http://www.girllostinabook.com/2014/09/review-advent-of-murder-by-martha-ockley.... ( )

Since I didn't receive this book for the Early Reviewers as expected, I found it recently at the library and picked it up. Faith Morgan is a recently ordained Vicar for the parish at Little Worthy. She was asked to step in to lead this church after their pastor was murdered on Good Friday (book #1 "The Reluctant Detective"). She finds herself extremely busy during the Advent season and then is shocked to learn that a choir member has been murdered. Her experience as a police officer compels her to get involved in the investigation, run by her former boyfriend, Detective Ben Shorter. The tension between them created an interesting element to the story. Also interesting is her relationship with her various family members, living nearby. I enjoyed the small English town and the variety of fascinating characters, which seemed more developed in this second book. This is an enjoyable British cozy mystery. ( )

The Advent of Murder by Martha Ockley did not grab my interest at the beginning but the more I read the more interesting the story became. Faith Morgan is the new Vicar of Little Worthy and she is very involved in getting everything ready for the Advent season. It seems that she has so many things to do that she seldom gets enough sleep. When Faith goes to visit one of her parishioners, she learns that a young man from the choir has been murdered. Faith was a policewoman before she became the Vicar, and she cannot help getting involved in the murder investigation in spite of all the other things that she must do before Christmas. Detective Inspector Ben Shorter is Faith’s ex-boyfriend and he resents her involvement in the investigation but once in a while he accepts her ideas.

Characters and their dialogue were very well developed and the characters seemed to come to life on the pages of the book. The plot had many twists and turns and I was kept guessing until almost the end of the book as to the identify of the murderer. There were also several mysteries in the story which added greatly to my enjoyment. The story had quite a few rather unusual characters but they added interest to the story. After finishing the book I had the feeling that maybe Faith had been a better policewoman than she was a Vicar. I was a little surprised at the ending but it was a satisfactory ending.

I would recommend this book if you like mysteries set in England and written by British authors.

Kregel Publications provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ( )

A cozy mystery set in an english village during the Christmas season. Vicar Faith Morgan is a former cop that must get involved when one of their choir members is murdered and the suspect is another member of her church. I loved the village and the church members in this parish, a perfect setting. Being a cozy mystery there isn't much left to the imagination but I did enjoy reading this book. The characters are like old friends... well, some of them are. It's a nice simple tale that anyone would enjoy.

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )

This is the second of the Faith Morgan Mystery books. I didn’t realize that at first, but as I read there were several times incidents briefly mentioned that I realized must be from the previous novel, The Reluctant Detective. However, it was not a big deal (even though I would prefer to read a series in order), and I was able to follow the story with no problem.

In The Advent of Murder by Martha Ockley, Faith, who was formerly in law enforcement, is the vicar at a small church and is very busy during this Christmas season. It is her first Christmas at this church and she wants to do it right (or at least please some of her picky parishioners). However, murder is not is anyone’s plans!

The story was a fun, easy read. I figured out the connections and solved the murder too soon for me! However, I still looked forward to picking up the book as I grabbed small moments here and there to finish!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Kregel Publications in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )