A little good humored satire of the English plus a mystery set in cosy England. ( )

The Cosy Knave is an e-book, an English cosy mystery written by a Danish author. Jakobsen must be a descendant of both Victor Borge and Charles Dickens. She's a very funny writer, and she creates Dickensian names that add to the humor. That isn't all, though. She has written a very good story in this book.

The village of Knavesborough is all atwitter as the story begins because Sir Marco Bellini, a violinist who lost three fingers in an accident, has moved back to his hometown and bought Netherdale Manor. Not only that, he has brought along a young man who is purportedly his butler. Imagine that!

When Bellini has his first party at the manor, absolutely everyone goes including our heroine Rhapsody Gershwin, her friend Evy Wensleydale, and Evy's Aunt Rose Walnut-Whip. (What did I tell you about the names?) At the party Rose wanders around looking the place over and then she becomes violently ill. What an embarrassment. Four days later the Wensleydale's have a party for friends to watch an important soccer match on their big screen television set. Rose comes, just recovering, and is murdered.

Before long, a second victim has been pushed perhaps off a castle tower. Jack Warburton, the victim, was long ago Rose's fiance who left her at the altar. His body is found by Arnold Kickinbottom while picking mushrooms. Curiouser and curiouser.

I enjoyed Rhapsody, whose sister is Psalmonella (!), and her fiance Constable Archibald Penrose. Rhapsody is a librarian, the vicar's daughter, and good at helping Archie solve crimes. There is one hilarious scene where poor Rhapsody has a few drinks and ends up blotto. Even her father has to chuckle.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes their mysteries with a little clever humor. Knavesborough is just full of quirky characters and they all play a role in the story. ( )

As the author knows, humorous cozies are not quite my thing, but there's a lot like about THE COSY KNAVE.

The setting is the village of Knavesborough in Yorkshire and the various matches in the Soccer World Cup are being streamed onto a big plasma screen in Ye Cosy Knave the local tea shoppe. In fact the first murder takes place while locals are watching a match, and the victim is one of the audience. England's chances are still alive at this stage and Constable Archie Penrose's superior officer is determined that nothing will spoil his viewing of future matches.

If you enjoy traditional cozy mysteries with a touch of humour then you'll enjoy this carefully crafted, imaginatively written one. There are plenty of red herrings and the names of the characters have been carefully chosen, tickling the imagination at regular intervals.The threads are all resolved at the end with great panache. ( )