Isn’t it always the way? You lose your phone after a boozy bingo night in Manchester, so you go and get a replacement from the local dodgy purveyor of second hand items at the local allotment, only to receive a text message – I KNOW YOU’VE KILLED HIM!

Rather than going to the police, however, Amita Khatri, stalwart of the local bingo club and erstwhile sleuth, decides to track down the sender with the help of her son-in-law, journalist Jason and grumpy ex-copper Frank. Finding the sender isn’t the end of the matter though. It seems that Dr Fran Weaver, an academic, has disappeared without trace. And he’s not the only one…

So, back into modern cosy territory. As I’ve said before, I’ve had very pleasant surprises from the pen of Rosemary Shrager and Antony Johnston, when their celebrity chef/dog sitter mysteries remembered to provide fairly clued mysteries, rather than having the sleuth identifying the villain by the subtle clue of them trying to kill our hero. So I thought I’d try another of the recent series, namely this, the Bingo Hall Detectives.

Which is an odd title, because there isn’t that much bingo in the story. I was expected a whole band of bingo enthusiasts chasing after the villain, but it’s just Amrita and two non-bingoers. There is a mystery regarding the disappearance of the bingo money, but I’d advise the armchair sleuth not to get too invested in this plotline.

There also isn’t a vast amount of gardening either, but I guess the title had to be something.

I’m torn on this one. I felt a little as if I was coming in at episode four (which I was, as this is the fourth book) and had trouble getting a handle on the supporting cast. Jason seemed a tad argumentative and Frank, well, I was at a bit of a loss why they thought he’d be much help. I imagine with more backstory from the first three books, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

Having said that, it’s a cracking idea for a set-up – a second-hand phone with messages from a killer. Who owned the phone before? Will the killer find the new owner? There is something very clever about the resolution to the mystery, the reason why something happens, but unless I missed something, for the most part it’s a guessing game rather than a logic problem for the reader to piece together. Not that this is an issue, it’s just not my preference. There’s the old chestnut of a clue in a photograph that we can’t see as well, and a few more viable suspects would have helped.

I imagine that if you enjoyed the first three books, then you’ll know what to expect from this one. It’s a lot better than some of the cosy mysteries that I’ve come across, those about bright young girls set in the Golden Age and it does what it does well. Maybe at some point I’ll go back to the first book to take a look when I’ve got a bit more reading time.

The Garden Club Murders is out this Thursday from HarperNorth. Many thanks for the review e-copy via NetGalley.