...a gem!

Cherringham - Murder on Thames: A Cosy Crime Series (Cherringham ENG)  by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards 

This was fun. A murder mystery, with a difference. Sort of Midsummer Murders meets Jesse Stone. The yank in the sleepy English village puts his finger on it when he notes that, 'sweet old Cherringham maybe not so cosy and innocent.' And thus a series is born. Ah! Those deceptive English villages!     

Jack is a retired New York detective who's made home a canal boat in England, a dream he and his deceased wife had planned. Sarah is a single mother, returned with her children to her home village after a messy divorce. The death of Sarah's best friend Sammi unites these two as they search for the reason behind Sammi's demise.
The writing is vivid and I had no trouble visualizing Jack's boat moored at the canal, feeling with sympathy Jack's careful driving down those English country lanes surrounded by hedges, those lazy English pubs, and rambling paths alongside rivers.
40 minutes to an hour and you've read a smart short story. With more episodes to follow over a year, it's a monthly gift to yourself or someone else. A serial, much like those that some magazines used to run years ago. An older, simple concept that plays well with eBooks.

A NetGalley ARC