annieb123
Written on Oct 5, 2022
Murder at the Castle is the second Belinda Penshurst village cozy Lisa Cutts. Released 8th Dec 2021, it's 274 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free along with the other books in the series.
This was a very good second-book and a solid small village cozy. The author is a technically adept writer and provides necessary backstory without info-dumping. The narrative is lighthearted, including an ensemble cast of oddball small-town characters. The "over the top" characters and dialogue were always on the right side of charming and didn't shade over into annoying or yank me out of my suspension of disbelief, so it was a fun read. Amateur sleuth Belinda, castle-dwelling, clever, and single minded, is determined to save "her" village (she's upper class and quite to the manner born). Poisonings at a wine tasting she'd arranged are simply not on and she's determined to get to the bottom of things tout de suite.
Charming, diverting, and well written. I intend to seek out future volumes in the series. A strong four star read. The mystery, plot, and denouement are self contained, so reading the series out of order wouldn't be problematic. There are now three books extant, so it would be a good candidate for a mini-binge read for a cozy weekend. The series will appeal to fans of M.C. Beaton, and Diane Mott Davidson.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.