Book review : A Tangled Web - Mike Martin

I was excited to learn recently that Mike Martin had published a new Sgt. Windflower mystery, following on from The Walker On The Cape, The Body On The T, Beneath The Surface, A Twist Of Fortune and A Long Ways From Home. (Click through to read my reviews.)

Settling down with a Sgt. Windflower mystery is like pulling on your favourite cosy pyjamas and fluffy slippers. The kind-hearted Mountie is always in the midst of the action but his stable homelife with wife and mum-to-be Sheila, his love of good food, fine scotch and quoting Shakespeare that he shares with his friends and the sedate pace of life in Newfoundland always keep him (and through him, his readers) in a bubble of serenity and well-being.

That's not to say that life in Grand Bank is uneventful. This story features a missing child, several murders and a key character being shot, but unlike much crime fiction, there aren't copious amounts of gore, violence or suffering. The last book in the series, A Long Ways from Home, was shortlisted for the Bony Blithe Award as the best light mystery in Canada and this perfectly encapsulates the essence of the Windflower mysteries - it's a sedate wander alongside Winston Windflower, with as much focus on his homelife and mindfulness as the police investigation and drama going on in the region. 

I also love the fact that Windflower is a man who really likes his food, so I'm always guaranteed to get some great ideas for dinner in the books. So far, for the #readcookeat challenge, I've already recreated several of his favourite dishes, including salmon with curry sauce, coconut cream cheesecake, salmon casserole, smothered salmon, fried fish with scrunchions, triple layer vegetarian lasagne, chicken fried rice, Newfoundland raisin molasses bread, merluzzo con spinaci (cod with spinach), lemon cranberry muffins, beef and vegetables with almonds, pea soup and doughboys, and ... wait for it ! ...his favourite no-bake peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. Like I said, he's a man who enjoys his food !

I was convinced that Windflower would become a daddy in this book, as Sheila discovered that she was pregnant at the end of the last book. That bun is still well and truly in the oven though, so we'll have to wait for the next instalment to see how life for Winston and Sheila changes with the arrival of a newborn. With Windflower considering hanging up his Mounties uniform for good and a new business venture on the cards, I'm sure there will be lots of upheaval in Grand Bank in the next book. I can't wait !

star rating : 4/5

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Booklocker.com, Inc. (1 Oct. 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1634926501
• ISBN-13: 978-1634926508
• Product Dimensions: 14 x 1.9 x 21.6 cm

Disclosure : I received a review copy of the book.