Title:	A Death in C Minor
	Author:	Rebecca Yount
	Published:	June 15, 2012, Independent Publisher
	No. of Pages:	304
	Cover Price:	$.99 Kindle

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A Death in C Minor, the first in a series by Rebecca Yount, begins when concert pianist Jessica Beaumont rents a place in Kenwick, a tiny village in Essex, England to get away from several tragedies in her life: her husband left her for another woman, her 10-year old son was killed by a hit and run driver, and while performing, she had a panic attack and had to leave her concert, essentially doing permanent damage to her US career.

Mick Chandra and Elizabeth Chang work at Scotland Yard solving cold cases. Chandra is divorced and has a reputation for being a ladies’ man. As soon as he meets Jess, he becomes obsessed with getting her into bed.

Although the characters are believable, they aren’t particularly likeable – they seem extremely shallow. Jess meets a handsome, rich man at a party shortly after arriving, and sleeps with him that night. Her morals are atrocious and she also sleeps with Chandra. Actually, it seems all of the characters are sleeping around rather than focusing on important things in life, like solving the brutal murder of Peter Chandler that has gone unsolved for over a year. Apparently Chandler was involved in a fraudulent real estate scam along with Adam Marr, the richest man in Kenwick, and owner of most of the land in the village (as well as Jess’ new sleeping partner). Adam Marr is the number one suspect throughout the novel; all clues and evidence point to him, and Chandra is sure he’s the one. In addition, it seems the characters spend most of their time drinking martinis and bushmills - truly a life of alcohol and sex. It's no wonder the murders take over a year to solve.

While the novel is quite well-written, easy to understand, and fast moving, it isn’t for everyone, since many of us like heroes we can look up to. The shallow lives in the village of Kenwick definitely won’t make anyone look up to anyone there or think it’s a charming life and envy the residents.

Anyone who likes novels full of shallow characters who are impossible to relate to will like this novel. There isn’t much written about the concert pianist aspects, which would have made the novel more interesting, and the characters aren’t people we want to know, but there are lots of ups and downs and a surprise ending.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this novel.

This book may be purchased at Amazon:
A Death in C Minor (Mick Chandra Mysteries Book 1)