Reviewed by Jeanne
American Molly Kimball loves living in Cambridge,
England. She helps manage the family
bookstore, the centuries old Thomas Marlowe, and is dating Kieran Scott, a
handsome bike shop owner who is also the son of a titled family. In fact, Molly has been hired to inventory
the Scott family library, an incredible collection of rare books, the crown
jewel of which is an eighteenth century manuscript of The Fatal Folio authored
by “Selwyn Scott.” It was a popular book in its day and still interests gothic
scholars, including Kieran’s cousin Oliver who teaches at a nearby college. Oliver is hoping to get a promotion, but his
chances are dimmed when a student files a complaint against him—and then the
student ends up dead. While the police
are investigating, it’s Molly who may be able to pull all the clues together to
expose the killer.
This is the third in the Cambridge
Bookshop Mystery series, but it can be read as a standalone title. I think it’s the best in the series so far,
since the author has firmly established her characters and location which means
there’s not a lot of time wasted explaining things. Molly is comfortable, and this makes the
reader comfortable. There’s some
romance, great settings well described (I want to visit that library!), and of
course an intriguing mystery. Actually,
there’s more than one and I found them all interesting.
Part of one mystery is the authorship of the “Selwyn Scott”
book, since the name was a pseudonym for a member of the family. Molly reads a copy of The Fatal Folio
during the course of the book, searching for clues to the author’s identity, so
the reader has a story within a story. I
have to say that in some books I have found this annoying, but Penney made the
gothic novel entertaining and also helped with the overall atmosphere of the
modern story.
I did figure out whodunit before the denouement, but I was
enjoying the other elements so much that didn’t bother me.
I’ve read the previous two books in the series and enjoyed
them. In order they are:
Chapter and Curse
A Treacherous Tale
The Fatal Folio
Madrigals and Mayhem (due out
November 2024)
No comments:
Post a Comment