ARC Book Review: The Golden Hour by M.K. Graff

I would like to thank the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate this opportunity and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

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Rating:

From the award-winning author of the Nora Tierney Mysteries comes her most chilling novel to date, one author Elly Griffiths of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries notes: “Nora Tierney tackles her most complex and catpviating mystery yet.” Nora Tierney can’t shake the feeling she has a stalker. While she’s house hunting in Oxord, her partner, DI Declan Barnes, untagles the murder of an art conservator. When these situations collide, Nora find herself fighting to save her child and the family she’s trying to create.

Ausma Khan, author of Among the Ruins and The Unquiet Dead praises THE GOLDEN HOUR: “One of the best things about Marni Graff’s latest Nora Tierney Mystery is sthe down-to-earth depiction of family life coupled with the tightly paced build of a twisty, time-honored puzzle. A meditation on love, loss and motherhood, THE GOLDEN HOUR blends touchingly real domesticity with tongue-in-cheek humor, as the backdrop to a tale of art theft, germ warfare, and international conspiracy. The reflections of a reprehensivle villain on the shortcomings of the British add just the right note of comedy to these otherwise weighty concerns. Added to this is a wonderful sense of place–Bath, Brighton, and Oxford are vividly rendered and charmingly true to life. Come for the crackling mystery, stay for the steady companionship of debonair detective Declan Barnes and feisty heroine, Nora Tierney, who offers warmth and smarts in equal measure.”

Sarah Ward, author the DC Childs Mysteries, adds,”THE GOLDEN HOUR is a compulsive read with a narrative that both charms and surprises. I love Nora Tierney and can’t wait to see what happens next.”

I LOVED this book! I was a little bit hesitant by reading it because it was fourth in a series but this book can be easily read as a standalone and was highly enjoyable! I loved all the characters and enjoyed the twists! The plot flowed smoothly, descriptive yet fast paced. I loved the English setting and was captivated by the descriptions.

This is the first book that I have read by this author but it surely won’t be the last! I think many would enjoy this mystery! I know I gobbled it up within a few sittings!

Marni Graff is the award-winning author of The Nora Tierney English Mysteries and The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries. Her first novel, THE BLUE VIRGIN, won First Place for British Cozy in the Mystery and Mayhem Awards from Chanticleer Media. Her newest, THE GOLDEN HOUR, takes Nora to Brighton, Cornwall and Bath, where a stalker turns deadly serious in Nora’s life just as her partner investigates the murder or an art conservator. These two threads are interwoven frame the new book, one author Ausma Khan calls “. . . a meditation on love, loss and motherhood, THE GOLDEN HOUR blends touchingly real domesticity with tongue-in-cheek humor, as the backdrop to a tale of art theft, germ warfare, and international conspiracy.”

Set in the UK, Graff’s English series follows an American children’s book writer as she manages to involve herself in police investigations. THE BLUE VIRGIN is set in Oxford, that hallowed mix of town and gown. THE GREEN REMAINS takes Nora to England’s glorious Lake District and also won Best British Cozy from Chanticleer Media. Book 3 in the series, THE SCARLET WENCH, debuted May 2014 is shortlisted for the same award. All three books are in Kindle editions and now on Audible listening books, too. Here’s what Editing Pen and Publishing had to say about the series:

” . . . Graff’s clean, uncluttered style is smooth and polished, and there are no irrelevant details or conversations. . . I loved every page of all three books.”
Read the entire review here
http://www.editingpenandpublishing.com/nora-tierney-series/ …

Graff debuted the first of The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries in 2016. DEATH UNSCRIPTED follows nurse Trudy Genova, who works as a medical consultant for a NY movie studio. Based on Graff’s favorite nursing job when she lived in NY, Trudy Genova considers herself lucky to have such a great job without emergencies. That is, until the actor whose been annoying her lately suddenly dies in the middle of taping–but not before pointing his finger accusingly at Trudy. This is the book P D James insisted Graff write, and it is dedicated to her.

A native New Yorker now living in rural North Carolina, Graff has written essays, interviews, poetry, and screenplays. She is co-author of WRITING IN A CHANGING WORLD, her writing group’s primer on finding your own critique group and providing useful feedback.

A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff is Managing Editor of the curated hybrid press Bridle Path Press.

You can find more about the author and her works on her WordPress site @ https://auntiemwrites.com/about/