If you loved Thursday Murder Club or any other mysteries with an octogenarian protagonist or two, then you’ll love this upcoming novel by Peter Boland.

Fiona, Partial Sue (because she’s “partial” to things), and Daisy are volunteers at the Nice Dogs Need Homes Charity Shop. One of the friends gets murdered and they decide to help the investigators solve the crime. But then more people get murdered and they muddy up the investigation with the inexperience.

It made me chuckle a few times and I enjoyed the banter between these ladies.

Extra special thanks to @netgalley for the early copy! It came out in December and is available for free now on Kindle Unlimited!

Thank you to Netgalley, Joffe Books and Peter Boland for an ARC in return for an honest review.

The Charity Shop Detective Agency by Peter Boland.

Three ladies who volunteer in a charity shop, turn detective and it does not disappoint. This is perfect for those who loved The Thursday Murder Club series. It a cozy little read which really pulls you in. I read it in one second - I loved it!! I can't wait for the next instalment.

This is definitely aiming for the “if you liked Thursday Murder Club then try this…” market and although it has a lot of similar ingredients, it doesn’t quite hit the sweet spot the way those too. The humour is a bit more mean spirited than warm and although the mystery is good, the way the resolution unfurls is… not as satisfying as you want - in actually a fairly similar vein to my problem with the first fixer upper mystery last week. It promises to be the first in a series - I might check back in a few books time to see how it’s settling in and settling down.

This was my first “cozy mystery” and it was the perfect winter read. Three elderly British charity shop workers start a detective club after one of their friends/customers is murdered by what turns out to be a serial killer.

The characters were quirky and there was plenty of humor spread throughout, as the ladies take matters into their own hands, despite warnings against doing so by the detective in charge of the case. I had some guesses as to who the killer was early on, but it didn’t stop me from reading to figure out how it would play out.

I’m excited to see where this series is headed and will definitely be checking the next one out! Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy!

Fiona, Sue, and Daisy are volunteers at the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop. When one of their favorite customers is murdered, the three friends desperately want the killer to be brought to justice. But, it’s only the beginning when another murder occurs.

The Charity Shop Detective Agency is Peter Boland’s first book in a new series. The premise is fun, the three ladies are delightful, and the mystery is well-conceived. This book is just plain fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. Seniors as sleuths has become a popular theme and Mr Boland has done a superb job bringing his seniors to life with humor, empathy, and grit. I’m looking forward to spending more time with the Charity Shop Detective Agency ladies in his next book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

The charity shop detective agency by Peter Boland.
A serial killer is stalking the elderly of Southbourne. The only clue left behind is a domino in the hand of each victim — with a name scratched on the back.
Really am enjoying this series. Can't wait for next book. 4*.

If there’s one thing that I like doing it’s discovering new authors and Peter Boland is certainly a new author for me. I read the synopsis of ‘The Charity Shop Detective Agency’ and it certainly sounded like the sort of cosy mystery that I particularly enjoy. Well it was that and so much more. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Charity Shop Detective Agency’ but more about that in a bit.

It’s fair to say that as soon as I began reading this book, I became addicted to the characters and to the story. I picked the book up only intending to read a chapter or two but I ended up becoming so wrapped up in the story and in the lives of the characters that I was still sat there reading several chapters and an hour or so later. From then on it’s safe to say that every spare minute that I had was given over to reading this book. I had my own theories as to what was going to happen so of course I had to keep reading to see if I was on the right track or if I had wandered off in the opposite direction. The more of the book that I read, the more I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn. All too quickly I reached the end of ‘The Charity Shop Detective Agency’. I found ‘The Charity Shop Detective Agency’ to be a gripping read, which certainly kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat.

‘The Charity Shop Detective Agency’ is extremely well written. The author has an easy going writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. Peter certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be one heck of a read. For me the story hit the ground running and maintains a steady pace throughout. I love the very vivid and realistic way in which Peter describes the characters. He makes his characters seem just as real as you and I. I could easily imagine sitting down with a cup of tea and a slice of cake and putting the world to rights with the three main ladies in this book. I love the way in which Peter makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action.

In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Charity Shop Detective Agency’ and I would definitely recommend this story to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Peter’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

A fun and quirky group of older charity shop ladies investigate the murder of their friend in what I hope is the first of The Charity Shop Detective Agency books. I was kept guessing throughout, just as I suspected someone, they were ruled out by the amateur detectives. I appreciate that they acknowledge their foibles and know how silly they are at times. This would be a great book for fans of The Thursday Murder Club books.

Cozy, sumptuous and a must read for all.

I love the way that this book made a murder feel sweet and warm. I read this after a heavy book and it was perfect.

I will be looking out for others by this author.

I was very excited to read this as I love a good cozy mystery and this definitely lived up to my expectations.

Set fairly local to me, three retired ladies working in a charity shop are stunned when one of their regular customers is found dead, stabbed in the back clutching a domino, which has the name of the next victim on it.
The ladies decide to help out the police and do some investigating themselves.

Good plot, interesting characters and a good twist at the end. I am very much looking forward to reading more books in the series when they are available.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Why hasn't Britbox jumped on The Charity Shop Detective Agency hype? Where is the hype? Can I start it?! It deserves so much!

I absolutely adored this book! I have read a lot of mysteries, many of them in the cozy variety. Usually, I have a vague idea of how the plot will go and who the murder will be. Not so with The Charity Shop Detective Agency! I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns that the mystery took Fiona, Partial Sue, and Daisy in! I truly love the main characters, they work so well as a team. Fiona, though, was a standout! The way she thought out problems was fantastic, it was nice seeing her piece things together.

The entire novel is delightful and I hope that we get an entire series featuring the amazing Charity Shop Detective Agency!

Unfortunately not really my cup of tea. I didn't warm to the characters, and the whole thing felt very unrealistic (which I get it's fiction, but too unrealistic imo).

Thanks to Joffe books and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for an honest review.
Not my cup of tea. I think this is the authors first venture into the realm of cozy mysteries, yet despite a pretty good plot the book just was overly cozy for my liking. Being familiar with the authors past works I had hoped for something along the line of the Thursday Murder Club series, and this was no up to those standards which is a shame. We have a delivery man going to a customers home to deliver items and expecting to be able to sit down with her for a cup of tea, Instead he lets himself in an finds her dead on the floor from a knife wound. See, good setup. But then we get into the competing Dog and Cat charity shops, cutesy name of streets, everyone having time for tea and snacks and, of course, thanks to the Charity shop the case is solved. Sorry, Peter, I know you can do better than this, and hopefully if there will be a Book 2 it will be slightly less cozy.

A really engaging read. I was drawn by the title as I did not know this author.

The story follows a group of charity shop workers who become amateur sleuths.
It all starts with the murder of one of their regular customers, who comes in for her weekly social interaction over tea and cake. The story unfolds and become ever more gripping as twists and turns lead to surprises that uncover hidden secrets.
I loved the way the characters were observed and the comedic exchanges between them were so relatable. Brilliant characterisation.
I liked the short chapters because they split the story into scenes for me.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would love a sequel

Thanks a lot to Joffe Books for the pleasure of reading the adventure of Fiona, Partial Sue and Daisy - an investigating trio, you never could imaging before. A great story with a lot of twists and a surprising end. I really loved this book.

I have to say, there was a lot about this book that reminded me of Richard Osman's books. The cover, for starters. I hate when publishers do this. If you didn't really pay attention to the author and this book was next to his Thursday Murder Club books, it'd be very easy to grab it and expect Osman. Down to the colors, the border, the black object on the page. It's disingenuous and it's a real turn off to me as a reader. They even mention Osman's first book. However, I am not going to take it out on the author, because this book is fantastic!

There's the usual clever wordplay, colorful characters, a villain we never see coming. A half-star extra if I could for a dog called Simon LeBon (if you know, you know.) The book is funny in a lot of places. It's that British humor that you either love or don't understand. It's just a smart book. Everything in it makes sense, the story keeps moving, the little old ladies keep persevering despite being told not to by the police and if they're not one step ahead of the them, they're at least neck and neck in terms of solving the case.

Another thing that made it a fun read is that all three of them were avid readers and watched a lot of
British mysteries, which they referenced a lot and at one point one of them even dresses up as a character to help them focus.

I look forward to more books in this series. Fiona, Sue and Daisy are geriatric forces to be reckoned with. I just wish the publisher would think more about the covers in future.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the chance to read and review this book. Al opinions are mine and freely given.

A British cozy mystery which provides suspense, laughter and a few murders.
Three retired women run a dog charity in a small village. They become involved in a series of murders where the victims are left with a domino in their hands. As they work to solve with the help of police, almost everyone is a suspect.
Fun read that has maybe too many words but still provides a pleasant read.

The plot and the characters in this story may remind readers of another series I won’t name here but there are enough differences that I didn’t have that “been there done that” feeling. As a senior I am enjoying this trend toward crime solvers by seniors. This was a compelling if not overly complicated story about the murder of other seniors in the community and the three owners of the local charity shop banding together to find the killer. Before the killer does them in. This was actually a delightful cozy and I hope there are more involving these women in the future. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

Fiona, Daisy and Sue volunteer in a charity shop together. One of their regular customers is murdered and the police are struggling to find the culprit or even any motive. The three charity shop workers decide to launch their own investigation...
The Charity Shop Detective Agency is a wonderfully warm and amusing cosy murder mystery set on the south coast of England.
Fiona finds a bloody knife amongst the donations left outside the chairty shop. Later she discovers that one of their elderly customers has been stabbed to death. The police are stumped and there seems to be a serial killer on the loose.
The style of writing is full of gentle humour. I loved the animosity between Fiona and the owner of the rival charity shop across the street. The main characters are easy to like, written in an engaging way with their little quirks.
I found the murder mystery intriguing and was led down several dead ends along with the amateur sleuths, convinced I had guessed the killer before being proved wrong.
The Charity Shop Detective Agency is delightful and I look forward to meeting these lovely ladies for their next case.

I do enjoy a good cosy mystery and this one is no exception. Fiona, Sue and Daisy are all near or past retirement age and are charity shop volunteers. They all have a liking for crime fiction and when one of their coffee morning friends is murdered clutching a domino they are inspired to find the killer.

Full of interesting characters, like the Wicker Man who sells cane furniture and has a liking for Shakespearean speech and Sophie, a volunteer at a rival charity shop who is also quite theatrical with her obsession with capes and a huge sense of superiority. Many of them do feel like caricatures but in a lighthearted kind of way.

I did feel the characters of the three protagonists felt a little flat compared to the dramatic flair of some of the side characters, but they did feel like real people. It did annoy me a little that Sue was called ‘Partial’ Sue through the entirety of the story as the joke wasn’t that funny to begin with (she is often partial to *insert random sweet treat here*).

This has quite a linear plot and unlike some very popular cosy mysteries by celebrity authors was not difficult to follow, in fact it was an easy and enjoyable read. Nothing particularly challenging and sometimes that’s just what you need. Just don’t expect it to leave much of an impact or be long-listed for the Booker.


What I liked:
A plot that was easy to follow

What didn’t work for me:
Some of the side characters seemed like caricatures.
A bit mediocre

Suitable For: As the protagonists are elderly teenagers are unlikely to be interested.

The title says it all, a cosy mystery set in a charity shop. Light reading

Published on my blog on 29/12/22