Madrigals and Mayhem by Elizabeth Penney is a great cozy mystery that is the fourth book in The Cambridge Bookshop Mystery series.

I have really enjoyed this series thus far. Set in the historic academic town of Cambridge, the author really brings the feel of the town into the novel.

I have always liked the character cast and Molly is a fun MC and amateur sleuth to hang around with.

I liked the Christmas and festive feel and the murder/mystery was an easy thread to follow. I will continue to read this series.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 11/26/24.

This is such a great holiday cozy read with a charming setting. This is my first read from Elizabeth Penney and I enjoyed it.

Molly Kimball, the American transplant, who with her mother and aunt are running the family’s Cambridge bookshop, Thomas Marlowe—Manuscripts and Folios, looking forward to enjoying a proper English Christmas with her family, friends and handsome boyfriend Kieran. There will even be a holiday madrigal that everyone will take part in.
Things look even better when the toy shop across the street reopens, with a potential new friend, Charlotte Pemberley, running things. But a bitter inheritance battle is going on among the Pemberleys and a valuable doll is missing; poisonings ensue, brining mayhem instead of Christmas merriment. And Molly’s new friend is the top suspect. Will Molly be able to help clear her friend’s name before Christmas?
This book is as cozy as they get. Penney has written another great installment in her Cambridge Bookshop series. I highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Molly is looking forward to her first Christmas in England. When the toy shop across the street from her family's bookstore reopens, Molly becomes friends with new owner Charlotte, who has inherited the store from her grandfather. After Charlotte and Molly discover one of Charlotte's cousins poisoned in the toy shop, Molly begins to investigate the poisoning while helping Charlotte search for a valuable doll. Charlotte's family has all sorts of tension and drama and conflict, giving Molly plenty of suspects to investigate. This is a charming addition to the series, with Molly and recurring characters of family and friends all pitching in to solve the mystery and help Charlotte. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC.

I absolutely love this series. This latest book is a perfect holiday cozy and easily read as a standalone book. Molly and her English-born Mum returned to Cambridge, England, about eight months earlier to help Molly's Great-Aunt Violet run Thomas Marlowe bookstore. This was precipitated by both the death of Molly's father and that the bookstore wasn't staying up with modern selling practices like an online presence. Both Molly and her Mum have embraced being in Cambridge, to including meeting lots of wonderful people like Charlotte, the new owner of Pemberly's Emporium, a fabulous toy and game shop on their street. When Molly meets Charlotte, it's because Charlotte's estranged step-family are attempting to contest her inheritance from her grandfather, Arthur. Things go from bad to worse with poisonings used to bad effects in multiple cases. Molly and her friends work to solve the crimes before the holidays are overcome by Scrooge-ish bad will. Enjoy this latest outing while we eagerly await the next in this series.

I haven't read the first three in this series. Honestly in most mystery series you can catch up easily and that is true here. Molly Kimball (the point of view character) came to England with her mother after the death of her father. They're reuniting (uneasily) with Mom's family as they disowned her for falling in love with an American and moving there, except I'm assuming for Aunt Violet who is part owner of Thomas Marlowe, a family book store with a few hundred years of operation under its belt.

Molly and Mom are gearing up for Christmas (including trying to get on with Mom's brother who isn't too bad and his maybe-soon-to-be-ex wife who is). Molly has made friends in this historic Cambridge shopping area including Daisy the baker and now Charlotte, who like Molly is inheriting the family toy shop after the death of her grandfather. As if that isn't trauma enough for Charlotte, her father had married a gold digging woman, Althea, with a string of dead husbands, her daughter Dorcas and her children (teens/early 20s) and they're trying to steal the store out from under her not to mention find this antique doll before Charlotte does (worth half a million).

When Althea's grandson is nearly killed eating poisoned cakes both Daisy and Charlotte come under fire. Molly has to prove her friends innocent and help Charlotte find that doll. One problem for me is I'm not a huge fan of the amateur sleuth NOT getting along with the detectives and we sort of have that here. The detectives don't want her interfering (makes sense) but aren't overly hostile so I could handle it.

There are more break ins and then there's the titular Christmas madrigal show run by Althea that Molly auditions for because a) it's a way for her to get in with the family to investigate b) her boyfriend, Kieran (part of the aristocracy) has been roped into it. So we have a couple of investigations, a couple of attempted and accomplished murders and several suspects.

I did like this a lot. Molly and her friends are fun characters. I was less enthusiastic about the children's book story within a story as it seemed to go on overly long. At least Molly has Mom and Aunt Violet helping her at the shop. That's the thing for me with cozies, how easily these amateur sleuths walk away from their day jobs (which are becoming harder to swallow in the era of everyone buying everything online) Having them there made it a bit more believable.

I did like it quite a lot and if this is all the more hostile the police are to Molly (as one of them is seeing her mother kinda/sorta) then I would probably get more of these. If they get more hostile probably not (but again that's a my preference sort of thing and not a comment about the quality of the writing)

Another great installment and was even better that it was set during Christmas. I found myself enjoying the story with the story this time.
I can not wait for the next one.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

These are my favorite kind of books, little cozy mysteries - they make the perfect pallet cleanser and go perfect with a cup of tea. I had not read the previous books by Elizabeth Penney before, but I put in a request for this anyways because it sounded right up the alley of books I enjoy between my fantasy novels. I found the first three and took the weekend to enjoy them. I am hooked, I absolutely loved this book (and series) by Elizabeth Penney. Her writing style is amazing and the amount of detail was enough that I was pulled in but not too much that I got turned off and skipped paragraphs. This book was great, and I definitely plan on re-reading during the holiday season.

This Christmas-set latest entry in this series has all the charms of the earlier books. The Cambridge setting always sounds lovely, and especially works here with all the Christmas-themed events. Molly ends up involved in mystery surrounding the family that owns a classic toy store in town, and malicious pranks and family drama lead to murders and near murders. As can be the case with this series, occasionally the extent of Molly’s involvement seems somewhat unrealistic given her fairly loose ties to the case, and a few of the reactions to various events struck me as a little off. That said, it’s an entertaining mystery with a great setting and some enjoyable developments in the personal lives of the regular characters. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All views are entirely my own and offered voluntarily.

I love The Cambridge Bookshop Series! Madrigals and Mayhem is the 4th book in the series and so far my favorite. I love the setting - Christmas time in Cambridge and I love all the all of the returning characters and relationships. I am excited to see what is to come for them.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy of Madrigals and Mayhem, in exchange for an honest review.

Madrigals and Mayhem is the 4th book in the Cambridge Bookshop Mystery series. It takes place in Cambridge, England during Christmas. Molly Kimball and her mother have moved from the US to help her great-aunt, Violet, with her bookstore, Thomas Marlowe Manuscripts and Folio's. It has been in the family 400 years. Daisy Watson is Molly's best friend. She owns the Tea and Crumpets shop. Kieran Scott is Molly's boyfriend and owns a bike store called, Spinning Your Wheels. He is the youngest son of Lord and Lady Scott. Tim Ellis is Kieran's business partner and Molly's boyfriend. Across the street is Pemberly's Emporium Toy Shop. It has been closed for a year but is now opening. Molly loves the dollhouse in the window. It is the most beautiful one she has ever seen. It gives her an idea to put some dollhouse books exhibited in the bookstore,

Molly goes to see Daisy and is introduced to Charlotte Pemberly the owner of the toy store. She had been production assistant at BBC. Her grandfather had died and left the store to her. The dollhouse belonged to her great grandmother and can never be sold. Charlotte invites both of them to come over for a tour. They go and when they get to the backroom they come across her cousin. Barnaby Winters. He is very sick and needs to go to the hospital. He had eaten tea cakes from Daisy's shop. A card from her shop was with the tea cakes. Daisy says they are not her cakes as she never uses blue frosting. Roxi arrives at the store. She is Barnaby's sister. She follows the ambulance to the hospital.

Charlotte tells them that her grandfather had left her everything. Her grandfather married a horrible woman. It was her 3rd marriage. She is a professor of Renaissance Music and consults with films and plays. She has a daughter-in-law Dorcas who's children are Barnaby and Roxi. Her grandfarlather realized she only married him for his money so kicked them out and changed his will to leave everything to Charlotte. Barnaby and Roxi took her to court but lost. Her gandfather also left her a very rare Madame Alexander doll which he hid somewhere in the store. There are only a half dozen existing. Barnaby was probably there looking for the doll. He also gave her a book called Charolette's Dollhouse. Could there be a clue in the book. She gives to book to Molly to read.

Sergeant Gita Adhikani and Constable Derby come to the store. They work with Detective Inspector Sean Ryan on the Murder Investigations. The police tell Charlotte that Barnaby had been poisoned but is alive. Molly realizes that the cakes were really for Charlotte.

Charlotte tells them that Barnaby broke into the shop. No one from that family was suppose to be in contact with her. Plans to get a protective order against them. They are her grandfather's step-relations. Charlotte tells them about the doll and they are after it. The doll is hidden somewhere.

Molly goes back to the bookstore and sees her Uncle Chris's van. He is a roof thatcher. Inside the store she finds them in the kitchen. He had brought her mother's trunk from her childhood. Her parents had disowned her because she married an american and moved to the US. Her brother, Chris now lived in the house. The trunk is opened and all that is in the trunk is books. Her beloved Sasha Doll was not in the trunk.

Molly tells them what happened in the toy store. Her aunt Violet knew Athea and didn't really have anything nice to say about her. Her son had died suddenly and left her with huge debts. Her aunt get an album out and showed them the cast of the Madrigals and Mayham. Athena wrote the play and the music. There was Athea in the middle. Jonathan Yeats M16 retired agent turned best sellar and in love with Violet. She told Molly that she had seen two people in the alley near the toy store. She lives above the store. George was also in the play.

Dorcus wrote another script for the play. Athea will be the director. They were looking for volunteers to participate in the play. They were going to do the play back to St. Hildegard School. They got the BBC interested in filming it as part of Christmas in Cambridge. Her Mom and Violet thought it would be fun to get tickets.

Two police cars were at Daisy's shop. Kieran met up with Molly. She told him what is happened in the store. The police were looking for aconite. Molly met with Kiernan and Tim and Daisy at the bike shop. They told things over aboiut Charlotte. She could be in danger from the family.

This is where the story takes off on an adventure. There is too much to tell so I will leave it to the reader to enjoy to the exciting ending.

I really enjoyed this book and all the suspense that went with it. The scavenger hunt that gives Molly and Charlotte hints to find the doll. I think I will read the series from the beginning and will look forward to the next book in this series.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC.




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Madrigals and Mayhem is a good holiday cozy mystery.
Molly Kimball is looking forward to her first English Christmas and her excitement is shown throughout the story.
With the reopening of the local toy store, Molly is looking forward to meeting the new owner, Charlotte.
Not everyone believes Charlotte should be the rightful owner, and tempers flare when she refuses to let others try to interfere.
Things begin to spiral out of control but Molly is determined to help her new friend.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and I'm happy to recommend it to others.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

In Madrigals and Mayhem, the fourth in Elizabeth Penney's charming Cambridge Bookshop series, Molly Kimball finds that even the holidays can come with a healthy dose of mystery. When I read this book, I can sense a thrilling feeling through the journey.

Madrigals and Mayhem is a delightful cozy, set in Cambridge, England. I'd love to walk on the cobblestone streets and visit the shops.. Molly is the perfect amateur sleuth, and Daisy and Charlotte, plus Molly's family added to a great group of characters. The only negative I have is I could have done without the occasional cursing. Otherwise, the story was fun to read. The story will get you into the Christmas spirit with the talk of trees and decorations. If you enjoy a good cozy, you'll want to read this one. I received a free copy. Opinions are my own.

The story was interesting and fun. There was a bit of quick jumping too conclusions but it was only a few steps before I would have made the same observation. I definitely would like to read the 3 previous mysteries solved and am looking forward to more in the future.

I couldn't get into this book but that doesn't mean it's the same for others. I hope you enjoy it. I do like the author so I'll continue to read this at a later date

It is Christmas time in Cambridge and Molly is looking forward to her first Christmas in England. When the toy shop across the way reopens Molly makes friends with Charlotte who has inherited the store from her grandfather. When Charlotte and Molly discover Charlotte’s grandfather’s step-grandson poisoned in the toy shop Molly begins to investigate and soon is embroiled in murder.
A pleasant entry in a nice cozy series. The murderer was pretty obvious all along but the fun here is the Cambridge setting and how characters make progress in their personal lives. Recommended

Madrigals and Mayhem is the fourth book in the Cambridge Bookshop Series by Elizabeth Penney. I really enjoy this series and this book did not disappoint. The setting in Cambridge in an ancient bookshop is so enjoyable as are the cast of wonderful British characters with an American mother and daughter added into the mix. The writing is so descriptive that I feel like I am on Magpie Lane right along with the characters. I loved the Christmas setting and the ending did not disappoint. I also enjoy how the author works excerpts of an older, existing book into solving the mystery itself. I hope this series will continue on for quite a while. There are several big events coming up in some characters' lives that I would love to read about!

I appreciate the opportunity from NetGalley to read this book. All opinions are my own.

This intriguing murder mystery, set in England during the Christmas holidays, held my attention from beginning to end. I read it in less than 48 hours. I was pretty sure I knew who the culprit was, but wasn't sure how they would prove it. I look forward to reading more of Elizabeth Penny's book.

This is the fourth book in the Cambridge Bookshop series and Molly is about to enjoy the holidays.

The new owner of Pemberly’s Emporium, Charlotte, is reopening the shop and is determined to make it a success.

With the extended family not happy about Charlotte inheriting the shop, there could be some problems, and of course, there are. A body, a missing person, and poison make for an interesting holiday!


NetGalley/ St. Martin’s Press November 26, 2024