FeaturedCozy Mysteries

Fowl Murder

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With a great and vivid Kenyan setting and a realistic mature amateur sleuth, there's a lot to love in this new cozy mystery series.

FOWL MURDER is the first book in a new cozy mystery series, the Kenya Kanga Mystery series, by author Victoria Tait, and features the amateur sleuthing abilities of 60-something “Mama Rose” Hardie, and her young friend, Thabiti Onyango. They are supported by other great characters such as the caught-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place police commissioner, Akida, the mysterious Sam, the barman, and newcomer-to-Kenya, Chloe. The author has Rose feel her age and describes her aches, pains, and fatigue (she has arthritis), and this made her feel that much more real to me. In addition, like many wives of her age and at this stage of their lives, she’s dealing with the gradual decline of an aging spouse. Again, this helped bring this character to life for me. I could relate, and appreciated this realistic portrayal.


The Kenyan setting with the descriptions of the beauty of Mount Kenya, the dryness of the surrounding area, and the consequences of the lack of rainfall were fascinating, as were the little details of everyday life there. The portrayal had me feeling the heat and dust and grit. I liked the sprinkling of Kiswahili words throughout and often referred to the helpful glossary explaining them at the end of the book.


“Mama Rose” is a keen observer of people and understands human nature. She is a well-known and well-liked member of the community, so people talk to her. She takes the various threads of information she gathers and weaves together the solution to the problems she’s investigating in a logical, straightforward way. There were a couple of good possible suspects to cross off the list, and her investigation took care of some of them while subsequent events eliminated others for her. The book was a gratifying reading experience.


I recommend this book to cozy mystery readers in general but especially to those that have read and enjoyed the Alexander McCall Smith series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. I look forward to more in series myself.


I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

Reviewed by

I love to read and hook up others with books that they might enjoy. I like genre fiction with a weakness for cozies, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, and westerns. My professional background is in law enforcement, fire, water, and environmental education. I have basset hounds and ham radio is a hobby.

Chapters 1-4

About the author

Victoria Tait was born in Yorkshire, UK, and never expected to travel the world. She’s drawn on her experiences following her military husband to write cozy murder mystery books with determined female sleuths. You’ll experience surprises, humour and sometimes, a tug on your heart strings. view profile

Published on July 17, 2020

Published by

60000 words

Genre: Cozy Mysteries

Reviewed by