Penelope Parrish is the American writer in residence for the British bookstore, The Open Book. In exchange for writing space, she helps customers find just the right book, stocks shelves, and makes herself useful. This year, she’s also teaching a class on Gothic literature at an elite girl’s school.

Another of her duties is to arrange for special events, like hosting Odile Fontaine, an art teacher at the same school, for an art class/book signing. Odile’s book, titled You Can Paint, has just come out and the painting class/book signing will be crowded. Figgy, who runs the tea shop, supplies the tasty treats, wine, and tea for the group.

During her talk, Odile becomes dizzy and has a headache but insists she’s fine to go on. Sadly, she is not. She collapses and is taken to the hospital where she’s pronounced dead. During the signing, she had wine to drink but poured it herself, and it was the same as everyone else had. She’d only taken a sip so her death must have been natural causes. Except it wasn’t.

Pen has been involved in solving two murders since she arrived in Britain. She was so hoping to avoid a third, even though her involvement with crime has led to her involvement with the handsome police detective, Brodie Maguire.

A valuable painting is missing from Odile’s apartment on campus. The underage girls have a secret source for liquor. Jewels were stolen from a home nearby. Several people have alibis, but they can’t be confirmed. All in all, the whole thing smells fishier than day old fish and chips.

The murder, theft, and potential scandal at school are all distractions that keep Pen from writing her second book. It’s a much better idea to help Brodie if she can. The book can wait, for a while at least.

I like Pen. She is surrounded by quirky people, is far from home, and loves her new friends, job, and life in Upper Chumley. She still hasn’t gotten the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road, but cabs will do until she can get a new car. This is book three in the series, and I look forward to more. A Fatal Footnote and Murder in the Margins were both reviewed here.

Peril on the Page by Margaret Loudon is the third book in her Open Book Mysteries series. Penelope Parish has a tricky murder mystery to solve in this book. Who poisoned Odile Fontaine and why? Despite threats Penelope maintains her cool and follows the clues to a correct conclusion. I found this book to be well-written with well-developed and likable characters. I enjoyed the character interactions and the suspense of this whodunit.

Penelope Parish is a gothic romance writer who is the writer-in-residence at The Open Book in Upper Chumley-on-Stoke. She convinced the owner of The Open Book to have a paint and wine party to promote Odile’s (local artist and teacher) new book. The evening is a success until Odile collapses. She is later pronounced dead at the hospital. Figgy, baker extraordinaire, is worried that the police believe she poisoned the victim. Penelope decides to do a little snooping and stumbles upon a quite a surprise. Peril on the Page by Margaret Loudon is the third installment in The Open Book Mysteries. It can be read as a standalone if you are new to the series. Peril on the Page has a quaint English village, a charming bookshop, quirky characters, and fun mysteries. I like Margaret Loudon’s writing style. It is casual, friendly, and easy to read. The story moved along at a good pace. The mystery involved a local boarding school art teacher who drops dead after a paint and wine event. While I was able to solve this whodunit quite early, I still had fun following Penelope as she gathered clues and asked questions. I like that she has a friendly relationship with Detective Maguire. There was more than one mystery in Peril on the Page. There is the death of Odile, jewel thefts, an alcohol issue at the school, smashed store windows, and a missing first edition from the boarding school. All of the mysteries are resolved by the end of the book with help from Penelope. Penelope does have some close calls (she really needs to be more careful). There is humor sprinkled throughout the story. There is one scene that had me laughing out loud (it is hilarious). It is nice how the romance between Penelope and Detective Brodie Maguire is developing. I am glad it is progressing slowly. I love the Britishisms in the book (butty and jammy dodger are two examples). I appreciate that the author takes the time to explain the unusual ones. I enjoyed my latest visit to Upper Chumley-on-Stoke. I look forward to returning soon for Penelope’s next adventure. Peril on the Page is tickety-boo with a writer in residence, a paint party, a departed artist, nicked trinkets, a filched first edition, wrecked windows, pupils purchasing plonk, and a dedicated detective.

Penelope Parish is ready to close the book on her amateur sleuthing—from now on, The Open Book’s writer-in-residence will be sticking to villains of the fictional variety while she puts the final touches on her new novel. But when an author is murdered inside the bookshop, all of Upper Chumley-on-Stoke goes on high alert. Now it’s up to Pen and the quirky citizens of Chumley to stop a killer and protect the charming British town she’s begun to call home.

I read the first book in this series and thoroughly enjoyed the author's writing and characters in this British community. When the third one became available on NetGalley, I quickly requested it and enjoyed it just as much as the first one. Now, I need to read the second one! However, I don't feel I missed anything by not reading the second one (although I now have it from the library :-)), as the author gave backstory where needed. I love the descriptions of the English countryside and enjoy how this interesting band of characters are developing. I do hope there are more books in this series in the future! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for making it available.

The third title in this series finds American author Pen settled in as Writer-in-Residence at the Open Book bookshop in Chumley -0n- Stoke. Her first novel is a bestseller, the second has published and she's hard at work on the third.. She's also teaching a course on Gothic literature at a private girl's school. The school's art teacher has written a book and a" paint and sip" night is scheduled at the the bookstore. Attendees are happily painting when Odile, the instructor, collapses and dies of poisoning. Pen learns more about Odile and her fellow teachers and begins to make connections and uncovers motives that put several under suspicion. Her investigation puts her in a perilous position just like the heroine in her latest manuscript. The motives of multiple suspects are nicely developed as is the school setting. The author is especially good at using dialog to enable the reader to picture characters. I enjoyed this one as I did the other two. Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Prime Crime for the opportunity to read this title.

Pen and Mable have arranged for a local author to come to the bookstore and demonstrate her painting technique during her presentation. But when she collapses during the event, and dies at the hospital, Pen becomes involved in the investigation.

This is the third book in the Open Book series, where Penelope is a writer-in-residence at the bookstore -- meaning she helps out at the store when needed, but spends most of her time working on her next book. In the last book, I seem to remember that she was dealing with writer's block, so it was good to see her make progress on the book this time around.

I like the characters in these books and am enjoying watching the various relationships develop over the course of the series. This book had several 'mysterious' threads for the reader to think about. Besides the murder, there was stolen jewelry, a stolen first edition book, and someone buying alcohol for minors at a local school for girls. None of these took over the story, and none of them were very hard to solve. Even the murder was relatively easy to figure out, although there were several viable suspects.

I like the way Pen reported what she learns to the police, although she kept some of her guesses to herself, which got her into the usual confrontation with the bad guy. I look forward to reading more of this series.

Another thrilling installation of Pen's mystery solving adventures! When an acquaintance dies under mysterious circumstances, Pen decides to do a little digging. Using her faculty position she begins to tease out the many spider webs of deceit, theft, bribery, affairs, forgery and murder. Can she figure out the culprit before shes next?

Penelope, an American author who writes Gothic novels, is the writer in residence in a bookstore in a small English village. She has done some amateur sleuthing in the past, and when a local art teacher dies in the shop, she decides to get involved. Her boyfriend is the local policeman who is looking to solve both the murder and some local robberies, and Penelope assists with both cases. (I guessed who the murderer was early on.) Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.