I am not an avid mystery reader.

I do know people who read a mystery a day, though.  Every day it’s off to the library for another mystery!

That said, I recently read and enjoyed Nicholas George’s cozy mystery, A Lethal Walk in Lakeland, the second in the Walking in England series. 

In this entertaining novel, the narrator Chase, a gay sixtysomething former police detective, is on a walking tour in the Lake District in the UK.  He and his librarian friend Billie enjoy the scenery and the walking itself, but the violent Upsons, a wealthy family from Texas, are spoiling the walk. Every day Chase and another walker, Joe, must break up the Upsons’ arguments and physical fights.  Surprisingly, the women characters are as violent as the men.

(Digression: Why I am surprised by the violence of women?. In my experience, women can be more violent than men. Once a furiously wan mousy woman sent me a very nasty cartoon she’d drawn of an editor who rejected her work. She also approached a lecturer and denigrated her friend, the organizer of the event.)

But back to A Lethal Walk, Chase considers going home, but resigns himself to concentrating on the walking, as Billie suggests.

And then there are two murders, which Chase must solve.

George’s style is is a bit awkward, but you don’t read this mystery for the style. The plot jogs (walks) along, and the characters are likable.. And there’s something slightly Agatha Christie-ish about it, a couple of references, and a locked-room scene where all the suspects are gathered.

If you would like to go on the Rovers Walk tour in the Lake District, you will enjoy this cozy mystery.