ARC Review: A Fatal Booking by Victoria Gilbert

A Fatal Booking
Author: Victoria Gilbert
Series: A Booklover's B&B Mystery (Book 3)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (June 7, 2022)

Description: Victoria Gilbert’s third Booklover’s B&B Mystery, a treat for fans of Mary Daheim and Kate Carlisle, finds owner Charlotte Reed and her former spy neighbor, Ellen Montgomery, pitted against a tea-party poisoner.

Booklover Charlotte is delighted to welcome an eclectic group of guests to Chapters Bed and Breakfast for a book club retreat focused on fairy tales and classic children’s literature. But when one of the guests is poisoned at a Mad Hatter tea party, Charlotte realizes she’s fallen down a rather unpleasant rabbit hole

The victim – an opinionated busybody whose jewelry store sold original designs, along with some possibly “hot” merchandise – had plenty of enemies, spurring Charlotte and Ellen to offer their well-honed investigative skills to assist the local police. But as they delve deeper into each of the guest’s stories, they realize all of them had a motive, and the means, to close the book on the unfortunate victim.

Enlisting the aid of a few local residents, as well as their new ally, agent Gavin Howard, Charlotte and Ellen vow to reveal the truth, even if the path to any sort of happy ending is strewn with deadly danger.

My Thoughts: Booklover and innkeeper Charlotte Reed gets a chance to play amateur investigator again when one of the book club that has reserved her inn is found murdered in the garden. 

The inn has been reserved by a one of Charlotte's former teaching colleagues. Lana has become an art teacher and illustrator of children's books. The group of disparate individuals will be taking part in all sorts of events from a Mad Hatter's tea party to various lectures. Charlotte quickly notices that all is not well with the group. It seems like most of them are at odds with one another and most are at odds with the victim. 

The victim was almost universally disliked. Her jewelry store had a reputation for dealing with questionable goods and her own reputation for honest dealing is unlikely. Two of the fellow attendees have had their jewelry designs stolen by the victim. Another attendee's son was falsely accused of theft from the jewelry store. 

Charlotte and her neighbor Ellen who happens to be a former spy are kept busy looking into the various members of the book group to try to discover who has the most reason to want the victim dead. It doesn't help that one of the attendees is Ellen's former acquaintance who was a college friend before their friendship abruptly ended. 

This was a fun cozy with lots of interesting characters and lots for Charlotte and Ellen to investigate. I also liked the assist from Charlotte's boyfriend who is also a spy. Fans of the previous books in the series will enjoy this newest adventure.

Favorite Quote:

"Today's the Mad Hatter tea party. Complete with costumes, if you can believe that."

"How...immersive," Ellen said, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "I hope you didn't have to supply those."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.