Given the preponderance of mysteries built around Agatha Christie, it often feels like every aspect of her life has been plumbed for fictional potential. Cambridge has managed to find one of those few remaining gaps, and the result is a lot of fun! It's so nice to see a story built around Christie that doesn't directly focus on a) her disastrous first marriage and b) her disappearance. (I've always felt like there needs to be more said of Christie and Max Mallowan -- they had such a sweet and charming courtship/adventurous marriage, and it was absolutely what Christie deserved after her heartache early in life.) ALSO, it's so nice to see a Christie mystery where the other folks in her life -- her housekeeper, her butler, the rest of the household staff and local neighbors -- have her best interests at heart and are willing to tackle a murder investigation to help her and her family. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright is a charming leading lady, and the rest of the colorful cast are a lot of fun. The manor house/English countryside setting is well done, and this manages to nicely toe the line between cozy mystery and deeper historical whodunit. A solid starter to a new series, and one I've been recommending to fans of Marie Benedict and Downton Abbey.

3.5 stars.

Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge is a cozy mystery set in the English countryside. The story follows Phyllida Bright, the housekeeper for the famous author Agatha Christie. Phyllida is loyal to and protective of Christie, who is as much a friend as an employer. When a dead body is discovered during a house party at the home of Agatha and her husband Max Mallowan, Phyllida leads the charge to solve the murder, using her keen observation skills and knowledge gleaned from Christie’s novels.

The atmospheric setting captures the essence of a grand manor house with a cast of intriguing characters. Phyllida’s interactions with the staff and guests are engaging, and her sleuthing adds a fun twist. As a former Army nurse, Phyllida reacts with practical common sense to the body on the library floor. It soon becomes clear that the victim arrived at Mallowan Hall under false pretenses. Now, Phyllida not only has a houseful of demanding guests and a distracted, anxious staff to manage but also hordes of reporters camping outside. When another dead body is discovered—this time, it’s one of her housemaids.

However, the pacing is slow, and some plot points feel predictable. The mystery itself, while enjoyable, lacks the complexity found in Christie’s own works. Overall, at just 272 pages, Murder at Mallowan Hall offers a pleasant escape for fans of traditional whodunits but falls short of being truly gripping. While not a huge fan of cozy mysteries, This one wasn’t bad..

** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. The opinions are my own.

I truly loved this book! It was engaging with likeable characters, and moved at a relatively quick pace. I love mysteries and look forward to other books in the series!

As a fan of Agatha Christie and Locked Room Mysteries, this series is just up my alley. I love that Ms, Christie is a character and this takes place in her home. I enjoyed the story and the protagonist as well as other characters and look forward to reading more in the series.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

What a fun mystery! I really enjoyed this Agatha Christie-esque mystery. Phyllida Bright is the housekeeper at Mallowan Hall where Christie lives with her new husband. During a house party a guest is found murdered in the library. Phyllida takes it upon herself to solve the crime. I loved the characters in this, especially the banter between Phyllida and the chauffeur. I did have to suspend belief a few times, but really enjoyed being with Phyllida as she thought through all the evidence and searched for clues. There were quite a few humorous moments that made my reading experience so delightful. I am very excited for book 2 in this new series.

Phyllis’s is not only the head of the household, she is also Agatha Christie’s Freon. When a stranger is murdered in the home, Phyllis’s takes charge of the investigation among the staff and visitors. Who was he and why is he dead? Whose secret did he know?
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This was a cute mystery, and I appreciate Phyllida’s work ethic and dedication to her life, but I wished the action related to the mystery took more focus and moved more quickly.

Took me a while to get through it, but it is definitely a COZY mystery where Downton Abbey kind of meets Agatha Christie. Be warned this is not all mystery, but also a glimpse into a 1930s household. Again, I wish there had been a little more quick pacing and more to the mystery. This book also had a dash of cheekiness.

Definitely took a turn I didn’t expect in the last 100 pages. The downstairs characters were cute and I wish we could get to know each one more (the upstairs ones as well). Felt especially removed from the upstairs people.

Overall enjoyed for a quick cozy read!

I love this idea of having a story written featuring characters that work for Agatha Christie, with one in particular, Phyllida Bright, trying to become the real life detective that Christie writes about.

An enjoyable, cozy, historical murder mystery features a large cast of characters, so pay attention! Looking forward to book 2

It took a bit for me to get into it, but I eventually became hooked on Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge. Agatha Christie is my favorite author of all time, so the premise of this series really appealed to me. However, due to reading more modern cozy mysteries for several years, it took a while to get into this book after I started reading it. I had to again get used to more detail and a slower story. Once I got to about the halfway point, I couldn't put the book down and finished it within 3 days. Phyllida Bright is such a very interesting character. Maybe not as great as Poirot, or even Marple, but still a very good character. I'm actually hoping for a romance between her and Bradford, which isn't normally something I usually care about. It just seems like they have that kind of chemistry. I'm definitely looking forward tob the next book in the series as it did remind me of an Agatha Christie novel.

“Murder at Mallowan Hall,” by Colleen Cambridge (published by Kensington) is the first in a new historical mystery series. Set in the 1930s in the home of Agatha Christie and her second husband, archeologist Max, the protagonist is their housekeeper, Phyllida Bright. She discovers a body in the library and decides to put her own skills to use in solving the mystery.
Phyllida, a former Army nurse, saw a lot during World War I, so her practical nature comes to the fore. That’s good, because they are in the midst of hosting a weekend party to which the guest wasn’t invited, and she must keep the staff and the guests happy.
Another death, this time one of the members of her staff, pushes Phyllida to action. Along with local physician Dr. Bhatt and others, she tries to put together the clues before anyone else is killed, including her.
The writer offers a perfect setting for a mystery.

Murder at Mallowen Hall is a murder mystery that revolves around Agatha Christie’s household staff. Phyllida Bright is Agatha Christie’s housekeeper. During a weekend party at Agatha house, Phyllida finds a dead body in the library. In order to find the killer, Phyllida and her staff observe the party guests to see which one is the murderer. Will Phyllida figure it out or will the murderer get away?

I found it interesting that this new mystery series does not revolve around Agatha Christie herself but her household staff. Phyllida Bright is a major fan of Agatha Christie’s novels. She often references her works throughout the novel. Even though she is an employee of Agatha Christie, they have a close friendship. Phyllida looks up to her, and Agatha Christie feels more like her mentor. Phyllida is very bright and observant. Her flaws that are mentioned throughout the novel is that she is prejudiced and mostly relies on first impressions. Nevertheless, Phyllida was a fun character.

Overall, this novel is a combination of a classic Agatha Christie novel and Downton Abbey. I found the characters to be very interesting and fun. The murder mystery is pretty clever. Because there are many suspicious characters, I was pulled into many directions until the actual murderer was revealed. Because I did not suspect the murderer until the end, I found it to be surprising and delightful. I also loved the scenes with Agatha Christie! Thus, Murder at Mallowen Hall is a light cozy mystery that will be sure to please Agatha Christie fans! I am excited to read the sequel to see what happens next to Phyllida and the rest of Agatha Christie’s household staff! I recommend this novel for fans of Death Below the Stairs, Murder Will Out, and The Woman on the Orient Express!

Murder at Mallowan Hall is the first book in a new mystery series by Colleen Cambridge in which Phyllida Bright - housekeeper to Agatha Christie - solves mysteries while also being a close friend and confidante to her famous mistress. I knew I would enjoy this as I loved the authors Stoker and Holmes series and Gardella Vampires series which she publishes under the name Colleen Gleason. Her writing style is very addictive and easy to read and you become immersed in her writing.

I also love Poirot and Marple mysteries and this is written in a very similar style and I loved that our amateur sleuth is working for the great mystery writer herself and creator of Poirot and Marple - its such a fantastic idea and well executed. The mystery aspect was really interesting and I had no idea who the killer was...

My only criticism would be that the storyline dragged a little towards the end of the book but apart from that this was a brilliant and enjoyable mystery - thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this boo

Lovers of Agatha Christie and whodunit murder mysteries, rejoice!

We'll never get any new Christie novels, but this book might be the next best thing.

Meet Phyllida Bright, a fully competent but thoroughly unorthodox housekeeper who just happens to work for the celebrated mystery novelist Agatha Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, at their beautiful country estate, Mallowan Hall.

This story opens as Mrs. Bright finds--gasp!--a body in the library. And later that same day, another murder! Of course, the house is full of guests and servants (what kind of whodunit would it be otherwise) and the constable and inspector assigned to the case are just short of bumbling. Mrs. Bright, a huge fan of her employer's hero, Hercule Poirot, decides that she has plenty of fully-functioning "little gray cells" of her own, and sets about investigating.

Mrs. Bright uses her position to snoop about the house, going through people's luggage and combing through their trash, while using the maids' gossip and a few thoughtful conversations with Mrs. Christie herself to help her untangle the twisted web of not one murder but two.

Bringing some decidedly modern opinions into a 1930's-era household, Mrs. Bright holds her own against a snooty butler, a brusque chauffeur, and a lecherous guest while keeping a matronly watch over the young footmen, valets, and maids under her supervision and care.

In the end, of course, she'll figure out who did it. And, thanks to a close friendship with the world's leading writer of detective fiction, Mrs. Bright will even get the completely unrealistic but loved-in-the-literary-world denouement scene that old Agatha was so fond of writing into her stories.

A fun little mystery romp, and obviously meant to be the "real life" story that inspires Christie's The Body in the Library, this book will be enjoyed by all those readers who love a good murder as long as it doesn't make them late for tea and biscuits.

I think this book suffers from the first book syndrome of a mystery series. I begin in this fashion because one of the hangups of this book which stuck out to me from the very beginning was the over explanations.
The story is based in the home of Agatha Christie, now happily married to Max Mallowan. Her head housekeeper, our lead protagonist and (maybe)amateur sleuth, is a Phyllida Bright. She is a woman with a mysterious past, made even more evident by the numerous mentions of how much we yet do not know about her. I may sound a little too annoyed, but this is something I have encountered before and developed a tolerance for it. Thankfully, the author follows up by showing us all the ways that she lives up to the secret skills she may be holding on to.
There is a murder of an unexpected guest in the house, and everyone is a suspect.
The investigation is done thoroughly by our leading lady, with Phyllida losing faith in the detective in charge quite early on. She details her entire thought process to the readers and keeps us in the loop. I liked the overall book mostly because the plot felt plausible, and the mystery at the heart of the story was satisfying.
I would make up my mind about continuing with this series based on how the next one turns out to be.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

This is a new historical series about the head housekeeper of the home of Agatha Christie and her husband.

A murder happens and it is up to Phyllidia to solve it.

I wasn't enthralled with the actual book. More with the idea of it.

First off, be prepared to get to know quite a large number of characters. Aside from Agatha Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, there are the servants (I counted 15, not including the lead character Phyllida), PLUS the visiting guests (8, not including the victim), PLUS the guests’ servants (4), PLUS the police (2), PLUS various other side characters (victim’s friend, vicar, doctor, pub owner, etc, etc, etc).

Whew! That’s at least 30 named characters (there’s probably more, I kind of lost track and I was taking notes!). It may sound overwhelming but after a while, a lot of the more minor characters kind of faded into the background or you were reminded of what their role was whenever they were mentioned in the story.

While it was tough to get to know any of the characters very well, the ones that you do come to know are obviously the ones that mean the most to the mystery. Most importantly, we get to know Phyllida, who is very capable, efficient and clever, but is a bit judgemental and is hiding secrets of her own (not all of which are revealed by the end of the book).

I particularly enjoyed the setting of the book – Mallowan Hall is wonderfully described and seems like the perfect place to set a murder mystery. It’s a perfect balance of old English ways and new modern conveniences so makes murder solving interesting. I love historical cozy mysteries like this!

We jump right into the murder (the first paragraph!) and then spend the rest of the book getting to know the characters and trying to solve the mystery. There’s a second murder a little later on that adds to the urgency but I found the story never lost its momentum. Books that are the first in a series always have to work extra hard because they need to introduce all the new characters and the location, so I think Murder at Mallowan Hall does a great job of setting up the series, especially considering how many characters there are. It never feels bogged down, but more like a bustling, active household.

I found the pacing just right – I was never bored and the story kept me reading (even though I had to take multiple breaks to jot down notes) and the twists were enough to keep me guessing until the end (got it wrong twice!).

Not surprisingly, Agatha, and her husband, Max, don’t play much of a role in the story or the mystery-solving, remaining in the background. Agatha acts as a friend and sounding-board to Phyllida, but prefers to stay relatively quiet about the whole thing and Max is basically only seen as the host to his guests. The main protagonist is definitely Phyllida and she shines in her role, along with a few developing allies that I’m sure will become stronger sleuthing partners as the series goes on.

As for Phyllida herself, I liked her character but she has some flaws. There’s obviously some hidden secrets in her past that (hopefully) will be revealed in future stories but she is a very capable and efficient women who runs the household staff with a firm but not unkind hand. I enjoyed her dealings with the various staff and guests because it really showed the different class status and personalities of the other characters without having to spend too much time on each of them. I did find Phyllida a tiny bit arrogant (perhaps it’s just misguided confidence) and her low opinion of the local police seems to stem mainly from their looks and the way police are portrayed in many mystery books (bumbling idiots would be putting it kindly), which made her come off as a bit judgemental. But neither negative trait was enough to really put a damper into Phyllida as a character and I liked that she could take care of herself but wasn’t perfect.

And my favourite bit – while there are obvious mentions of Agatha Christie’s books during this story (Poirot is something of a hero to Phyllida), one thing I really enjoyed were the more subtle hints to other Christie books. As a Christie fan, I absolutely loved recognising them. For example, several incidents in Murder at Mallowan Hall cause the character Agatha Christie to muse about writing it into a future story – one that is easily recognised as The Body in the Library. I can only hope this happens throughout the series with different Christie books because it was delightful.

*** Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Books, for providing me with an e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

Colleen Cambridge’s cozy takes place in Agatha Christie’s household with her housemaid as detective. The protagonist Phyllida Bright is smart and observant and doesn’t take anyone’s nonsense. Aside from a slightly long denouement, this book was an enjoyable historical mystery read.

Murder at Mallowan Hall introduces us to Phyllida Bright, housekeeper for Agatha Christie and Max Mallowan and I certainly hope we get to see much more of her!

A house party is being held at Mallowan Hall and unfortunately, in the midst of the party a murder is committed. Phyllida, while overseeing the anxious and gossiping household staff, must also ensure all the guests are taken care of while the murder is investigated. Phyllida, deciding that something must be done to help the local constabulary, channels Hercule Poirot and determines to help with the investigation. Through considerable investigation and putting together the pieces of the puzzle, Phyllida is indeed able to determine who murdered the guest, even uncovering clues that the detective has missed. In the end, the criminal is revealed in a very Christie esque denouement.

The above paragraph is a very simple synopsis for a marvelously written mystery. Being an avid Christie reader there were times as I was reading this book that it seemed Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple could appear at any minute! Phyllida is competent, personable, efficient and bright, as her last name (and red hair) would indicate. She is a mystery as well, as she is a nurse friend of Agatha's from the war, who has a past she is unwilling to share nor does she want it discovered - very intriguing! The book does not focus on the houseguests, but on the staff and their interactions with each other. As Phyllida investigates she continues to run the house, leading to many entertaining exchanges with the blustering cook, the rakish footman, the nervous maids, the gruff new chauffeur and even the butler who may feel a little intimidated by Phyllida.

The mystery is complex, and there are many possible suspects given the interactions the guests had with one another, including the one murdered, prior to their venture to Mallowan Hall. The identity of the criminal is unknown until the end, as Phyllida uncovers these otherwise unknown facts resulting in many clues and many red herrings.

Murder at Mallowan Hall is a wonderful start to a new series. I will look forward to reading many more stories of Phyllida's detecting prowess!

I really enjoyed reading this mystery. The mystery is set in Agatha Christie's fictional country estate. During a house party Phyllida Bright, the head housekeeper, stumbles across a dead body in the library. Working with Agatha and the police she sets out to solve the murder. I really enjoyed the setting and the characters. The mystery was very good with lots of suspects and the solution made sense. I look for word to reading the next book in the series and uncovering more mysteries.