A call from an old colleague has DI Adams off her patch and out of her depth, investigating a mysterious new beer with unexpected side effects. Side effects far more dangerous than a simple hangover.

Deadly brewers. Super-powered DJs. Raging florists.

And it’s not just them. Half the police in Yorkshire have fallen for the beer’s spell, and Adams is barely keeping a step ahead. If she doesn’t figure this out before festival opening night the whole county will be under the influence of Niddered Ale, and there’ll be no sobering up from it.

Not ever.

IN A NUTSHELL
This was an entertaining mix of mystery, magic, mild riot and gentle humour. It was a relaxing read that kept me engaged and curious and made me smile. There aren’t many books that can manage that, but Kim Watt made it seem effortless.

I’ve been on a bit of a Kim Watt binge for the past six months. I’ve tried three of her series and the DI Adams ones are my favourite. DI Adams has been a character in the cosy-mysteries-with-Dragons-and-the-village-W.I.- ladies Beaufort Scales Mysteries but I’ve enjoyed watching her operate outside of Toot Hansell in ‘What Happened In London‘ and ‘All Out Of Leeds‘. I like Adams’ pragmatism and her determination to impose order (arrest people) even when faced with non-human magical creatures that she’d rather not have to accept the existence of. I’ve been amused by her slow, reluctant slide into being THE police officer who everyone knows is the one who deals with the weird stuff so no one else has to be contaminated by it.

In ‘Trouble Brewing In Harrogate‘, Adams has transferred from Leeds to Skipton, has a partner who, courtesy of the events in ‘Yule Be Sorry‘ and by way of having an aunt who is a member of the Toot Hansell W.I,, knows a little about the magical Folk who most people fail to see, and she has a new boss who is more tolerant of her extra duties.

I liked that Adams struggles almost as much with the realities of being a rural police officer as she does with her deepening involvement with the Folk. Both world’s are alien to her and both of them are environments she’d wouldn’t normally choose to spend time in.

The plot revolves around a beer festival in Harrogate where beer from a local craft beer brewery is causing the locals, including local police officers of all ranks, to behave in bizarre and often violent ways. I loved the side effects of the beer, especially what happened to the DJ. I know I should feel sorry for him but, hey, he was a local radio DJ so I thought his curse was well deserved. 

I like that the DI Adams’ stories are a little edgier, a little more violent, and a little more complicated than the Beaufort Scales Mysteries. By the last quarter of ‘Trouble Brewing In Harrogate’, the nature of the Folk involved was clear but I was still deeply curious about what the bad guys were trying to achieve and how they were going to pull it off. There was also a slowly escalating sense of threat, albeit one offset by the increasingly bizarre behaviour of various senior police officers. The resolution worked for me. It wrapped up the details and moved Adams on as a character. 

I had a good time with this book. I understand that there’ll be another book later this year. I’m already looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I’ll be reading some DI Adams short stories that are available as free downloads from Kim Watt’s website HERE