Book Review: The Girl in the Mustard Coat by Emily Rose Chriscoli

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“Thirty-eight years I worked on the force,” Frank said. “And I’ve never forgotten Beth Maguire. I always thought I’d get him. But he was the one who got away.”

Thirteen years ago, the sleepy little village of Arlington Heath was rocked by the murder of schoolgirl Beth Maguire. Despite a rigorous police investigation, her murderer was never found. Broken hearted, her older sister Sophie shut herself off from everyone and everything.

But when new evidence for the case materialises, can Sophie put her differences with her family aside to place together the missing pieces of the puzzles?

I’ll always remember the first grown up book I bought. It was ‘Along came a spider’ by James Patterson. It absolutely blew my mind. I’d never read anything like it before and I instantly became hooked on the crime detective genre.

Since buying that book, I’ve read almost all of James Patterson’s books. However, I found that the older I became the less I was starting to enjoy this genre.

I switched my style completely and started to read romantic comedies, and light-hearted, feel good books. However, after reading The Girl in the Mustard Coat, my love for crime genres has returned!

From the very first page I was immediately drawn in. The main character Sophie is very likeable, and more importantly relatable. Problems in her personal life such as her relationship with her father and the death of her mother really made me align very early on the book with Sophie.

Sophie’s not having much luck herself, aside from her mother’s death, sisters murder thirty-eight years ago and her tumultuous relationship with her father, Sophie finds herself pregnant and the father of the baby is engaged to be married to someone else. Can things get any worse for poor Sophie?

The girl in the mustard coat is a really easy read and that’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. The storyline is compelling, and the character development is brilliant. Throughout the book I was left asking so many questions. Was it Uncle Tony who murdered Beth all those years ago? After all, why would he not tell his new wife that his niece was murdered in the most brutal way? Perhaps it was KB whose initials, Beth had drawn in the shower steam on the morning of her disappearance? But who even is KB?

This is the first book I’ve read of Emily’s and I love it. I really can’t wait to read more of her work. She writes in a way that draws you into the storyline from the very beginning.  

I don’t want to give too much away, so all I will say is go and buy the book! You won’t be disappointed! It’s an excellent, compelling read that’s available to buy online from Amazon here.

Disclaimer: I was gifted a copy of this book in return for a review. All views and opinions are 100% my own.