The Wonderland Murders
A quirky and funny series for fans of a good mystery and compelling characters. Can you solve the crime before our dressmaking duo?
After losing her job at an exclusive London hotel, Penny Slipper is only too happy to help when her grandma asks her to take charge at the Cozy Craft sewing shop in charming rural Suffolk.
With cousin Izzy on hand as the expert dressmaker and Penny’s head for business, what can possibly go wrong?
But Penny’s in town for less than a day when the local librarian is poisoned and Penny fears she might even be accidentally responsible. Penny and Izzy are forced to turn detectives to uncover the true cause of death, while finishing a costume commission for their first customer.
Matters take a further deadly turn when a second body is discovered.
Can Penny and Izzy unpick the mysteries of the past and sew the pieces of this puzzle together before it’s too late?
If you enjoy fast-paced mysteries, charming country towns and characters who you want to spend hours with then you’re going to love the Cozy Craft Mystery series.
Start your next murder mystery adventure today!
Purchase Links
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BH13Q1F4
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BH13Q1F4
My Review
Thanks to author for sending me copies of the books, and to Rachel, of Rachel’s Random Resources, for organising this blog tour. This is the first of four books in this series that I’m reviewing in April as part of the blog tour.
Penny gets a message from her family in Framlingham, a market town in Suffolk. Nanna Lem is in hospital, come quick! Panny drops everything and gets the train from London to Ipswich, to find Nanna Lem isn’t dying, she got addicted to pain pills when she broke her foot and is in rehab. Meanwhile, her craft shop needs someone competent to run it. It’s currently being looked after by Izzy, Penny’s older cousin, who isn’t very good at keeping things together without her Nanna’s guidance. Could Penny possibly go and help out, just for a little while, she can stay in the flat over the shop? So, Penny gets on a bus and makes the journey to Framlingham. And immediately gets lost and wanders into the local library, where she meets some interesting people before eventually finding Cozy Crafts, and Izzy. The place is a dusty mess and appears to be stuck in the pre-digital age. Izzy appears to be confused by her presence, despite being the one to contact Penny about Nanna Lem.
Things get a bit odd in Framlington after two people are murdered in less than a week: a library manager with wandering hands and a librarian with an acid tongue. Why? Who did it? And why does a micro pig need a waistcoat?
One of the victims was wearing their first commissioned fancy dress costume when she was killed and the ladies of Cozy Crafts want to know what happened. Was a flamingo involved? Izzy and Penny get caught up in the investigation and are accused of being the murderers, so they’re determined to find the killer. It all comes to a head as they gather the potential suspects, unveil a mystery that has nothing to do with murder and the police arrive just in time to take away the perpetrator.
Izzy and Penny are delightful, once got used to. Penny is the serious cousin, trying to get her nan’s business back up and running, and learn to sew at the same time. Izzy is the wildly creative, away with fairies cousin, with a gift for design, who also writes for the local paper, and likes to do experiments. The story is mainly told from Penny’s perspective, but some chapters follow Izzy on her adventures, so we get to see something of both their characters and motivations.
There are a lot of odd fellows in Framlingham, especially in the library and local paper. Nanna Lem is the funniest though, by far. Her machinations to get Penny and Izzy to take over the business are obvious but work so well, even if the original cause was an accident. Her slightly high explanation of how she ended up in hospital and rehab are hilarious. She’s the sort of Nanna everyone wants but despairs of.
I took me a bit to get into this book, to get used to the author’s writing style, but I did enjoy it in the end. I started it, got a bit frustrated with the writing, put it down for a few days, then picked it up to do some reading, and finished the book three hours later. I found the story engaging and amusing, and also enjoyed the sewing and dress making references. All children need to learn to sew, and a tote/book bag is an easy place to start.
A fun story, which maybe could have done with a little editing and tightening up, but if you want a cosy, Saturday afternoon read, I recommend it.
Giveaway Prize – The Wonderland Murders, a cross stitch book, a floral notepad, a note writing set and a grass bunny.
https://kingsumo.com/g/h1kxu9/prize-for-cozy-mysteries-blog-tour
Author Bio – Millie Ravensworth writes the Cozy Craft Mystery series of books. Her love of murder mysteries and passion for dressmaking made her want to write books full of quirky characters and unbelievable murders. Millie lives in central England where children and pets are something of a distraction from the serious business of writing, although dog walking is always a good time to plot the next book.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/MillieRavensworth
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