This is my first read in this series. I like main character Alice, though she feels a bit wishy-washy to me. And the fact that there's no murder by 33% into the book has me impatient about it. At the end of the book, I basically feel like it's fine. But I want more tension and murder than that, so I feel like this isn't a great fit for me.

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Alice is contacted by her ex, asking her to sell off his collection of chess sets, she agrees. With the aid of her lodger and her neighbour, they plan a chess tournament at the local school to attract buyers while also creating interest for a chess club among the students. All goes well until they discover a dead body in the school parking lot.

For the most part, I enjoyed Death at the Village Chess Club by Debbie Young. It is an engaging cozy mystery with a mostly likeable cast of characters. My main criticism is Alice who, although 50, comes off as much younger, almost like an immature adolescent at times. The story also started out fairly slowly and it was almost 40% of the way before anything much happened. I will say, though, that when it did, it got very entertaining and kept my interest right through to the end.

3.5

I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Boldwood Books in exchange for an honest review

Alice is settling into her life in Little Pride. She has grown to love her little curiosity shop and getting to know the occupants of her new town. However, the quest to sell off her ex's chess sets puts all their lives at risk, when someone is found dead with a few chess pieces on them. What follows is a high speed adventure for Alice and her friends, as they try to put all the pieces back together before someone else ends up dead.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series. I am absolutely besotted with small British towns. Add in a cozy mystery, delightful characters and I'm just hooked! At the end of Death at the Old Curiosity Shop I knew there was more to these characters and I'm so delighted to have a new adventure!

What I love most about cozy mysteries [apart from the small towns] is the [mostly] female characters discovering a new life for themselves. Alice definitely has this in Little Pride and I am cheering her on every step of the way! She's grown comfortable with her shop and the pain of her divorce is subsiding. Now if she could just stop discovering dead bodies...

The adventure was a high speed, thrilling mystery and I didn't guess the final denouement before it happened. I love when a mystery keeps me on my toes, as I frequently do guess the ending, but this one kept me guessing!!!

If you're looking for a fresh new series and love a good mystery, you absolutely can't go wrong with Death at the Village Chess Club. With perfect pacing and delightful characters, this is one series you are going to want more of!!

I didn’t realize this was a part of a series until I got into the third or fourth chapter and now I need to go back and read the others because I just loved this cozy little mystery!

In the second book of the series, we follow our main character, Alice, who now owns the Cotswold Curiosity Shop, on a fresh adventure. She is selling all the chess sets that her ex-partner owned to support him financially. She organized an event to sell those sets at the school, which also provided an opportunity for kids to learn chess. Suddenly, a murder occurs at the end of this event, and she is trying to solve it with the help of her best friend, Danny, and her neighbor, Robert.
It was a delightful cozy mystery book. At first, it started slowly, but then it picked up. The only issue I couldn't reconcile was that our main character was 50 years old; she behaved like she was in her thirties or forties.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boldbook Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Alice is contacted by her ex boyfriend Steven who wants her to sell his chess sets. She decides to host a tournament in order to generate interest in the sets.
She didn’t expect to find a body the day of the tournament.
I thought this was a nice easy to read follow up to the previous one. It’s a cosy little mystery and I was surprised by the ending. Looking forward to the next one

Our main character Alice is finally settling in the beautiful village Cotswold. That’s when he ex comes back asking for her help. He dumped her to travel the world and now that he ran out of money he needed her to try to sell his collection of chess sets.

Alice decides to help him and organized a chess tournament bit things take a turn when one of the chess piece is missing and someone found dead. Alice then decides to uncover the mystery.

This book was quite enjoyable and I will continue this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldbook Books for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

First time reading this author. I enjoyed the characters and the village setting. It will be interesting to see what other trouble this character gets into.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in a series, but I was able to jump into the story without much of a hiccup. Our main character, Alice, owns an antique shop in the Cotswold and is establishing herself in the village when her ex-boyfriend calls from his worldwide motorbike trip. He wants Alice to liquidate his chess set collection so he can have some additional money.

As a reader, you don't need to know the intricacies of chess to follow the story (thankfully!) but I enjoyed the artistic description of the fancier chess sets. As the story progresses, there is a murder (hence the title) at the Village Chess Club and Alice sets out to see if she can solve the crime.

This is a fairly tight mystery and the story is fun to follow. Although it is a cozy mystery, the denouement is full of action. The characters are fun but I will note that some of the conversations aren't too realistic because the author has decided to let explanations for antique chess sets or locale information be shared in conversation. I find this type of artistic choice in other cozy mysteries, so while it isn't my favorite, it is fairly normal.

A quick and light read, perfect for Agatha Raisin fans (hi, it’s me). I love a good mystery set in the Cotswolds and this one made me jealous of small village life (minus the murder). I really enjoyed getting to know the cast of characters and enjoyed it despite not reading book #1. What I appreciated most of all was the straightforward simplicity of the story, no red herrings here

Brilliant - absolutely loved it. Loved the setting and the characters and the plot - recommend to everyone! Will read anything else the author writes!

A really lovely cosy crime books that keeps your interest throughout and keeps you turning the pages. The main character Alice as an amateur sleuth plays the part really well and is a really likeable character. The village setting and the general plot is great for lovers of Agatha Christie and M.C.Beaton .
Would definitely recommend and will be reading others on the series

A quick and light read, perfect for Agatha Raisin fans (hi, it’s me). I love a good mystery set in the Cotswolds and this one made me jealous of small village life (minus the murder). I really enjoyed getting to know the cast of characters and enjoyed it despite not reading book #1. What I appreciated most of all was the straightforward simplicity of the story, no red herrings here.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book! Pub date: March 3, 2025.

Not knowing how to play chess I was intrigued to read this book. Alice is asked by her ex to sell off his collection of chess sets as he needs the cash.
Having moved to a small, quiet Cotswold village where everyone knows each other and their secrets, almost before they know themselves, Alice sets out to revive the small shop that sells 'collectables'. Donating several chess sets to the local school and selling the rest it soon becomes clear that one in particular is causing problems as several of the pieces go missing and a man is murdered. With the help of the police and family and friends can Alice find out why. An easy read highlights village life and characters, not is all as it seems.

This is a really enjoyable cosy murder mystery. It depicts village life perfectly, with the 2 shops, school, church and pub. Although this is the second in a series, (I’m so happy to know there’s another book on the way!), it could also be read as a stand-alone. I strongly recommend this to any reader who loves a cosy mystery.

This book falls into the category of what some might call a 'cosy mystery '. Alice lives in the Cotswold village of Little Pride and runs a curiosity shop, selling an assortment of interesting goods. Her ex is now off living the good life overseas and asks her to sell off the multiple chess sets he has in storage, which he purchased as a hobby over the years. Alice and her friend Danny decide to host a chess event at the local school in the hope of raising some money for the school and finding some buyers for the chess sets. Although the event goes well, by the end of the night some pieces from one set are missing and the alleged thief is found murdered without the chess pieces on him. With the police investigating the crime and Alice concerned the locals may think she is involved, she becomes determined to solve the mystery.

Unfortunately, while the storyline was sweet and the characters likeable, overall I was disappointed with the book. It was simplistic and the story moved along far too quickly to feel satisfying. The character development lacked any real depth and they didn't seem to react realistically in some situations . The mystery itself unravelled too easily and quickly and the plot was underdeveloped so it didn't challenge the reader. I've read a number of cosy mysteries and while I have an appreciation for this genre, I felt this one was disappointing overall

Thanks to netgalley for my opportunity to read and review this book.

A cozy mystery set in a small town in the Cotswolds, centered around a seemingly innocuous chess set that starts causing issues.
Alice, new to the small Cotswold village of Little Pride, is roped into helping her ex sell some chess sets and sets up a chess match with the local high school to drum up interest. The night of the match, though, pieces from one of the sets get stolen, and the thief ends up dead in a parking lot. A subsequent night-time visit leaves Alice unsettled, and she and her neighbors start to lightly investigate.

This seems to be the second (at least) in a series as there are allusions to a previous mystery that Alice solved, and a familiarity with the characters in the village. This can be read as a stand-alone, but may be more enjoyable having read the first book.
While this was still enjoyable, it felt very much like a first draft. Foreshadowing and red herrings were a little overt, and there wasn't much description. The denouement was very anti-climatic - none of the characters acted the way one would expect when there is <spoiler alert> a kidnapping involved. This just felt very one note. I did enjoy the flirtation with the next door neighbor, Robert, and hopefully the series will continue to explore that.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read this book.

I very much enjoyed the cozy mystery Death at the Old Curiosity Shop which was book 1 of this series. This is cozy mystery book 2 and continues the series of Alice Carroll and her life in the Cotswolds. I enjoyed this book as well as the first book.

Alice Carroll is starting to feel at home in Little Pride. Her Curiosity Shop is open and doing well and her little cottage is perfect for her.
When her ex, Steven, asks Alice to sell his collection of Chess sets for him she agrees. After all, if she can send him some money it may just keep him well away from her life.
Alice decides to showcase the sets by setting up a tournament at the local school, things are going well, until a body is found in the car park. The man was suspected of stealing some of the pieces from one of the chess sets, but surely no one would kill for a few pieces of plastic.
Feeling a little guilty as she organised the tournament, Alice is desperate to help find the killer. But will that put her and those close to her in danger.

Debbie Young brings us an interesting mystery from Little Pride, a cozy English village. I really enjoyed this MC of a certain age who is clever and has a great sense of self. Out March 3rd.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was definitely a fun mystery. I enjoyed the comfy small village English setting. Alice is an interesting character at an interesting time in her life, but she is realistic, earnest, and has a good sense of humor. This is the first time I have read this author. Though this is the second book in the series, it was definitely easy enough to pick up. What I enjoyed most about this series besides a lovely cast of characters was the fact that our MC is smart, doesn't try to do too much, involves the police but also definitely adds her part to our mystery without doing anything ridiculous. If you like chess, it will just add to your enjoyment of this interesting mystery. I will definitely visit Alice in Little Pride again! Thanks to #Netgally, #BoldwoodBooks, and the author for a chance to read. #DeathattheChessClub #DebbieYoung #CostwoldCuriousityShopMystery #bookreview #bookideas #retiredreader