Publication: 5th September 2018 by HQ
Summer 1960, Oxford
In the glorious sunshine of Oxford, on a day when everyone should be celebrating, tragedy strikes when a university student is found floating in the river, dead.
Probationary WPC Trudy Loveday finds herself paired with coroner Clement Ryder to investigate and it soon becomes clear that this case is not going to be easy.
The witnesses all refuse to give a straight answer, each new lead sends them in a new direction and tales of other missing youngsters add further mystery to the investigation.
One thing is certain though, something doesn’t seem quite right about the university’s most popular student….
On a beautiful sunny day in Oxford, the body of Derek Chadworth, a student of St. Bede’s College, was found floating on the river. Was it an accident? Or was he killed? Coroner Dr. Clement Ryder is convinced that the young student was murdered and when he asks for the help of WPC Trudy Loveday, DI Jennings is happy to give away the only woman in his team. As witnesses and other students don’t cooperate in the investigation, Dr. Ryder sends Trudy under cover among the students to find out more about the victim.
I still haven’t had the pleasure to read the first book in the series featuring WPC Loveday, but I am going to as I really liked the character of Trudy. While her mother wants her to find a man, get married, and have children, she wants to prove herself even if there are dukes, chiefs of police, and men in general who try to put her in her place. The only one who seems to support her ambitions is Dr. Ryder. I loved her enthusiasm and she is smart, determined, and resourceful, even though sometimes her initiatives get in her in trouble.
A FATAL MISTAKE is a nice change from the crime novels I am used to. First of all, the novel is set in the 1960s so there is no forensic, DNA tests, or technology to help in the investigation. Also, I enjoyed the multiple-character point of view. Although the story is told mainly from Trudy’s points of views, we get glimpses into other characters’ lives, from Dr. Ryder to witnesses, from students to characters somehow connected to the victim, so that by the end of the book the reader has the whole story. This doesn’t mean that there are no surprises. There are many twists and revelations and the ending and solution of the case was unexpected.
Between secret clubs, arrogant dukes, and shocking truths, A FATAL MISTAKE is an entertaining, well-written, and captivating read and I’d like to thank HQ and Izzy Smith for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.
Follow the rest of the blog tour:
Book After Book 
Great review 😊 I’ll be posting mine up tomorrow as part of the blog tour.
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Thank you! I look forward to reading yours 🙂
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