Fish, Chips, and Murder

Talia Marby is between jobs. She endured a position at a Boston commercial real estate firm for a better part of a year, but resigned because she hated the job. Her boyfriend, Chet, refused to support her decision, so Talia returned to Wrensdale, Massachusetts, the small New England town where she grew up.

Talia moved into her deceased grandmother’s vacant cottage with all its memories while taking a temporary job working for Lamberts Fish and Chips, a fast food restaurant she worked for when she was in high school. Bea and Howie Lambert are a wonderful couple to work for and Bea treats Talia like a daughter. Unfortunately, Howie is recovering in the hospital from a knee operation, which is causing Bea a lot of worries, but she’ll soon have more.

Phil Turnbull has a petition he wants all store owners in the Wrensdale Arcade Shopping Plaza to sign in order to prevent a comic book store from opening. Bea refuses to sign the document and Turnbull won’t stop harassing her. That is until one morning Talia pays him a visit to discuss his behavior and to ask him to leave Bea alone. When she arrives, the shop is open, but she can’t find Phil. Eventually, she discovers him slumped over his desk with a knife through his neck. The police soon arrive and Bea becomes their prime suspect.

Fillet of Murder is the first of three books in Linda Reilly’s A Deep Fried Mystery series. The author includes quirky characters, a beautiful New England setting, and a plot that tends to move a bit slowly. However, readers are drawn into Reilly’s story by her excellent portrayal of Talia’s life and the red herrings she places throughout the novel that keeps readers guessing who killed the hated Phil Turnbull.

This reviewer is looking forward reading book two in the series—Out of the Frying Pan.

About the Author

Linda Reilly graduated from college with a degree in Criminal Justice with plans of a career in law enforcement. However, life never goes as planned, and young Linda found her niche in real estate closings and title examinations, where the dusty tomes in the Registry of Deeds enticed her into solving mysteries of a different sort. Eventually, she turned to writing. A dyed-in-the-wool New Englander, Linda lives in New Hampshire with her husband. When she’s not pounding away at her keyboard, she can usually be found prowling the shelves of a local bookstore or library.

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