Book Review: A Beginner’s Guide to Murder by Rosalind Stopps
A Beginner’s Guide to Murder by Rosalind Stopps seems like a cozy mystery at first glance; a bunch of little old ladies plotting a murder together to save a friend. This appeals to the Murder She Wrote lover in me because I relish the idea of getting older but not losing my ‘spunk’. But as I dove in to my latest Halloween-ish read, I realized that this wasn’t going to be a lighthearted tale of grannies making things right, instead, it’s a cursory look at human trafficking, and just how easy it is for certain victims to fall prey to it. Yes, a group of older women are the heroes, but even their lives aren’t as straightforward as one typically expects in this genre. I’m not doing this book justice by comparing it to a cozy mystery because this may turn off readers who typically prefer a darker read – and despite the unlikely protagonists, this is most definitely not for the sensitive among us.
Plot Summary
Daphne, Grace and Meg are still in the extremely early stages of friendship, tentatively meeting for coffee after a pilates class one day. They are all older, (seventies-ish) and alone, nervous about many things and unsure how to interact with each other appropriately. This discomfort only increases when 17-year-oldl Nina bursts into this same coffee shop and asks these women for help. As Nina goes to the bathroom, they lie to the suspicious man who comes to the shop looking for her, then take her back to Meg’s house to give her proper clothes and a cup of tea. It soon becomes clear this young girl is a victim of human trafficking and these three women must not only hide her, but keep themselves safe as Nina’s pimp patrols the streets looking for her, stopping at nothing to get her back. As the title suggests these three women, terrified to go to the authorities and unable to protect themselves and Nina properly, decide their only option is to hire someone to kill this terrible criminal, because quite honestly, they’d be doing a world a favour would they not?
My Thoughts
This book does not dwell in the horrors of trafficking, there isn’t much violence and we mostly get Nina’s perspective during the lead up to her capture, and the quiet moments to herself when she’s left alone. It’s her despair that is most painful to read about, and surprisingly, the despair that Meg, Grace and Daphne also deal with in their own lives. All four of these women defy our expectations at different points in their lives, especially when we discover that one of the senior ladies had done a stint in jail during her youth. We don’t take a deep dive into each person, but we are given glimpses into their lives and the challenges they each faced, shaping them into the women they are today. Even though they aren’t introduced to the reader in this way, it becomes clear how resilient they all are, which illuminates their power and justifies their resolve in this current predicament they find themselves in with Nina.
The mechanics of this story work well; the plotting is slow but steady, and the story of Nina escaping into the café managed to raise my blood pressure even though I knew what the outcome was. There are a few jumps back and forth in time, but these are all easily followed, and the flashbacks serve to bolster the characterization in such a way that they aren’t distractions, instead they answer questions that niggle in the background.
Allow me a small detour from the book; human trafficking is a seldom talked about but pervasive and wide spread problem that lies mostly in the shadows of our society. Here in Canada we have a wonderful charity called Not in My City that seeks to educate people about this issue. I recall seeing a statistic that the Calgary Stampede is typically a hot bed of trafficking because of the influx of tourists to our city, so perhaps I’m more aware of it than others, but I do urge you to take a look at the organization above and educate yourself. I probably haven’t reiterated this lately so I’ll do so here; book readers are empathetic people because we get exposed to so many ‘issues’ that one doesn’t normally get exposed to in the course of a single life, so I tend to think of us as more aware than others. This is a book written for entertainment first and foremost, but I so appreciated it touching upon this problem because we need to keep working towards eliminating this form of modern day slavery.
Sounds like an crossover between cosy and darker crime so I’m quite intrigued to see how the author made that work. Human trafficking is such a huge issue, and one that doesn’t get enough attention paid to it. There have been all kinds of scandals about varieties of modern slavery over here in the last few decades, from the sex trade to forced farm labour. Hard to believe it goes on in our modern open societies under our very noses…
I think that’s what so upsetting about it to me, like, it’s all around us, and we talk about how horrible slavery was a century ago and yet…it’s just a bit more hidden now.
I was happy to see that the author of this novel is herself an older woman. I’ve read a few books lately in which older characters are written by people in their 30s and 40s. Every age of writer has a place in publishing, and I’m always happier when I see older writers doing their thing. We so often celebrate 30 Writers Under Age 30, stuff like that. Okay, but what about 60 Writers Over 60, or some such?
Totally! In fact I’ve noticed a bit of a push back around 40 under 40 lists celebrating people in their careers. People are looking for celebrations of what people do in their older moonlight years, because we should be celebrating accomplishments at all parts in someone’s life. ESpeically in our senior years when it’s harder to do literally everything! LOL
There are also writers who have never published until they are older. Oftentimes, it’s women who raised a family, got the kids out of the house, finished a job, and then retired. Like, they live a whole life before they can FINALLY sit down and write.
This sounds really interesting. I’ve heard statistics around events like the super bowl and human trafficking so it makes sense I guess that the stampede would have some similar results.
Yup, it’s so sad and terrible
What a great way to raise awareness. I’m so intrigued by crime fiction that exposes social injustices.
And, while we’re on the topic of modern-day slavery and as Hallowe’en approaches, the origin stories of those little bite-sized chocolates purchased by the dozens in grocery stores and pharmacies are probably far more horrifying–literally–than most of us want to admit.
So true! Ugh it never ends, the exploitation of people and the environment, all in the name of money :(