Murder by Invitation Only by Colleen Cambridge (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @kensingtonbooks for the review copy of Murder by Invitation Only by Collen Cambridge.

Have you been to any murder mystery parties?  They sound like a lot of fun to me, but I have not yet been to one.

An invitation to a murder has been received at Mallowan Hall, the home of Agatha Christie and her husband Max.  Agatha and Max are away from home, and they send their housekeeper and friend, Phyllida Bright to the nearby Beecham House to represent them at the party.  The guests are delighted when the “murder” takes place and set about finding clues . . . until they discover it is actually a real murder. Phyllida Bright is on the case.  Will she be able to discover the murderer?

I greatly enjoyed this cozy mystery.  This is the third book in the “Phyllida Bright Mystery” series and the first one I have read.  You can read it as a standalone novel.  Phyllida Bright is the main character of the story and I loved her.  She has a no-nonsense approach to life and solving mysteries which I enjoyed.  With the inspector away, she helps the local constable with interviewing the people who were in the room with the murder victim and were a part of the act.  She soon learns that they may all have had a reason to murder the victim, but who did it, and why?

Agatha Christie is only a minor character seen minimally in this novel.  I enjoyed that she was there in the background and that the locked room mystery was a nod to some of Christie’s works.  The small country town setting was wonderful, and I enjoyed getting to know the various characters.

This book was published on September 26, 2023.