Bloody Scotland 2023 – Alice Bell – Grave Expectations
The countdown is on to Bloody Scotland 2023. This is Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival and this year another stellar ensemble of writers will arrive in Stirling to discuss all things criminal, both fictional and factual. It’s one of the highlights of the year and if you’ve never experienced the friendly buzz of a book festival then I’d urge you to browse the programme and get along to Stirling if you can. For those that cannot attend in person there is also the option to join digitally as many events are available to enjoy online. You can visit the festival website here: https://bloodyscotland.com/
GRAVE EXPECTATIONS
Claire and Sophie aren’t your typical murder investigators…
When 30-something freelance medium Claire Hendricks is invited to an old university friend’s country pile to provide entertainment for a family party, her best friend Sophie tags along. In fact, Sophie rarely leaves Claire’s side, because she’s been haunting her ever since she was murdered at the age of seventeen.
On arrival at The Cloisters it quickly becomes clear that this family is hiding more than just the good china, as Claire learns someone has recently met an untimely end at the house.
Teaming up with the least unbearable members of the Wellington-Forge family – depressive ex-cop Basher and teenage radical Alex – Claire and Sophie determine to figure out not just whodunnit, but who they killed, why and when.
Together they must race against incompetence to find the murderer – before the murderer finds them… in this funny, modern, media-literate mystery for the My Favourite Murder generation.
I’m reviewing my personal copy of Grave Expectations. My thanks to Fiona Brownlee for the opportunity to host this leg of the Bloody Scotland blog tour.
There’s something for every reading taste at Bloody Scotland and on Saturday morning the place to be for fans of cosy crime is the Golden Lion – the Cosy Thrills panel begins at 10:30 am and I’ll be there to hear Alice Bell discussing the fabulous Grave Expectations. Selected by Radio 2 as a Book Club choice, this story has ghosts, a possible murder, a family with more than their fair share of trust issues and a tradition of booking terrible entertainment for their grandmother’s birthday celebrations.
The “entertainment” booked in Grave Expectations is Claire. She is a medium who has been booked by an old university chum to attend Nana’s birthday party and host a seance with the guests. Claire is skint and very much in the market to visit a large ancestral family estate out in the middle of nowhere as she can bump up her normal rates and maybe even get a nice dinner out of it. Things don’t quite go to plan.
Claire is actually a successful medium, mainly because her schoolfriend Sophie is on hand to help. Sophie’s dead. She appeared to Claire after her death and their friendship picked up from where it had left off. Sophie is the best associate a medium can have as she is free to snoop around, listen to conversations without being seen and can also help drum up other spirits for Claire to chat to.
The evening before Nana’s birthday party Claire is encouraged to do a mini-seance for family members. There is the usual mix of believers and doubters in the small group but Claire does manage to convince Nana that she has been able to bring a ghost to the table (literally) and this is more than enough evidence Nana needs to enlist Claire to help her. Nana belives there has been a murder committed by one of her family and she wants Claire (and Sophie) to find out who was killed and identify the killer too.
Thus begins a murder investigation quite unlike anything I’ve read before. Claire and Sophie enlist the help of Basher (former cop but there’s a story there) and Alex who’s quite happy to help out and share their weed on the condition nobody tells their Aunt. A more diverse collection of sleuths you’d be pressed to find – particulaly as they can’t even all speak with each other. But they are utterly fabulous to read about.
The last author that had me laughing out loud as I read their books was Terry Pratchett. Taking up the mantle is Alice Bell (I hope she’s okay with that). Alice has laced Grave Expectations with comic asides, inappropriate interjections and hilarious set-ups that I was hugely entertained from the very first chapters. A large part of this comes from the fact Sophie can only be heard by Claire and, as such, she is not hesitant at making her feelings known. She fills the silence in conversations with the unspoken (and unfiltered) thoughts. It gives the author scope to lighten the tone of the story whenever needed and that makes Grave Expectations hugely entertaining to read.
I had so much fun reading this book. I am concerned the dead companion may put off some readers who enjoy their stories a little more “grounded”. But honestly this shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying a smart and well worked mystery story. It’s refreshing to see a different approach to crime fiction and Alice Bell absolutely nails it by making the presence of the spirits in her story absolutely normal and non-sensationalist – we just accept Sophie (and others) are dead and get on with solving a murder. Glorious.
Alice will be appearing at Bloody Scotland on the Cosy Thrills panel on Saturday 16 September in the Golden Lion. Alice will be joined by JM Hall and Suk Pannu. You can order tickets here: https://bloodyscotland.com/events/cosy-thrills-jm-hall-suk-pannu-and-alice-bell/
Grave Expectations is published by Atlantic Books. It was a Radio Two Book Club selection and is available in hardback, digital and audio book format. You can order a copy here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/grave-expectations/alice-bell/9781838958398
