THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB - 3 stars

THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB is a cozy mystery filled with quirky characters. I liked how this haphazard group of people got together to help one another while investigating a crime. Sometimes the antics are over the top, but it’s still fun.

While our main character is Nova, my favorites were retired Arthur and teenager Ash. I loved how they bonded and helped one another through different but equally emotional personal issues.

*Thanks to Berkley Publishing for the free eARC, provided via NetGalley!*

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson is a sweet, cozy mystery that is a nice and easy read. While this was a nice addition to the "senior sleuths" trope that I enjoy so much, it was a little less memorable than others.

I enjoyed the mystery part of the story with missing money taken from a community center and I enjoyed how the group banded together to help Nova and center. I particularly loved Arthur's character and how he adopted a younger member as his grandson. I was able to guess Arthur's secret, but it was still touching. Phyllis took a little while to warm up to, but I ended up liking her character as well. The only main character I had a hard time connecting to was Nova. I felt like she let everyone walk all over her and take advantage of her and I'm glad she was able to stand up for herself by the end.

Overall, The Busybody Book Club was a sweet cozy mystery that will be a hit for many readers. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Freya Sampson books are always filled with quirky characters and a lot of heart. Nova recently moved with her fiancée to his home town, working for the community center. As moderator of a book club, Nova becomes close with Phyllis, and older woman who fancies herself to be Mrs, Marple; Arthur, a caregiver to his sick wife; Ash, a shy young man who has a lot to offer but lacks confidence. When someone steals from the community center, Nova and her book group become enmeshed in solving more than a theft. I enjoyed the book, especially the relationship forged between the characters. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I became a Freya Sampson fan after reading The Last Chance Library a few years ago. I was especially excited to receive an ARC of The Busybody Book Club. I read this book in a little over a day, and enjoyed every minute of it. The Busybody Book Club follows an eclectic group of readers at a local book club who band together to figure out who stole a significant sum of money from the community center. The center is a hub for the inhabitants of the small town. and offers food, shelter, and a sense of belonging. Without the money, the community center will not be able to stay open.

I enjoyed getting to know the eccentric, but loveable characters that Freya wrote. I loved Nova's love of the community center and her desire to save it. She was a soft, but strong willed character who wanted to do the right thing, which is something that I really valued as a reader. I went into this book blind, and I didn't realize that this was a mystery going into it, but was pleasantly surprised. After money is stolen from the community center, Nova, Arthur, Ash, and Phyllis band together to figure out who was the culprit. In doing so, the reader gets to see snippets of each character's lives outside of the center. Frey Sampson has a way of creating characters that are so unique. Each character has their own backstory that we get through glimpses of the book club/ community center, as well as throughout the mystery. The quaint, cozy backdrop of this small Cornish village was easy to fall in love with. I was rooting for each character, as well as trying to piece together the "criminal," which I am proud to say, I totally predicted.

This book is perfect for fans of small town settings with a side of mystery and literary fiction woven in. There were so many threads to the story that were intertwined with the book club - the loss of a love one, struggles with sexuality, adoption, infidelity, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Freya's work!

THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB is a fun, surprise-filled cozy murder mystery. Ms. Sampson delivers an entertaining novel filled with conundrums and compelling characters. It stars book club leader, nervous Nova, who thinks a book club is a great idea. She works at a community center and the club is slow at growing. However, a hodge podge of members trickle in. There is amateur sleuth, Phyllis, Agatha Christie fan, mysterious Michael, who disappears suddenly, anxious Ash, a teenager, and romance reader Arthur, who reads to his wife. When a sizable sum of money is stolen, it puts the club and center at risk, with Michael suspected as the thief. Then, a body is found. It takes all their combined opinions and theories to unravel the murder mystery. Danger lurks in dark corners and jumpy, judgy Phyllis has a lot of ideas about what happened. Is she right? Who is behind the theft and why? Why was someone murdered?

I love a good book club cozy mystery and THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB is delightfully twisty and fun! The charming characters with their bumbling ways completely won me over. Especially Phyllis, the wannabee sleuth, who brings her dog along to the meetings. I love funny animals and hers is a gassy canine! This is a charming, winning novel by my favorite author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Publishing for an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 Stars

I was invested in the mystery of the missing money and the murder and I did enjoy the group banding together to figure things out, although Nova's participation was pretty reluctant.

Arthur was a sweetheart and I guessed his secret. Phyllis was a prickly old lady but I loved her devotion to Agatha Christie and Miss Marple (I'll forgive that she couldn't stand Hercule Poirot, my favorite of Agatha's sleuths) and her story, once revealed, was heartbreaking.

I was frustrated with Nova and felt like she let everyone roll right over her through the entire book! I wasn't entirely thrilled with how things ended up with her story thread.

It was an entertaining and enjoyable cozy mystery overall.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for early access to this novel!

At its core, this could (and should) have been a good book. The premise was fun and unique, and I was excited to request it as an arc. Right away, I got the vibe that this wasn't going to be what I hoped, but I wanted to give it a chance. The more I read, the more frustrated I became. So many things were unrealistic, choices were downright stupid, and the twist ending was absolutely ridiculous. I'll start with the positives before I lay out all of the issues I had.

Positive one: Arthur. I LOVE this character. The way he loved his wife? Beautiful. His love of romance novels? Adorable. Loved him. He was the reason I kept reading, honestly.

Positive two: This is a great example of the found family trope. The epilogue is so cute with this. This is where my positives end, unfortunately.

Negatives:

Nova, one of our main characters, makes choices that make absolutely NO sense, and she comes across very immature. She decides to take an 8 hour round trip road trip the DAY before her wedding to chase an idea? I remember the day before my wedding-- I barely had time to think. This decision is what led to the end conclusion coming to a head. I don't think that this makes sense, and it came across as the author realizing she needed to wrap this up, but the timeline wasn't going to work. Instead of altering it, our characters just made absolutely stupid decisions.

My next grievance-- Craig. Nova INSISTS (almost too much) that she loves him and wants to marry him (hahahahahahaha.... glad I held out for that???). Nova, girlie pop, WHY would you want to marry this man? He is so hot and cold, but ultimately is just mean. He calls an elderly lady a "busy body and old cow." REALLY?? And the times he cuts her off, gaslights her, and then OH tells her, "quit your job or no wedding." OKAY NO WEDDING, THEN. BYE, CRAIG! But does our character get to be a strong woman and stand up for herself? No. Just "I would give Craig grace if he were me." Okay but he isn't giving you grace. I was so ready to chuck this book at a wall due to this.

The ending left me feeling very "meh." I don't think it was worth struggling to the end for this. For one, two big plot points were very predictable. The one event that I didn't predict made me roll my eyes SO MUCH. I felt like it was pulled out of a hat and was so unsatisfying.

Would I recommend? No, sadly. I may just not be into this type of book anymore, but there were too many infuriating aspects to this read.

Freya Sampson is one of my go to authors when I want to read about found families. In her latest novel, The Busybody Book Club, the found family stems from a book club.

Nova moved to Cornwall for a new beginning and starts the book club at the community center where she works in hopes of impressing her boss. Rather than impressive, however, it has been pretty dysfunctional as the members fight about everything, from the books they read to what cookies they’ll be serving.

The book club members are quite a spirited and eclectic group. Aside from Nova, there’s Ash, a shy teenage boy; Arthur, an elderly man who likes to read romance novels to his wife who is losing her sight; Phyllis, an elderly woman who is a huge Agatha Christie fan and who has an English bulldog named Craddock; and lastly, there’s a mysterious new member named Michael.

Michael gets a text and runs out of a book club meeting and soon after, it’s discovered that thousands of pounds have been stolen from the community center and a dead body is found at Michael’s house, while he is nowhere to be found.

Michael’s disappearance and Nova’s job being threatened because of the missing money are more than enough motivation for the members of this dysfunctional bookclub to put on their amateur detective hats and get to the bottom of this mystery. Watching these quirky characters try to follow clues and solve the mystery is entertaining and just makes them all so endearing.

This is a fun and charming read, especially if you’re a fan of cozy mysteries, & it’s also a story with a lot of heart. That book club may have started as a way to impress her boss, but it becomes so much more than that for Nova and for the other members.

I love Freya Sampson's quirky cast of lovable characters. This book was no exception! I loved the setting, the dialogue, and the characters. The plot was fun, but for me it was really the former that made the book what it was.

4.25/5

I don’t usually gravitate toward cozy mysteries—if this even fits that genre—but I have to say, this was a surprisingly fun read.

The story centers on a newly formed book club made up of five very different individuals, each with their own quirks, secrets, and backgrounds. What unites them is their shared love of reading—though not everyone is thrilled with every book pick, the meetings are more about connection than the literature itself. (The blurb gives a good rundown of who's who.)

Things take a dramatic turn when a large sum of money goes missing, and Nova finds herself accused. That accusation sets off a chain of events involving a dead body, long-buried secrets, and a determined effort by the group to clear Nova’s name—and save her job in the process.

The Busybody Book Club is ultimately a heartwarming story about unexpected friendship, healing old wounds, and solving a pretty compelling mystery along the way. The characters are delightfully quirky, easy to root for, and the plot had enough twists to keep me engaged throughout. It was a genuinely enjoyable ride.

My thanks to the Berkley for a digital arc (via Netgalley) in exchange for a honest review.

I was excited to read this one as I have enjoyed other books by this author in the past. Sadly, I didn't enjoy this one as much. It fell a bit flat in some areas for me.

I truly enjoyed the characters. It is a nice mix, from curmudgeons to teens and everything in between. And I did enjoy the cozy mystery angle. The quirky characters really worked well together to create a diverse cast with a little bit of something for everyone to connect to. Dialogue was sharp. A few of the subplots were not fully developed, and there were some plot points that were predictable. Pacing was a bit uneven at times, but that did balance out by the end. Overall, this is a quick read that could make for a good beach read.

Cute, but not as good as others of hers I've read.

This is the story of a Cornwall community center book club. Nova is the one in charge, she has recently moved there after an incident at her previous job. She and her fiancé Craig are living with his parents until their upcoming wedding. After the book club meets, some money goes missing and Nova is blamed. But then Michael, one of the book club members, turns up missing and his mother is dead from a possible homicide. Phyllis, a member of the book club who fancies herself Miss Marple, decides that the group needs to investigate.

While I really enjoy the found family aspects of Sampson's books, this one fell flat for me for two reasons. The first one is pacing. It's so long and drawn out, then everything happens all at the same time. I didn't care for the incredibly slow exposition. The second one is the big one thought: I could not stand Nova. She was a doormat, letting everyone bulldoze over her and make decisions for her. She would never stand up for herself. But then she would make reckless choices--like deciding it was fine to take off on a multiple hour trip to find Michael on the day of her wedding rehearsal.

Overall, this ends up being a cute cozy mystery with some touching moments, but you have to wade through the rest to get there. I do usually enjoy this author's books, so hopefully the next one will be better for me.

Freya Sampson's The Busybody Book Club is a delightful addition to the cozy mystery genre, blending humor, heart, and a touch of intrigue in a quaint Cornish seaside village.

Nova Davies, seeking a fresh start, relocates from London to the tranquil village of St. Tredock. Hoping to integrate into the community, she initiates a book club at the local community center. However, the club members—ranging from the Agatha Christie enthusiast Phyllis to the romantic Arthur and the sci-fi aficionado Ash—find themselves embroiled in more than just literary debates when money goes missing from the center's funds. The situation escalates when Michael, a fellow club member, disappears, and a body is discovered at his residence. Determined to uncover the truth, the eclectic group embarks on an amateur sleuthing adventure, revealing secrets and forging unexpected bonds along the way.

Sampson's narrative shines in its portrayal of community and the power of unlikely friendships. The characters are endearing, each with distinct personalities that contribute to the group's dynamic. The mystery unfolds with well-timed twists, maintaining a balance between suspense and lightheartedness.

The Busybody Book Club is a heartwarming tale that celebrates the joys of reading, the strength of community, and the thrill of a good mystery. It's a perfect pick for those looking to curl up with a comforting read that offers both laughs and suspense.

Short synopsis: When one of the members of the community center book club disappears, the members band together to find him.

My thoughts: I am a huge fan of books about books (or book clubs). I loved the wide range of members, and how we got a fun little sneak peek into their lives.

I thought I had the mystery worked out pretty early on, but I was definitely wrong. Which is always such a huge bonus for me!
The ending was such a warm hug of a delight!

Read if you love:
* Diverse friend group
* Cozy mystery
* Bookclub

"Have you never read a murder mystery? The British police never manage to solve a crime without the help of an amateur detective."

Sampson switches into Richard Osman mode here with her group of quirky misfits who try their hands at mystery solving. Her spin involves a ragtag book club who use their combined knowledge of the novels of Agatha Christie, Julia Quinn, and the Star Wars Universe to catch a killer and recover some stolen money.

I must confess that I rarely guess the murderer in this things, but I was able to predict half of the big "twists," so a head-scratcher, this one is not. It was however a charming, fun way to spend an afternoon, and I enjoyed it.

I wish I had loved this one more. It was fun but also cozy mystery books are not really for me anymore. I still enjoyed the book for the most part because it was wholesome and heartwarming, and I love witty banter between my characters! I just don't really find cozy mysteries all that thrilling. But for those who do love these cozy mysteries - this is for you!

Thank you though NetGalley for the ARC!!

Imagine a group of the most curious, nosy, and gossipy seniors plus a teenager in a book club offered by the Community Center working together to solve a crime. That’s what this book is about and the antics are hilarious. You can’t help but to fall in love with each of the characters. They are clever, cunning, caring, and show great charisma. They are just the crew that you’d want to help get you out of a pickle! I really loved this book and highly recommend it to other readers. It’s the perfect light and airy summer read with just a splash of romance.

You can’t help but fall in love with the main character, Nova. She recently started working at the St. Tredock Community Center. She is a new resident to Cornwall so she is temporarily living with her fiance and his family.

My favorite characters by far are Phyllis and Arthur. I love Phyllis because of her determination to solve crimes like Miss Marple and other heroines in Agatha Christie novels. Although she may not be as accurate in creating theories as Miss Marple, she doesn’t miss the target of providing humor and youth to the story line. Arthur is a grumpy but sweet man. He is a teddy bear beneath it all and really just want others to need him around. Teenager Ash needs help and guidance in life. Arthur begins to mentor him and teach him. He also accepts Ash in a way that he had never been accepted before.

Again, I just absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read more by Freya Sampson. She is the creator of a warm and lovable found family.

THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB by Freya Sampson is a really fun cozy mystery story with a delightful cast of characters. Nova (along with her fiancé Craig) has recently moved to a small village in Cornwall where she works in a community center. There, Nova runs a small book club whose members include the older and very opinionated Phyllis (and her dog smelly bulldog, Craddock), Ash (a teenager, trying to impress a classmate), retired farmer Arthur who cares for his wife, Esi, and the newest member, Michael. A great part of the enjoyment is how each references a favorite genre: Phyllis frequently invokes Miss Marple and Agatha Christie; Arthur cites the plots of romance novels, and Ash loves Star Wars and science fiction. Readers won't be too sure of Michael's tastes because he disappears early in the story – at roughly the same time that 10,000 pounds goes missing and a dead body is discovered. He becomes a chief suspect although plenty of theories are bantered about and the book club members have some harrowing adventures, even threatening Nova and Craig's upcoming nuptials. A May 2025 LibraryReads selection, THE BUSYBODY BOOK CLUB is light and entertaining; there are some surprises and more obvious twists, giving readers an equal chance to smile to themselves, saying "told you so!" Also enjoyable: The Lost Ticket and Nosy Neighbors, both by Freya Sampson.

I LOVED this book!

This cast of characters was lovable right from the start, and the pacing of the story was perfect. I enjoyed how the narrative point of view switched from character to character, and never had trouble following who was speaking.

I really enjoyed all of the representation of different life experiences in this book, always mentioned as being part of who a character is, and not the focus of their story in this particular novel.

On to the mystery, which was intriguing enough to keep the pages turning in this cozy, and just kept unfurling perfectly right to the end of the book. Just when you think you've got something figured out, it's revealed to be true, and a new question comes to light.

This really is a great homage to Miss Marple, while pushing beyond and having its own voice and story to tell. Loved it!

This was a good book, good for the warm weather. It is light and the cast of characters are engaging. A woman who relocates and starts a book club. However, the members squabble and have trouble agreeing on the time of day. More trouble comes; a large amount of money is stolen from the center. One member is a fan of Agatha Christie so she likes to solve crimes like Agatha Christie. They have to come together to solve the murder and clear a member who is accused of it--in addition to the money, there is a dead body in his house.
This was light and I thought the second half, when they dealt with the murder and trying to clear their friend was a bit more engaging. The pacing in the book was a little slow in the first half. The characters were engaging and kept my attention.
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley for providing me with a copy of this murder mystery in exchange for my honest opinion.