The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is a well crafted mystery that feels like it was designed for me as a reader.

Things that made me fall in love with this story

1. Main character works at an antiquarian book store and is delivering books to a customer when our inciting incident takes place .

2. One of the characters investigating the murder is a practicing witch.

3. Our list of suspects is long , variable , and mostly viable throughout the story letting a reader try to solve the case as we work towards the end .

4. The gothic atmosphere and clearly supernatural elements of the story force us to question if a curse really is the culprit.

I recommend this title for readers of mystery who also enjoy the works of modern writers such as T. kingfisher .

Ruby visits an old friend while delivering books. When the friend’s husband ends up dead, Ruby is drawn in to the mystery of this ancient murder hamlet. Author layers questions well to keep pulling me to follow this charming and well-rounded character in an interesting setting. I will read the second book.

Unconventional American heiress, Ruby Vaughn is living in Exeter with her octogenarian employer and running a rare bookstore. Sent to deliver a box of rare and dangerous books to a Cornish healer, she goes off track to visit a nearby friend from her years working in the war and ends up involved in a murder, an ancient curse, blackmail and the possibility that witches really do exist. The story rolls along quite nicely introducing the characters and their backgrounds. The motive for the murder is slowly revealed and the list of suspects only narrows down near the end giving readers a chance to hypothesize as to the "Who" and Why." The possibility of a supernatural explanation for the events lingers like the fog along the Cornish coast--sometimes the view is clear and at other times simply otherworldly. Looking forward to more from this author.

Ruby Vaughn is an American heiress who is sent off to England following some unladylike behavior. She serves as an ambulance driver during World War II. She falls in love with her best friend and fellow ambulance driver, only to be unceremoniously dismissed.

Years later, she is running a bookstore. She is assigned a mission to deliver some books to a customer. But her travels bring her close to her former love. She had received an urgent request to come to the aid of her former lover. But she had avoided it. Visiting her old friend and lover rekindles her long repressed memories.

And then, the murders begin. Her lover's obnoxious husband is found dead. It's blamed on the Curse of Penryth Hall. Ruby, and the recipient of her delivered books, who turns out to be a witch, set out to solve the murder.

I found this book to be very intriguing. It was a bit different from your traditional cozy mysteries. The protagonist was enjoyable and a breath of fresh air. The plot was fun and amusing. I highly recommend this novel.

historical-novel, historical-research, mystery, suspense, thriller, Cornwall, atmospheric, family-history, family, curse, cats, antiquarian-books, amateur-sleuth, folklore, cultural-heritage, cultural-exploration, supernatural, murder, murder-investigation, friendship, frustration, relationships****

A somewhat chilling tale of Gothic atmosphere in deepest Cornwall after the Great War with all the emotional scars of the time. The characters are well done and the sleuthing is extremely interesting with its overtones of the supernatural. I enjoyed the read and do hope that it will develop into a series!
I requested and received an EARC from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you.

I enjoyed The Curse of Penryth Hall. The atmosphere of this book was so beautiful. At the beginning I felt that this book was going to be more of a story about a magical curse, but this is definitely more of a mystery. I would definitely read another book by Jess Armstrong.

Full of atmosphere, this book will keep you reading with the lights on. A gothic mystery set in Cornwall, this book will keep you guessing until the end. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for the digital ARC. This review is my own.

This is more than your average haunted castle story!

It's the early 1900's and American heiress Ruby Vaughn is sent on a mission to deliver a trunk of special books in the Cornish countryside. After meeting the local Pellar (witch) she takes time out to visit her best friend Tamsyn and her new husband. Life doesn't seem all that happy in Penryth Hall and during her stay Sir Edward, Tamsyn's husband dies, potentially murdered.

Penryth is supposedly cursed and Tamsyn is afraid she is next. Ruby is forced to work with the recalcitrant pellar to
solve the mystery and end the curse.

Ruby is a fine protagonist, complex and interesting and her connection to the Pellar will have you hoping for a book 2. If you love atmospheric and gothic tales, haunted cursed castles or just like historical female figures fighting against cultural norms, The Curse Of Penryth Hall is for you! #Stmartins #TheCurseofpenrythhall #jessarmstrong

The Curse of Penryth Hall was a fun gothic mystery to read. The main character, an American heiress living in the UK, Ruby Vaughn, is a strong and sassy female. She is sent by her employer to the Cornish countryside, a place she swore she would return, to deliver some books. Deciding to visit and stay overnight with her old friend, Tamsyn and her husband Sir Edward Chenowyth, Ruby is thrust into the middle of a thrilling mystery when the bells ring, signaling Sir Edward had been killed. Working with the Pellar (Ruan) Ruby is determined to find out who or what killed him.
I loved Ruby’s relationship with her employer, and enjoyed the development of Ruby and Ruan’s relationship throughout the murder investigation.
The ending leads me to believe there will be more…and I am hoping there is!
Thank you to Minotaur and NetGalley for this ARC.

I absolutely adored this book!

Ruby Vaughn gives off strong Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries vibes and I’m here for it. Our headstrong heroine is independent and strong, haunted by her past but determined to not let those things stop her from having a good time. The character building in this book is really good, with everyone having unique personalities and traits, if somewhat odd names at times.

Unlike the typical murder mystery, I liked the idea of a supernatural element about it: most attribute the death of Sir Edward to be the family curse, one that is/was particularly brutal and gruesome. As is the case in every episode of Scooby Doo, the villain/murderer is proven to be a normal person reacting from a place of hurt and anger. But there ARE supernatural forces at work all around the case.

I think Armstrong set herself up quite nicely for a series of two seemingly incompatible people working together to solve mysteries and help people.

Minor issues here with spelling and grammar that I think will be caught with the final edits - nothing to knock off the rating for.

And yes, I did guess the killer.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jess Armstrong, and St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ruby Vaughn is the most fun heroine I've read in a very long time. Witty, sardonic, reckless, tender--I adore her! And her accidental adventures in a mystical Cornish village are, by turns, thrilling, amusing, and endearing. This is a book about friendships, lost and found, about courage and superstition, and good and evil. It is the book I didn't know I needed, and am crossing every finger and toe that I meet Ruby again very soon!

Ruby is tasked by her employer, Mr. Owens, to deliver some books to a village she is familiar with. She used to live at this village when she was younger and has bad memories surrounding a girl she used to call her friend, Tamsyn. Upon arriving, she meets a man, Mr, Kivell (who she was tasked to deliver the books to) and her friend Tamsyn, who invites her to stay at her place, Penryth Hall.

A murder occurs the first night she stays there and Sir Edward, Tamsyn's husband, is killed. The whole town blames the curse, but Ruby doesn't believe it and she makes sure to let Mr. Kivell know. She and Mr. Kivell begin to work together to figure out what really happened that night before the curse strikes again.

I liked this book. It was an interesting mix of mystery and fantasy which is something I don't normally see. I thought the pacing worked for the first half of the book, then slowed down a bit, and picked up again at the end. I liked the chemistry between Ruby and Kivell as well, although it wasn't romantic. I thought they were really cute friends. The ending came as a shock to me as well which I thoroughly enjoyed. The only part I didn't enjoy was how quickly the ending was. It was so short compared to the rest of the story.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel to review.

I do love a good Gothic Novel and this one satisfied. Just enough spiritualism for interest and written in an interesting time period.

I did love Ruby's spunk and Ruan's calmness.

The story was twisty and involved and kept me reading well into the night at times. The final reveal was plausible and satisfying.

The narrative here starts in Exeter, England, in 1922. Readers get introduced to a protagonist who is trying to make their way through a world of great-aunt Petunias and Cathedral bells, and Cornish folklore. “It’s an ancient place—Cornwall—full of secrets and legends.” A certain Mr. Owen in the story says that old Cornish folkways predate even those of the Romans. “There are things that occur there no one can explain” and that no one dares question. There are legends about how Tintagel was the birthplace of King Arthur and that there’s a seat of kings there. The protagonist is encouraged to check all of this out, and I liked the Cornwall tie-ins right away because they are precisely so unique and not something we see very often or not quite as often in tales where supernatural things go wrong in the English countryside or in the moors.

Like every good Gothic novel, it has to have a place that is a character of its own, and in this case, it is Penryth Hall. One of the interesting alterations to the Gothic timeline here is that we’ve got more technology by virtue of the 1920s, although not so much that it ruins the vibe. Armstrong’s novel is also a quintessentially English novel, of the dark delights but also historical connections that keep fans coming back to the genre over and over again.

Fans of “Rebecca” and most of Daphne Du Maurier’s other novels will really get a kick out of Armstrong’s book and narrative. While reading, I can say that it will feel like a comfortable blanket to drape oneself in on a raindy day with a hot cup of tea. So fie to those who try to insult cozy horror and often don’t understand what it means.

While the pacing is definitely more of a slow build, and the scares aren’t as over as they are in say, the film “Crimson Peak,” there’s still a lot of the uncanny to keep readers going through the pages to find out what happens next.

It’s not a book that I would rank with my favourites of the year, although to be fair there have been a LOT of excellent and new Gothic books this year. Nonetheless, fans of the genre will definitely appreciate the atmosphere and the world building and will have fun immersing themselves in that.

To be completely honest I was expecting a bit more of magical elements due to the fact that "curse" was in the title... which is completely on me for just assuming. But once I got past that and made it through the slower beginning and getting used to the dialect I thought that this was a truly immersive story. I do wish there was a tad more closure and we got to see Ruby living a happy life, but I also think the fact that it ended with a bit left to the imagination was smart on the authors part.

This story was a hard read. It’s lacked detail and I ended up losing interest and do not finish. However I would be willing to try more by this author . And I am curious if this will be a one off or a series.

A good psychological suspense story with elements of magic. I really enjoyed this book with it's moody setting in Cornwall. It took me a few chapters to appreciate the main character, Ruby. Her back story gradually becomes clear and I felt sorry for her, although I never really felt her relationship with ex-best friend Tamsyn. Ruan Kivell, a healer the locals called The Pellar, added to the brooding mood of the book. The murder mystery was intriguing and i did not guess the killer and was surprised at the ending. Overall a good read.

Very strong writing and loved the slow burn between the two characters! A really different read from what I'm used to but enjoyed it - can definitely see this as a spooky-fall title.

I really enjoyed this book! I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately. To the point that I actually felt bad writing book reviews because I had a strong "it's me not them" feeling going. This book manager to break through my reading gloom. Funny enough I'm not even that big of a mystery reader, but something about this book just called to me.

I just loved the main character, Ruby, who's a spunky American heiress who's living abroad in Exeter, England in the immediate years following WWI. She stays on with her elderly housemate & somewhat employer.. in that capacity she gets sent on an errand to a small British vintage in Cornwalll while she's there she decides to meet up sand stay overnight visiting an old friend. Her short visit quickly turns into a longer visit involving a murder mystery which mimics similar events that occurred 30 years earlier. Mixed in is a dilapidated old manor house, some Celtic lore and superstitions, and a handsome man witch.

Overall I found this book to be a charming, easy read and would gladly have read more from this author but alas it is her debut novel. I wait eagerly for her future works!

There was much I liked about the book - the banter between Ruby and Mr. Owen, the slow burn love between Ruby and Ruan - but the plot moved a little to slow for me and I struggled to stay interested. I wanted Penryth Hall to play a bit more of a role - I like when the setting is almost a character itself in a book like this.