Murder at the Palace is book 1 in this historical cozy mystery series.

When Hampton Court Palace housekeeper, Mrs Bramble, is called to use her extra key when one of the residents fails to answer or open the door, she finds the resident murdered with a knife in her back! Mrs Bramble is unhappy with the way Scotland Yard is investigating the murder, she decides to take matters in to her own hands and find the killer before the police arrest an innocent person.

This was a cozy read but it could have been shorter. There were some parts that felt repetitive and I just wanted to skim read. But the overall mystery and ending was satisfying.

2.5 Stars
One Liner: This didn’t work

After a night of festivities at the Hampton Court Palace, one of the ladies doesn’t answer the door in the morning. Mrs. Lydia Bramble, palace housekeeper, steps in to investigate and finds Miss Philomena Franklin murdered with a knife in her back. When the police seem to be on the wrong track, it’s up to Mrs. Bramble to play a sleuth and find the killer. After all, who better than servants to know things the masters and mistresses won’t talk about?
The story comes in Lydia Bramble’s third-person POV.

My Thoughts:
So, this is a debut historical cozy mystery set in an apartment complex (a sort of mix between a modern apartment and a gated community from what I understood) where widows live with their wards/ children and maids. Also, the author’s note reveals the setting is based on a real place.
The book starts with a list of characters, which I appreciated. Even though the list was detailed and provided information about who lived where I still got confused. A map would have helped.
The death happens fairly soon, so it is not a long wait to get to the mystery. We are introduced to the characters during the initial round of investigation (by our amateur sleuth, of course).
I liked the attempt to show how the detective (from Yard) was proud of his credentials and looked down upon others (especially the sleuth). It is also a display of misogyny where men consider women inferior and weak.
However, this is a women-dominant book with most characters being widows, maids, or wards. Still, it was hard to enjoy this one. No one was easy to like. Everyone was judgmental, even the MC.
I went along despite the slow pacing but started to zone out often. Then, I switched to speed-reading. This helped a little. Still, I was ready for the book to end at 60%. The reveal came a long time afterward!
The mystery as such was okay. It was certainly well-thought-out with red herrings, suspects, and twists. However, being unable to empathize with even a single character meant I couldn’t appreciate it as I should.
The ending is set for a series with a lead provided for the next book. My journey stops here, though.

To summarize, Murder at the Palace has a historical writing style and vibe but the characters fail to make an impact.
Thank you, NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This starts out well but it didn’t hold my interests. It soon becomes more about petty squabbles between staff than about solving a murder. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Historical mystery. Mrs. Bramble, the head housekeeper at Hampton Court Palace, finds one of her residents murdered and decides to investigate things herself as she is not happy with the way the police are handling the case. This was okay, but Mrs. Bramble was a little too forceful in her investigating, in my opinion. The ending of the book suggested this will become a series, but I don't think I would read another. 3 stars.

1/5 stars: This is the first entry in Daws's Historic Royal Palaces series which is a Historical Mystery set in Victorian England and features the Hampton Court Palace Lady Housekeeper, who's in charge of the grace-and-favor apartments, as she turns sleuth after one of the ladies in residence is found with a knife in her back. Daws's writing and character work are well done. Unfortunately, I simply lost interest in this story; leading me to DNF it at 25%.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group | Orion in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

Great historical mystery. I didn't figure it out, which is always great. It starts and doesn't get dull. Great writing. I will definitely look for more by this new to me author. Would recommend.

I read this a couple of months ago and have already mostly forgotten it, so take that as you will! I do remember it being a good read alike for the Richard Osman series, for whatever that's worth!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. This is a fun cozy historical murder mystery with a wonderful contrast of male ego that constantly underestimated the cleverness and scheming of women. These widowed or unmarried society women all live in royal housing with their servants and Mrs. Bramble, the Housemaid who manages the estate.

I enjoyed the strong personality of Mrs. Bramble using her skills and knowledge to ensure the assigned detective did not just find the easiest explanation and leave her household squabbles unresolved. The story was outlined to show the personalities and history of the women under suspect along with slowly tying the story of the murdered victims and suspected murderers together. The end result was a fun twist that tied everything together nicely and made me happy I pushed through to the end.

However, while I do understand the is an ARC and still needs some final editing it was difficult at times to follow the story as the author kept mixing up Rosie and Kitty and mislabeling them in the story. There also were too many characters introduced without any backstory that made you remember them or distinguish them. If there was a bit more background and intrigue to the characters I may have been hooked early on in the story versus it taking over half the book before I became intrigued.

At Hampton Court, the Royal family is no longer is residence and the apartments are occupied by grace and favor residents, mostly elderly widows of men of importance to the government.

When one of the ladies in residence is found murdered, hunched over her desk, an investigation is opened by the local police to catch the killer. When incompetence abounds by the force and another lady obviously not guilty is arrested, the main housekeeper of the palace, Mrs. Bramble, decides to start an investigation of her own. She’s determined to make the palace safe for her residents again.

This is a cozy who dunnit fiction story based on the real palace of Hampton Court in England. Mrs. Bramble is way more intelligent than the local police and will take you on a tale of intrigue, murder, and clue hunting as she takes on the case. I did feel like the book is a bit long winded and was a bit of a slower read but I did enjoy it. If you’re a fan of mysteries and Royal non fiction, add this to your TBR list. Murder at the Palace is available March 13th.

Thank you @netgalley and Orion Publishing for allowing me to advance read this upcoming story.

Being fond of cosy mysteries with a royal flavour, I had high expectations for this novel. The setting was nice for the escapism element but the pace was off and dragged. I didn’t get hooked. Too bad.

I was given Murder at the Palace by N.R. Daws in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley and the publisher.

Mrs. Bramble, a palace housekeeper, finds herself investigating a murder when the police fumble their investigation. A clever and engaging mystery that was a little slow in the beginning, but wrapped up in an unexpected way.

This would be a great novel for the cozy mystery lover or someone new to the genre.

Love Love Love!

I absolutely devoured this book. A cosy mystery set in Hampton Court Palace.
The ultimate locked room mystery.

A housekeeper determined to solve it.
A grace and favour apartment resident is found murdered and the Housekeeper wants to get to the bottom of it. I loved being able to picture exactly where everything was taking place and seeing how everyone had a small part to play or a clue to uncover. Her sidekick is the Reverend and was my absolute favourite! Always 5 steps behind and completely clumsy. I loved all the scenes he was in.

If you love historical fiction and mysteries then this book will take your fancy!

As someone who hasn't read, watched or engaged with anything to do with. murder mysteries outside of An Inspector Calls for school exams, or the play The Mousetrap as a trip, this was a refreshingly fun, different and exciting read!

Daws did an excellent job of setting up the world- Hampton Court, sometime after a World War (which in my opinions is all that was necessary for the plot), and kept giving us little hints throughout of who the murder and the culprit could have been (and should I re-read this, i'm sure they'll be glaringly obvious, but only a few things stood out as being odd (in a 'why is that being highlighted' way), but they weren't glaringly obvious. I had my suspicions about who the murderer was and was foiled twice! Mrs Bramble and Reverend Weaver are a wonderful duo, and show a great take on the 'inspector and his deputy' (given that the real inspector was almost an anti-hero in this) and I adored their dynamic throughout. We had a colourful cast of side characters, and while there was many people to get to know from the start (thanks to the list) it was quite clear which residents of the palace were people to be focused on, and who served to fill out the background. Mrs Bramble got to show that women should be listened to, and not just cast aside and I quite liked how defiant she was towards Inspector Cole and his opinions on women and their 'weaknesses'.

Something that would have helped me understand the timeline of events a little more was either a map of the grounds at the start, or possibly having days/times at the start of each chapter (as I had no clue this happened in the span of three days I think?). It was quite hard figuring out some of the pieces as I wasn't sure how close buildings were to each other or any sense of direction (but perhaps this is intentional! I'm as confused as the Inspector). The final 1/3 of the book did have me hooked and gripped (it took me a while to get going- but it has a quick starting plot) and I could do nothing else but laugh at the final line! I really hope this gets a sequel of sorts so we can see what happens next, i was highly entertained reading this.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC!

Murder at the Palace is a new mystery story set at Hampton Palace in conjunction with the Historic Royal Palaces organization. The main character is a housekeeper, Mrs. Bramble, at the palace and the mystery is set among the grace and favor group of residents in the palace. It took a bit to get into the story and there were lots of characters that blended together. The overall mystery was okay, but it just seemed to drag. I liked the setting and learning about all the characters and how they got their housing, living in apartments in a palace.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Secrets and Rumours…
Behind the walls of Hampton Court Palace, secrets are burning. When one of the ladies in residence at the palace fails to answer her maid’s morning call, Mrs Bramble, palace housekeeper, is called in to investigate. No one could have foreseen what the housekeeper was to soon discover. With a grisly murder on their hands and the local police failing to properly investigate, Mrs Bramble rises to the cause - after all who better to know the secrets and rumours that lurk behind those closed doors. An entertaining and enjoyable cosy mystery with a pacy plot populated with a nicely drawn cast and a well imagined backdrop.

A lovely cosy crime, I enjoyed the background of using Hampton Court palace as a setting with the grace and favour residents

3/5 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC
Well written and well researched cozy historical mystery.
Mrs. Bramble, the head housekeeper at Hampton Court Palace, which has been turned into grace-and-favour housing, gets involved in the locked-room murder of one of the residents. She's a clever woman, who knows her domain, and is often quite far ahead of Scotland Yard as they try to find the murderer.
If you like cozy mysteries grounded in a real place, this may be the book for you. The detailed descriptions of the Palace space and grounds made it very real. I did like Mrs. Bramble as well, and that she remained unfazed by the patronizing Scotland Yard detective.
I struggled to care about any of the residents, as they all seemed to be similar boring and entitled pensioners, or put upon domestic staff. I wasn't intrigued by the investigation either as so much of it seemed to be going nowhere. My biggest issue was that I never quite understood when this was supposed to have been set - 1870-1890s? I guess this can save the author having to co-ordinate historical events with his characters - but it seems odd reading a 'historical' mystery with so little history involved.
A very little blood, no violence, easy to pick up and put down.

A well written cosy mystery with an interesting setting in a palace. I enjoyed it alot. Sometimes cosy mysteries are a bit too slow for my tasting but this had a perfect pacing. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A cozy mystery set in the grand halls of Hampton Court Palace, this book had all the right ingredients—an intriguing murder, a sharp-witted housekeeper-turned-detective, and plenty of humor. Mrs. Lydia Bramble and Reverend Weaver made for an entertaining sleuthing duo, and the palace’s residents provided enough drama and secrets to keep things interesting. While the plot sometimes felt rushed and repetitive, the final act delivered clever twists and a satisfying resolution reminiscent of Agatha Christie. Though not a top-tier mystery, it’s an enjoyable read for those looking for something light and entertaining. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This was a really well done mystery novel, it had that element that I was looking for, I enjoyed the way this created a good mystery and thought the characters worked well in this universe. I enjoyed the overall concept and characters in this story. I can't wait to read more from N. R. Daws as this was well done.