In this delightful new historical mystery series, Phyllida Bright, housekeeper and amateur sleuth, discovers a body in the library—and a mystery to baffle even her famous employer. What a fun read this book was! Using everything she learned from the fictional characters Poirot and Miss Marple, Phyllida sets out to solve a baffling mystery and discover the murderer. Great characters and dialog and the sense of place was perfect. I can't wait to read the next in this series. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

This new historical mystery series is set in Mallowan Hall, the home of nonetheless Agatha Christie! When a dead body is found during a house party, it's up to the famous author's head of household, Phyllida Bright, a lover of Christie's Poirot, to investigate.

❤️ I liked:⁠
👩 Phyllida Bright. She is probably one of my favourite characters so far. She is young to work as a housekeeper in such a prestigious household, but she doesn't let anybody intimidate her. She is tenacious and proud, and what I really loved about her is her loyalty to both her employers and her employees. I would describe her as a mixture between Poirot and Miss Marple: she uses Poirot's methods to solve the crime, and she is a bit nosy like Miss Marple.
👩‍🍳 The side characters. I loved them! Puffley, the cook, was hilarious. And the interactions between Dobble, the butler, and Phyllida made me smile. They added a bit of humour to the mystery,
📘 It reminded me a bit of an Agatha Christie's mystery. The setting, the cast of people, the witness statements at the beginning of the book and the revelation at the end... all of this reminded me of Agatha Christie.
❓ The whodunit. The final revelation was quite the twist. I have to say I got something while reading the book, but not everything.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 I definitely suggest this book to all the fans of Agatha Christie. I loved the plot, and I loved to see Agatha as a character, especially because she was not the main one. We all know how difficult it can be to have a non-fictional main character in a fictional book. Thanks to #netgalley and @kensingtonbooks for the ARC.⁠

A solid historical mystery. I really enjoyed how this book had an old fashion feel to and of course loved the Agatha Christie references.

3.5 stars. Murder at Mallowan Hall was an enjoyable murder mystery. I loved that it was set in the home of Agatha Christine and told through the viewpoint of the house staff.

Phyllida is the head of the house staff at Mallowan Hall where Mr. and Mrs. Mallowan (also known as Agatha Christie) is hosting a party. When Phyllida finds one of the guests murdered, she is inspired by Hercule Poirot to take it upon herself to gather clues and solve the mystery!

Thanks to #NetGalley, Colleen Cambridge, and Kensington Books for the ARC of #MurderatMallowanHall in exchange for an honest review.

This was a delightful read.A modern day Agatha Christie book.The plot was good and the characters charming. All in all an enjoyable read.

This book is a classic upstairs-downstairs whodunit set in the 1930s home of Agatha Christie and her husband Max Mallowan. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright, an ex army nurse and personal friend of Agatha finds herself following in Hercule Poirot's footsteps when murder comes to Mallowan Hall.
Eight guests have come to the country estate to stay for the weekend. The number increases to nine when a reporter shows up on the doorstep to ‘interview Mrs Christie’ and is allowed to stay due to a coming storm. In the morning Phyllida discovers the body of the uninvited reporter in the library, stabbed to death with a fountain pen. Twists and turns and multiple red herrings abound. Everyone is suspected at one point or another before all is revealed in the final pages.
Fans of Agatha Christie will appreciate the references to her works and characters. For those who enjoy historical mysteries and classic whodunits this book is sure to entertain.
Thanks to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Perfectly Joyous...
How perfectly joyous this was. The first in a new series featuring the eminently capable Phyllida Bright, sometime amateur sleuth and the housekeeper at Mallowan Hall home to, none other than the Queen of Mystery herself, Agatha Christie and household. Slipping easily into Phyllida’s atmospheric world the reader delves into a well crafted whodunit and a wholly entertaining plot populated with a well drawn, colourful cast of supporting characters and told with both elegance and wit. So enjoyable the reader will not want to leave and will eagerly be awaiting the next in the series. Christie fans will be sure to be utterly charmed.

This book was so good! It was an old-fashioned mystery like an Agatha Christie, except the twist is that it takes place in Agatha Christie's home! The main character is Phyllida, Agatha's housekeeper, who sets about investigating two murders that take place on the estate during a house party. The book was very enjoyable, and the mystery was complex and clever. I am delighted to see that it is the first in a new series. I'm really looking forward to the next book.

2.75 stars

Murder at Mallowan Hall is a debut novel featuring our heroine Phyllida Bright. She is none other than Agatha Christie’s head of household with a deep admiration for Poirot!

The Mallowan’s are hosting a weekend party for 8 guests, which is going well until one of the guests is found murdered in the library! It’s up to Phyllida to find the murderer before it strikes again!

I will start with my least favourite thing about the book: the author didn't play fair with her solution. We were finding the answer with Mrs. Bright, and at times she even withheld information from us. Not that there isn't anything wrong with it, it's just not my preference; I prefer Poirot, and Phyllida was more of a Sherlock.

I also find it hard to get invested in a book and solve the puzzle when you don't get to know the characters. Their personality and motive are just, to me, part of the solution as the other clues. I felt that the "downstairs" characters were often listed with their positions every time they were mentioned, even when it wasn't relevant to the plot. I wonder if, in future books, having a list of characters with a brief description (like Agatha did in so many of her earlier books) would enhance the reading experience.

With that out of the way, I absolutely loved the plot idea! It's fresh, and it's what I have been waiting for for a long time! To see Agatha as a character is heavenly. It is also evident that Cambridge was very thorough in her research - she managed to evoke the atmosphere of 1930's England as much as any modern-day American could. I was able to visualize the manor and the surroundings very vividly.

I believe that Murder at Mallowan Hall will be a massive hit amongst cozy mystery fans. Even though it wasn't for me, I feel that it has every hallmark to please less picky fans of the genre.

I don't think it was Cambridge's fault at all. It's just that I am a huge Agatha Christie fan and came into the book with the wrong expectations. I was expecting a mystery that followed Golden Age rules and with better-developed characters. I also expected Agatha to be a more significant part of the book.

I didn't know any of the characters, except for Phyllida, by the end of the book. I understand that this is a debut novel, so hopefully, it was just the author setting up her heroine for future books. I hope to see Phyllida grow and to like her more; for now, I am not sure I do. She is a delightful character, but she is made to be this perfect person everyone either falls in love with or thinks she is better than them, including Agatha Christie. (but then again, it worked for Jean Gray!)

This was a promising debut, and I'll still check the second book in the series. Hopefully, there will be more Agatha!

This is a very well written cozy mystery. I very much enjoyed the various characters and the witty and entertaining dialogue. There is indeed a mystery to solve with lots of detail and clues spread throughout the entire novel. I found myself totally immeshed in the story and changing my mind several times whodunit. A very well done start to a new series! I highly recommend this to those who like a well versed historical mystery novel. I look forward to reading more from this author!

If you love to read Agatha Christie novels, then you'll love to read about Phyllida Bright!

Phyllida Bright is the housemaid to Mr. Max Mallowan and Mrs. Agatha Mallowan (formerly Christie). One evening, someone is murdered in their household and Phyllida, a lover of Christie's Poirot, sets out to solve the murder herself using her own little gray cells to process evidence.

I loved the feel of the book and how it read like a Christie novel would. There were several nods to Christie's works and it was interesting (though it's entirely fictional) to read about how Agatha and Phyllida might interact with one another. Phyllida is tenacious, yet has a large sense of loyalty, duty, and pride to her employers and to her station. I loved the side characters, like Lizzie and Puffley. They added a new layer of humor to it that was appreciated. Dobble was also fun to read as the butler, and I'll be interested to see more of Bradford in the rest of the series.

I highly suggest this book to anyone who loves to read Agatha Christie novels. It's an entirely new concept (having the murder happen in the Queen of Mystery's own home) that I really enjoyed, and I would love to read more adventures from Phyllida!

This work is a murder-mystery in the style of Agatha Christie. In fact, Agatha and her second husband, Max Mallowan, are characters in this work. This is the first title in a new series and stars Phyllida Bright, the housekeeper, amateur sleuth and confidant of Agatha Christie.

When a murder occurs in the Mallowan Hall library, Phyllida decides after meeting the local investigators that she would be better off doing a little investigating of her own, in the style of Hercule Poirot.

As a starting work for a new series, it shows a strong sense of character definition, reasonably tight plot, and is an excellent portrayal of the writer's skills. At times, it harkens too close to Christie's own works, but the touch is usually subtle enough for readers not entirely familiar with Christie's work to still relate to.

The only quibble would be that the main character seems almost too confident and assured, which to some may seem arrogant. Again, this would be a tribute of sorts to Poirot, and it could be what the writer intended. Since it's the first work in an anticipated series, this could just be the setup for something more down the line.

Recommended for fans of Agatha Chrstie's works, as well as those who enjoy titles such as the Midsomer Murders series.

As a lover of Agatha Christie novels, this was SUCH a fun read. It's implied that the events of this book inspired Christie's "Body in the Library" which was a really fun connection. The characters were a joy to read and the time period felt well researched and presented. I couldn't put this one down.

Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge is a wonderful cozy mystery that is the first in what is sure to be an excellent series: Phyllida Bright Mystery.

I really enjoyed this historical cozy mystery that takes place in the 1930s and is situated at one of the homes of Agatha Christie and her husband Max. I loved the concept of the murder/mystery plot at a dinner party with a full array of guests aka suspects. Plenty of twists, turns, and the housekeeper/amateur detective, Phyllida, makes for an excellent sleuth. So creative!!!

I cannot wait for the next book in this series.

Highly recommend.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and Kensington for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication.

A new historical mystery series (cozy) that has a cast of interesting characters that all work for Agatha Christie. Of course it is fiction, and the housekeeper, Phyllida Bright, thinks she is the next detective Poirot!

A guest is murdered during a house party and the manor. We are introduced to the large house staff and the party guests (who are all suspects). There were quite a few characters to keep track of and Ms. Bright was up to the task!

Enjoyed it for the most part. I was disappointed in the strange reveal of the motive, but clues were scattered throughout. The large cast was also a challenge, but I would read the next book because I did enjoy the setting and Ms. Bright starring as the sleuth.

Thanks to NG and publisher for my review copy!

Set in 1933 at the country house of Agatha Christie and her second husband, Max, this delightful and very entertaining whodunit (the first in a new series) brings together a delicious and very colorful cast of characters, chief among them being Phyllidia Bright, Ms. Christie's principal housekeeper and a former WWI nurse whose admiration and devotion to the sleuthing achievements of Hercule Poirot will compel her to determinedly and successfully resolve a couple of brutal murders during the stay of some of her employer's friends.
I greatly enjoyed the sparkling dialogues throughout the story and the impeccable "upstairs,
downstairs" atmosphere of the perfect English manor house while following Phyllidia navigate the threatening waters of sexual lust, hidden lies and petty blackmail, and bring her brilliantly orchestrated investigation to a satisfying conclusion.
A charming and often humorous new series assured to find a keen and devoted readership in the near future!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for this wonderful ARC

1930s, England, law-enforcement, murder, murder-investigation, relationships, situational-humor, cosy-mystery, domestic-staff*****

I really like Phyllida Bright and her way of looking at information and using (un)common sense and a thorough knowledge of the household, staff, and guests to work out the puzzle of the murder. She is aware that she has knowledge that the constabulary can't possibly know but is also vain enough to climax with an *Agatha Christie finish*. The publisher's blurb is a good one as it lays the foundation for enjoying the plot. The household characters are very well presented, the guests are done well enough, and the constabulary are fairly depicted as irritated by the civilian but not dumb enough to disregard the information. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely read any others as they come along!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Murder at Mallowan Hall takes place during a house party at Agatha Christie's country home and stars her housekeeper channelling her detective-writing employer. Two murders occur, one in the house and one on the grounds.
It's very easy reading for murder mystery fans and well-plotted. But I didn't enjoy the characterization of her pushy housekeeper, Phylidda. The author repeats too much of her similar thoughts, and I felt Phylidda was a "know-it-all" even though she solved the mystery in spite of the detectives.
I give the book three stars mainly due to the idea.

Agatha Christie and husband Max are hosting a house party when an uninvited journalist arrives just as a storm hits. He is dead by morning. Housekeeper Phylidda reads lots of mysteries and determines it is her duty to assist Scotland Yard. A pleasant start to a new series filled with an interesting cast of servants.

Agatha Christie fans will love Phyllida Bright. She is the housekeeper for Max Mallowan and his wife Agatha Christie, who also is one of her closest friends. Phyllida is a no nonsense, practical, former army nurse, with as her favourite character Hercule Poirot.
This first in a new series, finds a body in the library, a guest who was unexpected, uninvited and not known to the Mallowans. Murdered, no doubt about it, but who of the guests committed the deed? We read and follow along as Phyllida uses her grey cells and follows “clues”
Looking forward to the next book, it is a definite read for all Agatha Christie fans.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an early read of this great book!