The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is an awesome historical fiction, murder mystery, and overall great book that kept me interested from beginning to end.

I love how this book incorporates so many things: historical fiction, gothic narratives, mystery, and just an overall fun and engaging plot.

The author did a great job with creating a background and location that helped add a shadowy, mysterious, gothic vibe. But, it was balanced well with wit, humor, and excellent characters and dialogue.

Early 20th century Cornwall never seemed so interesting and fun as it did with this book. Ruby is an excellent main character. She is fun, sassy, witty, and carries this murder mystery quite well.

So much fun!

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books 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 on 12/5/23.

In the Roaring Twenties, Ruby Vaughn’s employer sends her on an errand that takes her to the Cornish countryside, where she decides to drop in on an old friend with whom she has a fraught history. During this visit, the friend’s husband is found dead and brutally mauled. The townsfolk believe an old curse is to blame. Ruby teams up with the local folk healer/witchy man to investigate, and to determine if the murderer is myth or man.

This was an uncorrected galley that I read, and I’m not sure how many of the issues I noticed with grammar and clarity will get fixed before publication of the final version. Sentence structure was odd in many places, and new and surprising pieces of the main character’s history were mentioned throughout the book in ways that implied the reader was already supposed to have been aware of them. For example, it wasn’t until I was well into the book that I understood that Ruby was actually originally from America. Then at some point, her friends asks what she has been up to since they last saw each other during their time together in France, and this was the first indication that she had ever been to France (and also doesn’t align with what we’re otherwise told about Ruby having been present at her friend’s wedding in Cornwall). As you read on you realize that Ruby spent time driving ambulances on the Western Front during the war, but it’s just an awfully confusing and convoluted path to reaching that understanding.

But the mystery at the core of the story was decent, and Ruby was an interesting main character. She was a plucky heroine, but not in the kind of way that might make you roll your eyes when describing how a book tried too hard. A woman who has found her place in the world after traversing something of a bumpy road, Ruby works hard, plays hard, and refuses to dwell on the past. She is seen to have had both male and female romantic relationships (and actually, there was another point of confusion, where her friend’s housekeeper addresses her as “my lover” and Ruby reacts in a way that totally gave me the impression that they had actually hooked up after the wedding and she was just too drunk to remember, but then later on another character who she has just met also calls Ruby “my lover” and so now I think it was just supposed to be a term of…acquaintanceship?)

Ruan Kivell was the second most important character, but honestly I didn’t find him very likable. In the majority of scenes he was in, he was all prickly and in a huff and not always with an obvious reason why, which got kind of annoying.

I don’t think the writing was bad, but it was far from perfect. Some of the plot points were kind of silly, but overall it was fine and fairly original. So while I didn’t love this book, I do think it’s possible with more experience and some polishing, this author’s work could be something worth keeping an eye on.

Thank you the NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for the ARC.

I loved the book I loved finding out what happened to Edward, i love how the mc's long time friend believed that it was on a curse and that she was next of course to die. I love how it was a murder mystery had gothic vibes. I loved the book it was a fun read, thank you to netgalley for giving me this arc!

The fact that this is a debut novel blows my mind. This Gothic mystery combines humor, forbidden romance, and a big found family aspect. Everything was so well written, the characters felt real, I felt like I was in 20th century Britain, and the pacing was perfect. I really loved the writing style as it’s written how people talked in the early 1900’s. I would love to go on another adventure with the characters if a sequel is released! Highly recommend this. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

Immediately, I was transported to the 1920’s Cornell countryside and introduced to the MC, Ruby. Ruby is about to go on a mysterious adventure, to a place she vowed not to return to. Ruby is tasked with delivering a truckload of dangerous books (which she must never open). She delivers the books only to find herself seeing an old friend in need, and a murder mystery to solve. Is an old curse involved? Can she help her friend and solve this mystery? With sass, determination, and the help of a new acquaintance, readers are taken on an old world, gothic mystery, that is deserving of the Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. Well written and hard to put down, I highly give this story five of five stars.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this! Overall I found this an enjoyable story. It was mysterious and action packed! There was almost too much going on at a few points that it overwhelmed the goal of the story. But overall I found it enjoyable. I could easily see it becoming a series. I appreciated Ruby as a main character. It was interesting to see a bit of her character progression at the end. I would be intrigued to see how the author moves her forward from here. The line between real and superstition was handled well! Overall a lovely book and a nice read!