Such a wonderful story! The characters are so well written they just jump off the page. They become so real to the reader. I love the setting of this quaint little bookstore in this beautiful old town and all the history that is there. This book is exceptionally unique as there is a whole other book (children's story) within the book. Elizabeth Penney is an amazing and talented author and I cannot wait for the next book!

Elizabeth Penney continues the Cambridge bookshop series with A Treacherous Tale. Molly is enjoying her bookshop in Cambridge and her boyfriend Kieran, a bike shop owner and scion of a noble family. Molly has arranged the author of a children's classic which was reissued to do a book talk at her store. On a visit to the author a body is discovered and suspects abound. The dead man had a bad reputation and to add to the mystery the husband of the author fell off a roof to his death year's ago. Follow the trail with Molly.

I enjoy cozy mysteries although they are not my only reading. I find that these titles often have good characters and plots, along with an absence of overt violence. Just the thing for when life is stressful. In addition, this book’s cover stated that it was “A Cambridge Bookshop Mystery” and I love stories that have bookshops in them; I looked forward to reading this title and enjoyed this second in the series.

Molly’s relative’s bookshop is in Cambridge, England (not Massachusetts). She enjoys her life there and is thrilled to find that the author of a favorite book lives nearby. But, there is trouble ahead for Iona, author of The Strawberry Girls. A daughter has gone missing, someone is murdered and it is not clear what Iona’s spouse’s death (years ago) may have to do with this.

Readers are given a mystery that is intriguing and fun to read. They also get a bit of romance.

I look forward to reading the third book in this series. It is due out this October.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

A Treacherous Tale is the second Cambridge Bookshop cozy by Elizabeth Penney. Released 23rd Aug 2022 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 283 pages and is available in mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats.

This is a fun and engaging bookstore cozy set in Cambridge. This installment follows on from book one and protagonist Molly is appealingly intelligent and well rendered. Some of the plot developments in the early part of the book were a bit over-the-top, but not too outlandish given the genre setting and characters.

The book's admittedly formulaic, but it is quite well written and fun and full of the whimsical amateur cozy vibe which keeps readers of the genre ticking over the pages. I liked Molly's enthusiasm and honesty. It's less of a "whodunit" and more an untangling and exposé on the way to the denouement and satisfying resolution. There were a few twists on the way, and I liked the ending. There's a strong tie-in to the sentimental children's books of yesteryear and it was sweetly nostalgic to read them.

Four stars, entertaining and full of whimsy.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Molly and her mother have moved to Cambridge, England to help Molly's Great Aunt Violet run the family bookstore, Thomas Marlowe. Molly has also developed a strong "like" interest to Kieran, who owns the local bikeshop. The bookstore is planning to host a local author, reading her late husband's book, The Strawberry Girls. While visiting the author's house, they discover a body, quite dead, having fallen off the roof which is being rethatched. The dead body is that of Robin Jones, who dealt in antiques. There is an archaeological dig going on a couple of miles from the author's house. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect in this murder. Can all these events somehow be connected? Could Iona's late husband's death twenty years earlier somehow be connected to the present-day events? When one of Iona's daughters goes missing, Molly, who has been tentatively investigating, becomes very invested in the case. There are lots of characters, lots of clues, a good many red herrings, and the outcome is a delightful cozy mystery.

The author of one of Molly’s favorite books is scheduled to do a reading at their bookstore, but after a dead body is found on the author’s property that may not happen. When the author’s daughter also goes missing, Molly and her friends start looking for her and answers to why and are they related.
Goodreads

A clever plot with great characters. This was an interesting cozy mystery.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A great cozy mystery. A good sequel or a stand alone book. I enjoyed the characters and the setting. I look forward to more books in the future with these characters.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

Liked this one more than the first one in the series. But not enough to continue with the series. But you win some you lose some.

This book was very entertaining, I loved the cozy mystery. The storyline was interesting and well done. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!

This is the second book in an enjoyable cozy series. Now settled in Cambridge, Molly is excited to learn a famous author, Iona, lives nearby but while visiting, there’s an unexpected death and then Molly discovers that Ion’a husband also died from a mysterious fall. When Molly’s uncle becomes a suspect, she wants to prove his innocence.

This book was even more enjoyable than book one. We got to reconnect with characters and we see Molly being a smart sleuth, without making ridiculously stupid decisions, and we see her fun and loving family members again. I did like how the mystery went along with the fictional author Iona’s book. We had some red herrings so the mystery was enjoyable to read. The characters and setting are really the best part of this series though. I’m looking forward to book three!

A slight continuation from the series starter but you don’t need to have read the first to know what is happening in A Treacherous Tale, but I think that you’re going to want to. This is a case of tragic déjà vu, a fairy crown, and a missing Strawberry girl. Molly begins to wonder just how much of The Strawberry Girls story is fiction and how much of it is based in fact. Everyone seems to be a suspect or they are at least very suspicious which means that there are plenty of strawberry red herrings to keep you intrigued and turning pages. A well rounded story that includes a little romance with a bike shop owner, some tasty sounding pastries such as strawberry scones from Daisy‘s café and a most importantly, a well thought out mystery.

Not bad, not great, not memorable, not disappointing just rather middle of the road. Pick it up, read for a bit, get distracted, and come back to it several times and days later type of book. It was not bad but neither was it excellent.

Lately Molly feels as though she fell into a fairy tale. As she made friends in her new home of Cambridge England and is developing a romance with Kieran a bike shop owner with a somewhat intimidating family pedigree. Having discovered The Strawberry Girls a children tale Molly is thrilled to learn the author Iona York lives nearby. While visiting the famous author at her cottage in nearby Hazelhurst an old acquaintance of Iona’s tumbles off her roof to his death. When Iona’s daughter goes missing Molly must put the clues together before someone turns this sweet tale sour. This was a captivating story that kept the reader interested in what will come next I recommend this to everyone.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Transplanted American Molly loves living in Cambridge with her mother and aunt. They run the family bookshop with an ancient history. Molly has found friends and love and on occasion, bodies. As she approaches the thatched cottage where the writer of her favourite childhood book lives, she discovers someone has fallen off the roof. Her uncle is considered as suspect since he had been repairing the roof and his ladder is nearby. The owner of the cottage is also considered a suspect. But Molly is convinced neither is the killer.

Through a maze of archeological discoveries and antique thefts, she sorts through fact and fiction including a similar death of the husband of the famous author. When one of her daughters goes missing, Molly realizes she has limited time to make sense of the mysterious goings on. She does figure it out but not without some risk to herself.

This is a good series that is enjoyable with each book. It is fun reading how Molly is transformed into an Anglophile. Her romance with the dashing bike shop owner who just happens to be one of the tabloids’ hottest bachelors adds something different to the mix. All in all, it is a book and series I would recommend. Four purrs and two paws up.

A Treacherous Tale is the second book in The Cambridge Bookshop Series. Molly Kimball, along with her mother have moved from Vermont to help her aunt run the family bookshop in Cambridge, England. This book centers around preparing for the rerelease of a classic children’s book, “The Strawberry Girls”and a reading the author Iona York is doing on the shop. Iona is an old friend of her mother's and they arrange to visit her at the cottage where the book is set. They end up finding a body of a local man on the property and he has fallen from the thatched roof, Molly's uncle is repairing. They get pulled into the investigation and things get even more interesting when they realize that Iona's husband also died in a mysterious fall years before.

Besides the mystery itself which has red herrings and great suspects, we also folly Molly's growing romance from book one and get to "read" The Strawberry Girls along with Molly. The children's story mirrors the mystery itself which was very clever. Highly recommended. I am really falling in love with this series.

In this second installment in the Cambridge Bookshop series, Molly and friends enter a real-life fairy tale to catch several villains! Molly loves working alongside her Mum and Auntie Violet to run the Cambridge bookshop that has been in her family for many years. When Molly and her Mum visit an author who will soon do a reading at the shop, they find more than they bargained for! The dead body they discover in the garden of Strawberry Cottage turns out to be that of a local antiques dealer, and is eerily reminiscent of a similar accidental death decades earlier. An archaeology student (and daughter of the author) goes missing, leading Molly and friends to investigate some shady events that strangely resemble the storyline of a children's book.

I liked the idea of a "story within a story" that parallels the mystery in the main plot. It was fun to reconnect with Molly and her family and friends after reading the first book in the series, although this book can be read as a standalone. The plot moves along quickly and leads the reader down many twisting and turning lanes before the mystery is solved. The Cambridge setting and the Strawberry Cottage descriptions add charm to the story as well. Readers who enjoy a unique and clean mystery novel, without overt violence, strong language, or intimacy will find this an intriguing choice.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Molly and her mother moved to Cambridge from Vermont after the death of her father. Joining her great-aunt in running the family’s bookstore - a family business for over 500 years - she is happy with her new life, new friends, her hunky, aristocratic boyfriend, and an adorable cat but she could do without the murders. When she and her mother go to visit author Iona York to discuss her upcoming reading they never expected that the tour of the property - the inspiration for the setting of Iona’s book - would lead to the discover of a dead man. Then one of Iona’s daughters goes missing and Molly begins to suspect that current events may be linked to Iona’s husband’s death twenty years earlier.
These are delightful mysteries. The setting of the historic bookstore and the city of Cambridge are wonderful. The characters are fun and showing growth even after two books. I look forward to many more entries in this series. Recommended

Molly, her mother and Aunt Vivian run the family bookshop Thomas Marlowe in Cambridge, England. While visiting Iona, a local author, they discover the body of a murdered antiques dealer. Molly's uncle is one of the prime suspects followed by Iona, whose daughter Poppy is missing. Surprisingly, clues mimic Iona's children's fairy tale book "The Strawberry Girls." Can Molly solve the murders as she juggles work, family and dating Kieran, a bike shop owner with an intimidating family pedigree?
I enjoyed this cozy mystery. Molly and her cats are endearing. And the story of the Strawberry Girls is cute - I could imagine the illustrations.
I found the slang, including "K" for okay, to be annoying. And there are plenty of alcoholic drinking and bar scenes.
I want to visit Molly and her shop and read more books in this series.