What’s better than a good cozy? A good cozy that weaves some actual historical content into the storyline! This tenth entry in the Penny Brannigan series does just that and hit the mark on all fronts.

When the Black Chair, a piece of Welsh history, is restored and heading back for a grand celebration, one of the locals manages to arrange for it to be shown at his country manor house on the journey back home. With a private dinner party arranged, Penny agrees to coordinate the dinner. But when the chair is stolen and one of the servers is murdered, Penny finds the death hits closer to home as it turns out to be the nephew of her receptionist at the spa.

Penny has a feeling that an old flame may have a hand in the theft, though she struggles to believe he would have murdered anyone. As Penny pokes around she finds more dots and begins connecting them. While her hunch is strong, the police can’t make an arrest without evidence and Penny seems unable to connect those last few dots.

UK cozies always seem to be cozier and this series is no exception. I enjoy the Penny Brannigan series and have yet to be disappointed. A great series to add to your cozy must read authors.

Remembering the Dead is a good cozy mystery, written well, and interesting characters. This is the first I have read in this series and I will go back and read more.

amateur-sleuth, Wales, theft, murder, cosy-mystery, law-enforcement, contemporary *****

If you like a cosy mystery complete with an amateur sleuth, cooperative law enforcement, some history to learn about, theft, and murder, you just can't miss with this one! I really don't know where to start without doing the spoiler thing, but I can say that it doesn't really matter if this is part of a series because I haven't read any of the others and that was no problem. I hope lots of readers enjoy it as much as I did!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

With thanks to the author, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC.
Description
"In award-winning author Elizabeth J. Duncan's tenth Penny Brannigan mystery, Welsh amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan attends a dinner party at a posh country house--where a historic chair disappears and a waiter is murdered.
Artist and spa owner Penny Brannigan is dressed to the nines for a formal dinner at a charming country house. After dinner, the guests adjourn to the library for a private exhibition of the Black Chair, a precious piece of Welsh literary history awarded in 1917 to poet Hedd Wyn. But to the guests' shock, the newly restored bardic chair is missing. And then Penny discovers the rain-soaked body of a waiter."

I enjoyed this book and the nostalgic elements of this foray into Wales with Penny and her fellow villagers. Whilst there are a lot of things going on around the storyline, the characters are well described and interesting. I did find it a little slow at times as it is quite descriptive but this was never a serious concern as it quickly picked up again. I did not see the twist coming until it arrived, so the mystery was played out. Overall I would recommend this book and I would not hesitate to read other works by this author.

Remembering the Dead is a delightful cozy mystery that you can curl up with.

This Penny Brannigan mystery begins when the famous Black Chair disappears from a private dinner/exhibition followed by the discovery of the body of one of the waiters. Penny then begins her quest to find out more information from different individuals in hopes of putting the pieces together and find the missing chair and killer.

I am not familiar with this series, but after finishing a different book with a more somber tone - this book came at the perfect time for me. It wasn't perfect, but I found it relaxing, plus I learned a bit of history as well that I wasn't expecting. In fact, I looked up the real Black Chair just to see it and it is quite something.

As a reader of mystery, I often times find the real pleasure in the book is trying to figure out who the culprit is by narrowing down from a sea of potential culprits and still not really knowing who it is by the end of the book. Because Remembering the Dead happens within a closed setting (someone's home) you might expect that multiple attendees were suspects or had conflicting testimonies or were able to tell just enough information that leaves you with more questions. However, I didn't really feel that this occurred and this is where my own conflict regarding the story comes from. While a lot happened at the party, I didn't really have a sea of potential culprits to select from and narrow down.

Overall, it was a pleasant read, but I just needed a little more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Artist and spa owner Penny Brannigan puzzles over the theft of a poet's chair and the murder that goes with it in the newest mystery in this series set in Wales.

Wound around the challenging mystery of why thieves would pursue a prize awarded posthumously to a World War 1 poet is a history lesson about the actual poet and his home. Elizabeth Duncan's book is also a travelogue, as Penny takes the reader across country and on a ferry ride to Dublin

Penny is assisted by book regulars, including Victoria, her business partner; Mrs. Lloyd, a gossipy spa customers; and Jimmy, a reformed thief who consults from his wheelchair in the local nursing home.

I was able to obtain this free book for my honest opinion and I have to tell you this British cozy mystery checked all the boxes for me, a great book indeed. Remembering The Dead is the 10th book in the Penny Brannigan series by Elizabeth J. Duncan. In this book Welsh amateur sleuth Brannigan attends a formal dinner party at a posh country house. When every retires to the library for a private viewing of the Black Chair they are shocked to see the restored bardic chair is missing. To add to the mystery Brannigan finds a body.

Twists and turns and a theft gone wrong eep Brannigan busy until the end.

I highly recommend this book!