The Missing Red Carpet Mystery is the fourth Supermarket village cozy mystery by Rachel Ward. Released 28th Nov 2023 by Joffe Books, it's 254 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The first books in the series are also currently available on KU.

This is a well plotted quintessentially British village mystery. It's full of quirky characters and village charm. The story is lighthearted and flows well, and in good cozy fashion, the language is clean and the violence occurs off-page.

Although it's the fourth book in the series, the mystery is self contained and the author is adept enough at providing the necessary character backstory, that it works perfectly well as a standalone. The story, climax, denouement, and resolution are all satisfying and cleverly wrought.

Four stars. It would make a good choice for public library acquisition, as well as for mystery book club selection, and for fans of classic British mystery. Quite well written.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

This is a very enjoyed, entertaining and cosy mystery and one I devoured in a day as I like it that much. It is a book to curl up with, it has everything you want from a good book. Humour, mystery, great characters, an interesting storyline and it is a book the=at is so easy to read.

It wasn't at all predictable so it keeps you reading and guessing. Well written and a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend. You want want to put it down.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I started reading this novel, the 4th in a series, and I loved it so much that I bought the rest of the series.
Well plotted, humorous, a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I liked the fleshed out and relatable characters and how this novels talks about common people living in a place which is not a very beautiful village or a touristic resort.
Well done and well plotted
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Fun cozy mystery set in the town of Kingsleigh. The murder solving is a bit weak, but the characters are warm and enjoyable to be around. Highly recommend!

A unique, entertaining and compelling read, The Missing Red Carpet Mystery is really just a whole lot of fun. Packed full of relatable, everyday characters and absolutely charming from start to finish - I loved every minute and will be looking out for more books from this author.

Thank you to Netgally, the publishers, and Rachel Ward

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was apart of a series, one that requires you to read the previous books for this one to make sense. I am unable to read all the previous books along with this one before the publish date. Therefore, I will rate this a fair 3/5 stars and will adjust the rating and review when I am able to read all the books in the series along with this one.

A royal visit is coming to Kingsleigh. Definitely worth rolling out the red carpet for! The only problem is no one’s actually seen the red carpet since the grand opening of the deli counter back in 2001 . . .

Our loveable amateur sleuths are on the case. Ant is searching for the carpet, but Bea and the rest of the team have another problem on their hands. A young lad is spotted shoplifting and new security guard Evan gives chase down the high street.

Later that day, the boy is found dead. Gentle giant Evan swears he let the boy go after rugby tackling him to the ground. So how did the lad wind up dead?

The Supermarket Sleuths are on the case — and hopefully they’ll find the missing carpet before the royals arrive!

Loved the setup and execution of the story.

I enjoyed this one

This definitely was cozy and I thought the cast of characters working at the store was great, but sadly that's most of the good things I have to say about it. It was verrrryyyyyyy English (not in a bad way, per say), but the mystery and ending both were a little lackluster in my opinion. It didn't really feel like they were actually investigating, kind of just there while the truth came out slowly, so that took away from it for me too.

3 stars

This was such a character driven read and I love books like that as I felt I really knew them and by the end of it I really wanted some of them in my life

This is a fun read, the first one i’ve read from this series or this author. It’s a perfect antidote to the very serious reading I’ve been doing recently. The pace is great, the characters are a mix of the sensible and the very opposite. I think it would appeal to cozy mystery lovers even though it is slightly different. All the main characters work in a supermarket and I really enjoyed the banter and backstabbing that went on supplemental to the plot. Good fun.

A good cozy read similar to Richard Osman but, not as good. Certainly enjoyable.and a good book to curl up to by the fire. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this mystery by Rachel Ward, but not blown away. This is the fourth in the Supermarket Mysteries, but it was easy to jump into the series which has a lot of characters. It was very descriptive, but I liked the characters and the humor, making the book an easy read. The mystery was so so and felt it was more about the characters than the mystery overall. I would recommend to those who like light British mysteries like Agatha Raisin!

This was a fun, lighthearted mystery. It is unique that the cast is centered around a grocery store, but it works well. I was rooting for the characters! I think it took a little bit to get going, but that could be because I haven't read the other books in this series. I think I also would have liked a little more explanation or logic at the end, but it's possible that I just zoomed right on by that part.

Ant and Bea are solving another mystery. With the upcoming visit of the king and queen, the staff of costsave is looking to spruce up the place and find an old red carpet from the last time they had a VIP visit. At the same time, the costsave security guard, Evan is being suspected of murdering a shoplifter after he chased him out of the store and tackled him in an over the top attempt to stop the theft. Bea and Ant must once again search through all the clues to figure out who the real culprit is.

This is such a cute series. It gives the same vibe as Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series - it’s all rather cozy mystery (even with the murders) and the whole cast of characters is super endearing and they all develop throughout the series. Each mystery is solved by the duo with very little help from the police (can Tom not be such an idiot?) but we can always see callbacks to prior books so even though each book could be a standalone mystery, it still feels cohesive. I’m so excited for the next book but I do wish there was a love interest that Bea could actually end up with after Tom and Jay being idiots

This definitely was cozy and I thought the cast of characters working at the store was great, but sadly that's most of the good things I have to say about it. It was verrrryyyyyyy English (not in a bad way, per say), but the mystery and ending both were a little lackluster in my opinion. It didn't really feel like they were actually investigating, kind of just there while the truth came out slowly, so that took away from it for me too.

As an aside, and not part of my actual review of the book - The glossary at the end for US readers…. What is that??? Does the author think Americans are dumb or…? Like do you really feel the need to define “gran,” “bloke,” and “mobile phone”?????? (Just a few of MANY definitions as I was glancing through that gave me pause)

This was a fun, entertaining cosy mystery. I thought the characters were fun and relatable, and it was quite a humorous read. I would say it's also light enough to read in one sitting, if you want to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

A royal visit is coming to Kingsleigh. Definitely worth rolling out the red carpet for! The only problem is no one’s actually seen the red carpet since the grand opening of the deli counter back in 2001 . . .

This was a fun little cozy mystery. Very cute and well-written.

This is an interesting story about a "family" of associates who work in a grocery store. Most appear to be very content in their jobs and positions. I like the way they interact and have connected. The murder was unfortunate and Evan, the guy everyone believes is the killer seems like the perfect scape goat. I enjoyed the story and getting to know the characters.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery, perfect for an evening read with a hot beverage. I'll definitely read more by this author in the future.

amateur-sleuth, British-humor, cozy-mystery, England, falsely-accused, family-dynamics, friends, friendship, local-gossip, local-law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, read, series, situational-humor, soap-opera, social-injustice, verbal-humor, village****

The teenager shouldn't have been murdered, but the store employee who chased him and THOUGHT he was doing the right thing was NOT responsible regardless of what the angry mob/riot made of it here in Bristol/Somerset. The staff of the supermarket want to help by finding out who DID do the deed and WHY, but The Royals are coming to THEIR store, and everyone is all atwitter! Fine read!
I requested and received an EARC from Joffe Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
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