annieb123
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
The Murder Museum is the second Beth Haldane cozy by Alice Castle. Originally published in 2017 (as The Girl in the Gallery), this reformat and re-release from 22nd Aug 2022 is 274 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently available to borrow and read for free. The other books in the series are also currently available on KU.
This is a competently written and engaging amateur sleuth mystery featuring an archivist who takes to sleuthing to help solve the mystery of a near-murder of a young girl in the art gallery she's stopped in on her way to work as an archivist at a local upper end school. The writing is engaging and the mystery is quite readable. I liked the protagonist and the author does a good job with the settings and descriptions.
The dialogue is a bit rough and uneven in places but overall, it's an entertaining and readable cozy mystery. There are 8 books extant in the series currently (and all are available as part of the kindle unlimited library service), so it would make a good choice for a binge read for fans of light cozies. The mystery, denouement, and resolution are satisfying and well wrought, and self-contained in this volume so it would also work perfectly well as a standalone read.
Four stars. Worth a look for fans of J.R. Ellis, Faith Martin, and Merryn Allingham.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.