annieb123
Written on Aug 3, 2019
Murder at Royale Court is the second book in a cozy series by GP Gardner. Released 4th June 2019 by Kensington, it's 229 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.
Mysteries are probably my favorite genre. I love cozies, gritty procedurals, golden age interwar British country house classics; bring 'em on! I was unfamiliar with this author previously, but loved the cover and premise (bonus points for yarn shops with cat). It was a quick and entertaining read.
Despite the cover, the plot is only tangentially associated with a fibrearts shop. The MC, Cleo, is a late middle aged early retiree who has moved to Alabama and taken a job working as an executive director at the retirement village where she also lives. Most of the plot is centered around her managing a large antique collectible car show and a series of lectures for the residents of her residential complex.
The plot and story arc are easy to follow and are paced well . The murder is bloodless and happens off page. There is a chaste romance element (one kiss, nothing graphic). and the language is very clean. Nothing to scandalize. There are a couple places in the text where a secondary character says 'gee-dee' and (I counted) 7 'damns' but nothing worse than that. The characterizations are, if a trifle formulaic, easy to follow and keep straight in context. All in all this is a solidly entertaining cozy mystery which will appeal to fans of the genre. The author plays by the rules with regards to the clues and the denouement is satisfying.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
