The Festival Murders
Francis Meadowes, Book 1
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The Festival Murders
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Narrated by:
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Rory Bremner
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By:
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Mark McCrum
A literary festival turns lethal, in this sharp-witted series debut.
"A marvellous set of unsavoury suspects... good, nasty fun with a ring of truth." -The Mail on Sunday, Thriller of the Week
Bryce Peabody is ready to give a scandalous talk at the annual literary festival in the pretty English town of Mold-on-Wold. Scathing in his reviews and unseemly in his affairs, Bryce is known to have many enemies. So when he's discovered dead in his hotel room, festival attendees are desperate to know what happened. Could one of the numerous writers he has insulted have taken revenge? Or perhaps one of his scorned lovers? Soon, author Francis Meadowes is drawn into a role he knows only from his own fiction—that of amateur detective. But will he catch the culprit before more festival-goers meet a grisly end? Brilliantly interpreted by comedian, satirist and impressionist Rory Bremner.
"A rollicking read." -London Evening Standard; "A very engaging literary romp." -The Sydney Morning Herald
"Ingenious." -The Independent.
Chosen for the Independent on Sunday's "Alternative Booker Prize Longlist"
©2026 Caleb and Kyle Publishing Ltd., Bloodhound Books (P)2026 Caleb and Kyle Publishing Ltd.Continue the series
Mark Mccrum gave me a new appetite for this genre. That’s face it, every greedy TV celeb, cookery pundit and gardening expert is jumping aboard the ‘bland’ waggon and knocking out a cosy crime novel. None of them - even the big sellers have been a patch on McCrum’s style, plotting or grasp of dialogue.
I polished off ‘Festival’ on a flight to Cairo, then learned Rory Bremner was voicing it on audible so I got to enjoy it twice - even though I knew who-dun-it by then. And that’s partly the point. The story is so well put together that the final classic denouement is really just the icing. The good stuff is the way we get there.
That said I did work out who the killer about two chapters before the reveal. But the second book set on a cruise is even more sophisticated. I’m half way through it and I’m all at sea. Watch this space.
Bremner is excellent, even with some of the more annoying colloquial accents, of which there is a plethora.
McCrum was very smart to pick a crime scene and atmosphere which he must know well. The reader feels very much at home. But not cosy. That’s really an unfair label for this novel. As I’ve said: it’s better than the majority of works in the genre which define it.
Finally, I loved all the ‘in’ jokes. There’s also some very subtle and very satisfying references and homage to other writers and stories. If you like Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie or Simenon’s Maigret or who will really warm to Francis Meadowes, McCrum’s ‘tec. Meadowes is a mixed race writer of the type of detective stories McCrum’s work ironically rises way above. That felt a little cliched when I started reading. But by the end you realise it’s really another homage and a rather good conceit.
Highly recommended. A very pleasurable way to sit by the fire with a good book or sprawled on the couch (or on an airplane) with your headphones on
A Blast From The Past - With A New Twist
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