby Investigates novels, Golden Age-style murder mysteries set in the 1920s, about a reporter sleuth who works for a London tabloid. The first book in the series, The Jazz Files, was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, while subsequent books have been shortlisted for the Foreword Review Mystery Novel of the Year and the People’s Book Prize. She is formerly a journalist, having worked on the arts and crime beats of a Cape Town newspaper, and lectured in journalism in the UK for ten years.
She lives with her husband, daughter and dog in Newcastle upon Tyne. On her non-writing days, she works part-time as a freelance editor and writing tutor, as well as being the Assistant Secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association.
