I highly recommend this for any fan of cozy English mysteries, Midsomer Murder, Father Brown or Shakespeare & Hathaway. If you ever added up the dead bodies in Midsomer Murders, you’d expect the villages to be empty. This “tongue in cheek” warning explains the places, people and events to avoid.
The Churchyard - Technically, you’re supposed to be dead before you end up here, but villagers aren’t strict about this.
The Village Fete - It’s like The Hunger Games, but dangerous.
The drawings have a fabulous Edward Gordy feel to them.
This is great fun and a wonderful way to spend an hour chuckling away.
My thanks to netgalley and Ten Speed Press for an advance copy of this book.

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village
by Maureen Johnson (Author), Jay Cooper (Illustrator)

Having binge watched all the seasons of Midsomer Murders from our Texas home in the desert, I felt like this book would be for me. From my TV viewing, I know how dangerous the county English locales can be, that old folks are as likely to skewer you as to offer you tea (which is probably poisoned). Danger is lurking everywhere and the safer things look the more likely you'll die a violent, gruesome, embarrassing death.

This book literally illustrates the dangers so well, leaving out nothing and reveling in bad taste, bad manners, and bad people to press home the fact that if you have the misfortune of reading this book in a quaint English village, it's too late, your days are numbered, and you are soon to be buried where no one will find your body. I've never been so glad to stay home and NOT visit a quaint English village.

Thank you to Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

If you love cozy British mysteries book or TV series like Agatha Raisin, Father Brown, Miss Marple, Midsomer Murders, etc. you need to pick this book up. My family and I have joked for years that it seems pretty dangerous to live in any of these charming English towns.
The book can easily be read in one sitting or you could spread it out and just read an entry at a time to prolong the fun. It is too funny - macabre essays with Edmund Gorey style illustrations that will make you laugh out loud and shudder all at once. The guidebook style is also particularly fun and truly makes me question whether I should visit consider visiting any bucolic villages on my dream trip to England one day.

A very enjoyable afternoon read, preferably a dark and stormy afternoon!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the perfect little book to gift to any lover of cozy mysteries, Midsommer Murders, Miss Marple and the like…… I laughed at loud at this little charmer. It gently pokes fun at all the tropes we know and love, from all our favorite village set mysteries. And the illustrations and quizzes make this that perfect stocking stuffer. Recommended.

"Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village" is the perfect gift for the mystery fan in your life. Grimly and hilariously illustrated, Johnson's field guide is a wonderfully dark journey through the common tropes of an English village murder mystery.

Thank you Ten Speed Press and NetGalley for an e-arc of "Your guide to not getting murdered in a quaint English village."
I finally got to read this title after putting it off because I didn't know how long it would take me to finish. I decided to give it 15 minutes to start and see where it was going to take me. This is a FAST read. Within 45 minutes I finished it the first time. I really enjoyed going back to other sections to look at the artwork and re-read it. The vicar sounds like the most concerning person in a quaint English village. Next to "Oh, it's you."
I loved the black and white pictures with a splash of red throughout this book. It really helps to support the short sections about each person or location in this quaint English village. The tone of the book is very conversational, almost like a concerned friend issuing their warning. I will say that I only managed to survive one of the quizzes, and even that one I felt like there was no actual survival option, which added to the fun of this read.

I will be recommending this title for my library. Maureen Johnson's books are well-loved in our library and I can see this one joining the already well-loved titles of our collection. This was also a short, fast, fun read which is often an area where I struggle with readers advisory because it feels like there aren't many coming out that check off those boxes.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!

This book is very amusing. It will appeal most to fans of Agatha Christie, Edward Gorey and books about adorable little villages with an undercurrent of evil. I especially enjoyed the quizzes (according to one of them, I am dead).

This would make a great gift for fans of the mystery genre.

I'm a big Maureen Johnson fan, so when I saw this title with its quirky concept, I was immediately drawn to it. It's a very quick read, and it made me giggle throughout as I am a long-time reader of English cozy and locked-room mysteries. The illustrations are fabulous and a perfect complement to the snarky descriptions of the characters, settings, buildings, and activities encountered in your stereotypical village mystery. It was a quick and fun homage to the genre and I really enjoyed it!

I was really looking forward to this book as I love Maureen Johnson. This book was not what I expected as while it was writing in a manual, the story was told in a roundabout way. It was fun and very tongue in cheek, but it was a hard read for me.

An adorable parody on cozy mysteries, complete with fun pictures! This is your complete guide to make sure that you do not get murdered in a quaint English "murder" village." Basically, stay away. But if you must visit (because let's face it, English villages are idyllic) this book should help you on your way to not getting yourself killed. Trust no one! Especially not the vicar. And do not visit the Manor house. All kinds of crazy characters are living there. Ugh, just don't go ok? But if you do, please take this book very seriously. ;)

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this fun little e-arc.*

I think this is a really charming book if you enjoy watching detective stories (my mum loves them, so I've seen more than one episode of Comisario Montalbano, Father Brown, Vera, among others).
It poked fun at the tropes those stories use (such as the locations in which murder was commited or where there were hidden bodies, or what role somebody of a certain profession usually takes during a crime). I liked the way the illustrator used only a few colours so the red would be what you focus on. There are a few quizzes to see if you've learned from the advice that was given, and answers that were a little bit reminiscent of Choose your own adventure books

Something to read while on holiday on a dull day in a remote, innocuous-looking village, to cheer you up. The tongue-in-cheek humor will have you smirking and eyebrow lifting in no time flat with its "cheery" thriller prose. Watch your back. Watch your front; side, top, bottom; your step...uh-oh...you were instructed to follow the guide!

~Eunice C., Reviewer/Blogger~

August 2021

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy given by the publisher.

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This is a delightful and funny book. It takes the conceit of shows like Midsomer Murders and exposes it to the analysis it deserves. There were many points at which the illustrations and accompanying text by Maureen made me belly laugh. If you want a quick and funny read, you can't go wrong with this book.

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village by Maureen Johnson and illustrated by Jay Cooper is a very highly recommended, hilarious guide that would make a perfect gift for anyone who enjoys British mysteries, especially cozy mysteries.

As a cozy mystery lover, you are finally taking that long awaited trip to England and look forward to seeing the quaint villages you have read about for years. There are some important things to consider and thankfully there is this guide to help you decide and plan your course of action. As Johnson points out in the introduction, "It is possible that you will find yourself in a placid and tedious little corner of England; it is just as possible that you will end up in an English Murder Village." You won't know if it is a murder village until it is too late, and that is precisely where this handy illustrated guide will help you find your way through the traps that await you at every turn and hopefully keep you alive. For example "The Village Shop: It sells cheese, stamps, and death." The author warns you that the best course of action is to stay in the urban areas, stay out of the countryside and continue on with your life.But if you decide to venture forth, hopefully the guide will help you survive.

This entertaining, hilarious guide is full of allusions to classic literary crime scenes and British lore. Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village opens with a note to the reader and then is divided into two sections with specifics following. The first section is The Village, which covers: Building & Spaces; Residents; Events, and a Quiz over details. The second section is The Manor, followed by sections on: Buildings & Spaces; Rooms & Architecture; furnishings & features; Residents; Frequent Guests; staff; events; and a Quiz section. Alas, based on my performance on the quizzes, my chance of survival is under fifty percent.

Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village will make a perfect, funny gift to give to all those British mystery lovers in your life.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Ten Speed Press via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, and Amazon.

A very funny book with perfect illustrations. I'm going to make a stock of the hard cover edition to offer to anyone who shows up in my house in my quaint small town, so they can get all relevant information before moving to the countryside ... Brilliant, clever and absolutely funny !
All opinions are mine, I received a copy from Netgalley.

Anyone who's a fan of British mysteries, particularly of the village mystery, should absolutely love this clever little book offering advice on all of the dangers of visiting an English village. It's hilarious, one of the funniest books I've read in awhile.

Charming and delightful. Very highly recommended to mystery fans.

This was such a fun little book, that I just adored from beginning to end. It is really short, and not much text, but the illustrations really make up for that. If you enjoy reading or watching British mysteries, you will get a kick out of this book. It is a must read if you are planning a visit to the English Countryside.

This little book takes you through all of the places and people you might encounter on your trip. From the quaint english village with its churches and graveyards (avoid the bell tower at all costs, village squares and antique shops. There are also the people you don’t want to stop and visit with, such as the vicar, especially the vicar. But also the tea shop owners and the little old lady with knitting needles.

You will also find information about country manors, which I thought was the funniest part of the book. All of the characters were spot on, as were the likeliest places where a murder will take place.

The illustration were absolutely the best part. Done in black and white, with a dash of red for the blood of course. They all fit the descriptions of the places and people in the guide.

I also enjoyed the little quizzes, although I failed one or two of the questions. They were almost more informative than the other parts of the book. The answers were also quite amusing.

This is a must for those of you that like mysteries, but especially those cozy mysteries that always seem to take place in small quaint little villages with funny names.

If you're a fan of the classic English village murder mystery (and how can you not be?), then this is a delightful play on the sheer numbers of deaths that are required to keep those books and shows churning out.

I have only previously read YA stuff by Maureen Johnson and her name was the initial selling point of this book. I didn't have any particular expectations going in but finished the guide very quickly and had an extremely pleasurable reading experience.

The guide combines Maureen's witty writing and wonderfully intricate illustrations by Jay Cooper with some hidden gems in them. I appreciated the maps that the book managed to include.

The progression of the chapters was cohesive and easy to follow and the little quizes provided a nice break.

Overall this was an amusing read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

In the England of murder mysteries and TV detectives, no destination is deadlier than a quaint country village, and you never know you're in a murder village until it's too late. No attraction or local character is safe--whether in the pub for a pint, or on the manicured grounds of the local estate for a shooting party, bodies can turn up anywhere! Danger lurks around every cobblestone corner. If you are foolish enough to make the trip, at least be prepared.

Brought to life with dozens of Gorey-esque drawings by illustrator Jay Cooper and peppered with allusions to classic crime series and unmistakably British murder lore, Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village gives you the tools you need to avoid the same fate, should you find yourself in a suspiciously cozy English village (or simply dream of going). Good luck, and whatever you do, avoid the vicar.

A humorous, quick read that will appeal to fans of cozy British mysteries, this book definitely has its tongue firmly in its cheek. Anyone who has spent much time watching the BBC will recognize all the characters.