This was a super cute read.

Based in 1784 in England, there was a suspicious murder. It also had a little love story intertwined into it. The story did start a little slow. I was losing interest but about a 1/4 of the way through it did pick up.

I did see there was a first book, I did not read the first. So my opinion on solely on this one. The characters seemed to be characterized well. I enjoyed the quirkiness of some of the characters. I was a bit annoyed by how the main character Tiffany seemed a little weak. I prefer a more "strong" main character. She gained a little more confidence in the end.

I listened to this one and the narrator did well.

Read as an audiobook performed by Marni Penning.

Tiffany Woodall thought she was done with murders and mysteries, but when a corpse turns up outside of her house and the man she loves is implicated, she upends her now peaceful life to get the answers that will clear his name.

The narrator of this audiobook had excellent character voices, and her performance really enhanced the text. The writing balanced description and dialogue well, and I never felt like I was being bogged down nor left behind by the story. The plot was mostly simple, but with a couple of twists that took me by surprise and a conficted romance at the center.

I found the main character of the book a little tedious at first, but she grew on me as the book continued. The supporting characters were colorful and interacted well with the plot and world around them, though at times I felt some of them acted a little out of character for the sake of the plot. Overall though, fans of cozy mysteries and clean romance will find this an easy read.

This book deals heavily with themes of motherhood and children. I would also give a content warning for off-page SA. Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ARC. This is my honest review.

3/5 A cozy historical mystery with love and motherhood as central themes.

3.5 ⭐

I did prefer the first book, but I did enjoy this book a lot! I think its a good sequel, it wraps up nice! A very sweet cozy mystery.

I love this concept. I read the first book a few months ago, and I love the whole idea. This woman librarian. Murder mystery.

That being said, the writing can be a bit heavy handed. It often walks that line between art and propaganda and teeters too often to the propaganda side.

This is likely a five star book for the right reader. That’s just not me I guess.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
The narrator for this audiobook did a fantastic job, a little cringe with some of the voices but I really commend her for differentiating the characters.
An oversight on my half, I didn't realise this was the second book of a series and after reading reviews I see other people preferred the first book. I think even if you haven't read the first book, it doesn't matter as there is constant mention of the first book so you know everything that happened anyway. I think this could be a little annoying as it is mentioned far more than it needs to be. Personally i felt this book fell flat and could have done with a lot more editing. There was constant mentioning of how tall she is (we get it, shes huge for a woman) and a lot of mentioning about her monthlys - felt like she was on it for over a month with how often it was mentioned. Something that really didn't sit right with me was when Evie had her baby and Tiffany didn't even bother to return the baby to her after Evie left... I get that Tiffany really wanted to be a mother, but it gave borderline kidnapping vibes for me and didn't sit well. Not to mention that she referred to the baby as HER BABY?! really prematurely, I understand the author was trying to convey that someone doesn't have to be flesh and blood to be loved, but after the baby was just born... be for real please. Oh and she decided to name the baby without permission of anyone?! And she named it after her dead fiance who had nothing to do with that baby?! WEIRD.
Whilst the friendship between Tiffany and the duchess was lovely, it was baffling that Tiffany was an employee but she was never at work and she was treated as royalty by the duchess when she was on the same level as the rest of the servants basically if she was a working woman. Didn't feel like it was historically accurate, I know it's fiction but I would have liked the connection to be different, she didn't have to work for the duchess.
I do think with more editing and a revisit to the plot this could have been something wonderful. Others may enjoy this book if they're not too picky with the plot line and I do think it's a good book. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me. Sorry.

I enjoyed the first of the Lady Librarian mysteries, A Novel Disguise. Tiffany was interesting and bold and determined. Her relationship with Samir was fun. I wasn’t quite as enamored by Once Upon a Murder.

Tiffany is fairly happily employed as the librarian for the Duchess of Beaufort. It all goes awry when she finds the frozen dead body of former footman Mr. Bernard Coram just outside her cottage. Tiffany is quickly cleared as a suspect, but Samir, Tiffany’s friend and love interest, is arrested.

The mystery was well-done, with several suspects and enough clues to lead Tiffany in the right direction. The characters are great, whether they’re likable or not.

But, I don’t need to hear about Tiffany’s cramps or her longing for children. I’d rather not have children or baby’s in my mysteries and in this one, I found them a distraction rather than adding value to the book. Yes, the kids added some humor, but I’d rather have the unconventional Tiffany from book #1.

I listened to the audio. The story is told from Tiffany’s point of view and the narrator did a good job with her thoughts and emotions.

3.5 stars One should probably read the first book before reading this one.
I feel conflicted in rating this book because I liked this story but there were also things that bothered me enough to take me out of the story.
I loved the narrator of this audiobook. She did a wonderful job.
Tiffany's period was a plot feature and helped in proving her innocence but I couldn't really understand why it continued to be featured. I've never once looked at someone and been able to tell immediately that they were menstruating. There are lots of reasons to be pale besides menstrual cramps so the repeated references about it didn't seem all that pertinent and felt weird to me. And why did Tiffany's stomach continue to cramp even after her period was over. She felt her stomach cramp a lot. But I think the author was referring to anxiety induced stomach problems. I would have used a word like roiled instead of cramped. Continued use of that word just reminded me of the menstruating again.
Tiffany didn't seem to work much once the governess was on site. She perpetually arrived late and then would leave to investigate the murder. I found myself wondering if she ever worked.
And I had a problem with Tiffany deciding to be the baby's mother rather than a caretaker while things were being resolved. She planned to raise the baby with Samir but did that mean she was going to 'live in sin' since they couldn't marry? She knew they couldn't marry but kept planning her life as if they would/could. And, btw, she was kissing a married man even if he was only married in name. That kissing scene bothered me.
I loved Tiffany's methods of teaching the child whose name I can't remember at present. Very inventive and fun even if things did backfire a bit when the precocious child took his 'pirating' too far.
I loved Tiffany's friendship with the Duchess. She is a force to be reckoned with and thank goodness she uses her powers for good.
It took me a while to figure out who killed the victim. I basically figured out the how/why he was killed but there were too many potential people to know exactly who did it. Why so many potential suspects? Because this guy was a 1st class horrible person who ruined the lives of so many that any one of them might have wanted it to happen. Or any of their family members. And none of them were sorry it happened. The victim was far more a villain than any killer might have been.
As with the first book in this series, I could see no obvious way for Tiffany's HEA to happen. It was such a shocking twist in the story. How could it resolve? I'm not sure I loved the way it did resolve since it didn't seem like something Samir would do but given that it was his wife's idea I can't complain to much.

Potential triggers: rape, domestic violence, racism, sexism, infidelity, abuse
Sex: references to
Language: name calling/slurs
Violence: rape, domestic violence, abuse

This narrator was excellent. She did multiple voices continuously in a variety of ages, genders, and accents and it was so incredibly easy to keep up with. She was also very good at expressing the characters feelings and emotions to add just extra bit to make the story even more enjoyable.

To top of my enjoyment of this one, I love the authors note at the end that shows the author did her research 👏👏 elements of the story were based on articles and books she found from the time period. This is fiction but it's nice to hear that it was somewhat historically accurate with the timeframe.

I enjoyed this story, and the romance was pretty good too. I didn't feel like we spent much time with it building, but I don't think this is the first in this series, so that is why. The mystery was very interesting, and I enjoyed it a lot. I also liked how the racism in the book was dealt with, since it is the 1700s and a rural community.

Excellent book, I would recommend.

The book started out promising with a dead body and a woman who previously pretended to be a man to get property? I could be into that, in the 1700s. I didn't read the first book, so I had no context.

Sadly, the story fizzled quickly into an obsession with menstrual cramps and unrequited love. I could not get into it.

This may be the 2nd book in the Lady Librarian book series, but it is the first one that I have read. Not knowing what occurred in the 1st book did not hamper my enjoyment of this book. It would have been nice to know more about some of the situations that were referenced though. I do plan on going back to read the 1st book since I want to know what happened in it.

Take a step back to 1784 and ride along as Tiffany attempts to clear both her and Samir's name of murder. It seems in the prior book; Tiffany had dressed up as her brother and started working for the Duchess of Beaufort as the librarian. In this book, she is now known as herself and is working as the librarian and also as nanny for the young Duke. There are some really cute parts with Tiffany and the young pirate interacting.

This book had way too many juxtapositions of contradicting ideas. Some of them actually concerned me and took me out of the time period. First, some more modern language and sayings were used in the book. Secondly, the townsfolk didn't trust Samir because he is half-Indian, but they have him as the town's only constable. Then you have way too much time spent on describing the main character's monthly cycle.

However, if I just forget what time period it is supposed to be set in and listen to the story itself, it did end up being pretty enjoyable. There were many twists and turns that I felt had more to do with the relationship between Tiffany and Samir than the actual murder.

The narrator did a nice job of voicing the characters. The pacing was well done.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an open and honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 stars)

This is the perfect read after reading a huge heavy book , it's a cozy mystery about a 40 yo lady living in the 18th century , Tiffany wakes up to a dead body thrown right outside her house and finds herself forced to find the true criminal as she is the prime suspect.

Honestly I enjoyed this way more than expected, I binged 50% of it and stayed up till 4 am listening to the book .

Samantha Larsen's writing is comfortably enjoyable, not too fast but not slow either , it's simple enough to listen to while busy .

I enjoyed marni pennig's narration of the novel especially how emotional it was and the tones and accent used which took me back in time .

I loved how Tiffany always wanted a family and although I haven't read the first book I could guess how strong her character was in it but the sequel added a whole new layer to her personality, I always love it when authors introduce different characters of women just like how evy didn't want a child but a family was all that Tiffany wanted and that was introduced beautifully , we weren't told why evy hated having kids but Tiffany loved them but it was easy to guess after reading about their different backgrounds.
It breaks my heart that women had to suffer so much back then but it's also lovely that among them many fought for their rights and lived with pride .

Honestly I didn't like samir much , we haven't seen enough of him in this book and the bit we saw wasn't likable all that much , which is the first thing I disliked about the book , had we seen more of him i might've loved him .

The second thing I didn't like was having too many characters to remember , I understand that it is to be expected of a mystery but still I could tell who's whom , I loved many of the characters tho and the ending was perfect.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC of Once Upon a Murder!

Once Upon a Murder puts you right back into Tiffany Woodall's story. She is still working as the librarian at Astwell Palace with the added bonus of serving as stand-in tutor for the little Duke of Beaufort until his big brother returns with his new governess. Tiffany LOVES spending her days with little "Beau" and is sad to lose his company once the governess returns. Samir has been friendly but distant with Tiffany, which she cannot understand as she thought he cared for her deeply in the last book. One morning Tiffany leaves for work and literally stumbles over the body of Bernard Coram. After initially being suspected of murder, the town soon casts it's blame on Samir and he is arrested for the murder. Tiffany now must find out who really murdered Bernard before Samir is hanged for the crime.

A Novel Disguise was one of my favorite reads last year so I was really looking forward to the sequel. I was a little disappointed by Once Upon a Murder. The first half of the book talks about menstruations A LOT which was distracting and mostly unnecessary. When not complaining about her period, Tiffany spends most of her time between pining for a child and mooning over Samir. Samir's arrest blindsided me as there was literally zero evidence against him. I had to relisten to that part to figure out what I had missed. Other than finding out some fairly obvious family connections there was little sleuthing in this book. She randomly decides to investigate someone the night before the trial and solves the murder. There were some twists I didn't expect but overall this felt more like a romance with a bit of a mystery thrown in than a true cozy mystery.

2.5 - i'm sad to say i didn't love this. i enjoyed the first book a lot, thought it was a nice compelling cozy mystery and was a solid 4-star book. this one missed all the marks the first book set. it felt like the mystery was not going anywhere and was a side plot to the romance; while i loved tiffany and samir in the first book and really wanted to root for them, the plot twists for their romance arc were so unexpected in an out-of-character way and felt so forced or made up without much thought, so i couldn't even enjoy it as the main focus of the book. it kind of felt like most of the characters did a total 180 from the first book, so it was hard to get through. also while the audiobook narrator is very talented, the voice they gave for beau wasn't fun to listen to and felt strange for a six-year-old boy — though i suppose the author is a little at fault too, because a lot of his dialogue didn't feel very natural for someone his age.

overall, pretty disappointed, but i did like some parts of the mystery which is what saved the whole book for me a little.

Once again, Tiffany finds herself in the middle.of a cozy little mystery. I did not like this one quite as much as I liked the first one in the series. Some of the characters' actions didn't seem like things they would do based on their personalities from the first book. I liked the overall story, and I would probably pick up a third in the series if she writes one. If you like a cozy mystery, then you will probably like this.

This is such a fun and cute series! I love a good happy ending and this book did not disappoint! I can't wait to see the next scrape that Tiffani and Samir get into. I love that she is developing a friendship with the Duchess! Can't wait for the next installment in the series!

#OnceUponaMurder
#NetGalley

Once Upon a Murder AUDIO by Samantha Larsen was a melodrama of the first order. From the beginning the hero, Tiffany, was portrayed in a semi-hysterical way which got worse as the story unfolded. Tiffany was a forty-year old spinster in love with the local constable/bookseller, Samir, who was half-Indian. Sometimes he appeared to return her regard, but often pulled back. Other close friends include Lady Katherine, the local duchess, and her five-year old son, Beau, who was now the duke, as well as her adopted son, Thomas. Although the afterword showed some research was done, much was inaccurate about the book. I prefer to consider it entertainment, rather than a lesson in history, however.

Tiffany was a caring woman who had a bent for solving mysteries. She adopted Samir’s former wife’s baby because she had wanted a baby and this might be her only chance. She had a firm friendship with five-year-old Beau because she loved children. She served as the librarian in the duchess’ home because she also loved books. When she literally tripped over a dead body outside her cottage, the story began of her quest to save Samir from the gallows. She did it in both a scattered and somewhat organized fashion. It was amusing.

Marnie Penning’s narration added to the melodrama as she switched voices for each character, which let to some caricatures, rather than persons to be taken seriously. It was an extremely fun book to listen to, in part due to Marnie Penning.

I was invited to listen to the audio version of Once Upon A Murder by Dreamscape Media. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #DreamscapeMedia #SamanthaLarsen #MarniePenning #OnceUponAMurder

A murder mystery in historical romance was quite fun to read. The romance between Tiffany and Samir was developed slowly and the mystery was solved with great enthusiasm.

Once Upon a Murder is a cozy historical mystery. When tiffany stumbles across a frozen body outside her cottage, attention quickly turns to her dear friend Samir. Tiffany is forced to race the clock, since the murder, and clear Samir’s name for a chance at love.

I enjoyed this audiobook as a light and interesting mystery. I would have loved to see more suspense, and a sense of higher stakes, which would have helped me to buy into the story. However I really enjoyed Samir and Tiffany’s more progressive and compassionate characters.

The narration really made the story for me. Marni Pennjng’s narration was animated and the different characters were easily discriminated. She brought a lot of life to the story and I’m glad I read this as an audiobook.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a cosy mystery with low stakes and engaging narration, particularly if you have enjoyed previous books in the series.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for an arc of this book!

I did not read the first book in this series but I felt like this could definitely be a stand alone because I was never confused or left feeling like I needed more information. Once Upon a Murderer was a good blend of mystery and romance, perfect for fans of Bridgerton and lovers of historical fiction.

Set against the backdrop of 1784, Samantha crafts a captivating tale that had me hooked until the very end to find out who the real killer was. Miss Tiffany Woodall, now officially the librarian for the Duchess of Beaufort, finds herself embroiled in another deadly mystery when she discovers the frozen body of a former footman. As accusations fly and suspicions mount, Tiffany is thrust into a race against time to clear her name and save her beloved from injustice.

While I did enjoy this book, I did find it was missing something. Maybe an element of suspense?

3.5/5