ARC Review: Madrigals and Mayhem by Elizabeth Penney

Madrigals and Mayhem
Author: Elizabeth Penney
Series: The Cambridge Bookshop Series (Book 4)
Publication: Minotaur Books (November 26, 2024)

Description: In Madrigals and Mayhem, the fourth in Elizabeth Penney's charming Cambridge Bookshop series, Molly Kimball finds that even the holidays can come with a healthy dose of mystery.

Molly is eager to experience her first English Christmas with family and friends now that she's adjusted to her move to Cambridge and her restoration of her family’s ancestral bookshop, Thomas Marlowe―Manuscripts and Folios. When local toyshop Pemberly’s Emporium reopens, Molly is excited to meet the new owner, Charlotte Pemberly, who is determined to make the toy store a success after unexpectedly becoming her grandfather Arthur’s sole heir.

Arthur's new wife Althea Winters and her unpleasant family loathe Charlotte for inheriting what they believe was theirs and have set their sights on a valuable Madame Alexander doll that's gone missing. When Althea's grandson is poisoned by cakes from Tea & Crumpets, Charlotte becomes the top suspect. Molly believes Charlotte was the intended victim and investigates the Pemberly’s home, only to discover that Arthur had been murdered.

To get closer to this treacherous family, Molly and her boyfriend Kieran go undercover by volunteering to act and sing for a madrigal dinner directed by Althea and her daughter at St. Hildegard’s College. Molly must help her new friend clear her name while searching for the missing doll and wrangling her own family during the chaotic holiday festivities at the bookshop.

My Thoughts: When the local toyshop reopens after the death of the owner, Molly is pleased to make a new friend in the owner's granddaughter Charlotte who has taken over the store. However, neither of them expects to find a gravely ill intruder when Charlotte gives Molly a tour. 

Molly soon gets involved in solving a mystery as Christmas nears. Charlotte's relatives were angry that her grandfather left everything to her including the clues to the location of a very valuable doll. But no one thought they were angry enough to try to kill her. 

As Molly investigates, she finds herself stumbling onto clues and additional crimes. Meanwhile, she is busy finding books about dollhouses for a display that echoes the historical dollhouse in the toy store's window. The book within a book in this episode deals with a grief-stricken child and the dollhouse figures who try to ease her sorrow.

I enjoy this series which is set in Cambridge. I like that Molly and her mother are making a new life for themselves in England working in a bookstore that has been in the family since the 1600s. 

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