A Body in the Banjo

I’m sharing my review for A Body in the Banjo by Elaine Spires, a historical mystery set in Dagenham

Here’s the blurb

It’s November 1958 and Dagenham is excitedly awaiting Bonfire Night. Cissie Partridge isn’t too keen on fireworks but she generously donates to the local children doing Penny for the guy. Cissie is content with her lot. She loves her husband Harold. She shops, she cooks, she reads at every opportunity and she volunteers at the Dockland Settlement. Observant and sharp, she gets on with all her neighbours. Then, one morning, she finds a body…

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Banjo-Cissie-Partridge-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0G1KZ52TK

https://www.amazon.com/Body-Banjo-Cissie-Partridge-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0G1KZ52TK

My Review

A Body in the Banjo is an historical mystery set in 1958, just before Bonfire Night.

It is a story of a small community and one woman in particualar, Cissie, who doesn’t so much laud anything over her neighbours, but is, perhaps, a little bit of a busy body, although not so much as one who spends all her time watching her neighbours. No, instead Cissie listens to their comings and goings through the open bedroom window each night.

This is a story very much following the minutae of Cissie’s day to day existence as a 1950s housewife, and while some of it feels a little repetitive, the finale does build to a fine mystery which makes absolute sense of all the noise’s Cissie hears on the fateful night.

A really solid mystery, with a normal woman as the main character, although there are also others who take the narrative from time to time. I’m sure fans of historical mysteries will enjoy the story.

Meet the author

Elaine Spires is a novelist, playwright and actress. Extensive travelling and a background in education and tourism perfected Elaine’s keen eye for the quirky characteristics of people, captivating the humorous observations she now affectionately shares with the readers of her novels. Elaine also writes plays and her short film Only the Lonely was made by Dan Films and won the Groucho Club Best Short Film Award 2019 and two Silver Awards at WOFFF 2019.