Perfect for Jane Marple's fans and those who love cozy mystery with the classic England as the set!

I'd say that I quite enjoyed how the pace is set for this one, especially in the meticulous way the writer tries to give us details. It would be perfect to read if you love to enjoy a light mystery case while sipping your tea. Although it would be better if it has an illustration on how the castle is designed and which room is which, I think it would help me imagine the situation better.

Ending-wise, I do think that the ending was a bit rushed, from how slow it was building at the beginning, I feel like the case was solved in such a rush. Though, I like the suspense in the twist at the culprit revelation. Quite good to enjoy for avid-mystery readers out there.

If you have difficulties in remembering a long list of cast, then I suggest you to take a note when reading this book as you will faced by a lot of characters. Regardless, it was such a fun time for me meeting each one of them (especially Sunny--this is one character that I want you to bear in mind when you read this book). Oh and the hint of a second book at the epilogue....quite intriguing!

4 stars

A new cosy mystery which is no doubt part of a series.

I enjoyed the character of Mrs Bramble and Reverend Weaver the best, this detecting duo were engaging but I found the other characters quite samey - which snob is which? The ending was clever though so I'd urge you to keep going.

An enjoyable read , thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read in exchange for an honest review

Neil Daws displays an impressive knowledge of the geography of Hampton Court Palace in his new book, Murder at the Palace. In one paragraph, the heroine, Mrs Bramble, trots from Base Court through Anne Boleyn’s Gateway, Clock Court, George II’s Gateway and Fountain Court. In doing so, she passed the Great Hall. Yes, it adds verisimilitude, but I felt I was wading through names rather than chasing a suspect and the names did not enhance the story.

Mrs Bramble is the Lady Housekeeper at Hampton Court Palace, where a lot of widows live in grace and favour apartments. One widow’s unmarried sister is found dead and Detective Inspector Cole from Scotland yard is sent to investigate. Mrs Bramble immediately takes against the Inspector and is convinced that he will fail to find the murderer. Although the author probably intends Mrs B to be straight-talking, I felt she was unjustifiably rude. Although the narrative follows Mrs Bramble, we readers are seldom privy to her thoughts. At one point, the narrator states “If she’d listened to her instincts…” but we have no idea what those instincts were. The author tells us Mrs Bramble’s actions but doesn’t show her thought process.

Mind you, those thoughts may be confused anyway. At one point, Mrs B is concerned about the murderer noticing her leaving the grounds again and fears that she might be stopped – permanently. However, a few pages later, she is “Confident that the murderer […] had no reason to be out and about looking to kill anyone else.” So is the murderer watching her or not watching anyone? We are told that a character is concerned about being tainted by a scandal but I couldn’t work out how that taint would affect her plans – it might be embarrassing, but is unlikely to change anyone’s intended plans.

I stated that a lot of widows live in the apartments supervised by Mrs Bramble. Unfortunately, I’m afraid I struggled to tell them apart. Most of them seemed selfish and spiteful, thus failing to make me sympathetic and interested in them. Overall, I was disappointed in the book. It was promising but I felt none of the characters merited my interest and sympathy so they remained names on a page.

#MurderatthePalace #NetGalley

I could not continue this cozy mystery because the characters and plot were hard to follow. I usually have a pretty high tolerance for formatting and writing weaknesses, but here I was not able to proceed with the story. If this book had another round of edits then I would be willing to try reading it again.

Special thanks to the Publisher, Orion, and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A murder in a palace! Mrs. Bramble, the housekeeper at Hampton Court Palace, finds herself working with Reverend Weaver to solve the murder of Philomena, who has been stabbed in the back (how appropriate!). Know that you might find yourself a bit confused with the ups and downs of the building as well as with all the characters but the worldbuilding is good, especially as this appears to be the first in a series. There's squabbling among the residents and staff but Mrs Bramble works her way through all of it. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good cozy read.

A cosy murder mystery where the head housekeeper at Hampton Court Palace, Mrs Bramble, gets involved in a locked-room murder of one of the residents. She enlisted the help of Reverend Weaver to try to solve it, as she thinks the policeman leading the investigation is not up to the job. There are very detailed descriptions of the palace, which is interesting, but there are a lot of characters to contend with, so you need to try to keep up with who’s who.

Thank you to NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and N. R. Daws for the eARC.

I partly enjoyed reading this book, but there was some issues with it. It was hard to visualize a palace with all the passage ways and apartments with their being no map in the book. Also there was a lot of characters and it was not easy to keep them straight, sometimes they were mixed up in the book by the author, and by myself. I realize it is an arc and not the final copy. Also the ending it took a long time to wrap it up and explain it all out, the final conclusion was confusing and the last line of the book took an unexpected turn which suggests another book may follow this one. Thank you #netfalley for this arc and I have gave my honest opinion.

Murder at the Palace is book 1 in this historical cozy mystery series.

When Hampton Court Palace housekeeper, Mrs Bramble, is called to use her extra key when one of the residents fails to answer or open the door, she finds the resident murdered with a knife in her back! Mrs Bramble is unhappy with the way Scotland Yard is investigating the murder, she decides to take matters in to her own hands and find the killer before the police arrest an innocent person.

This was a cozy read but it could have been shorter. There were some parts that felt repetitive and I just wanted to skim read. But the overall mystery and ending was satisfying.

2.5 Stars
One Liner: This didn’t work

After a night of festivities at the Hampton Court Palace, one of the ladies doesn’t answer the door in the morning. Mrs. Lydia Bramble, palace housekeeper, steps in to investigate and finds Miss Philomena Franklin murdered with a knife in her back. When the police seem to be on the wrong track, it’s up to Mrs. Bramble to play a sleuth and find the killer. After all, who better than servants to know things the masters and mistresses won’t talk about?
The story comes in Lydia Bramble’s third-person POV.

My Thoughts:
So, this is a debut historical cozy mystery set in an apartment complex (a sort of mix between a modern apartment and a gated community from what I understood) where widows live with their wards/ children and maids. Also, the author’s note reveals the setting is based on a real place.
The book starts with a list of characters, which I appreciated. Even though the list was detailed and provided information about who lived where I still got confused. A map would have helped.
The death happens fairly soon, so it is not a long wait to get to the mystery. We are introduced to the characters during the initial round of investigation (by our amateur sleuth, of course).
I liked the attempt to show how the detective (from Yard) was proud of his credentials and looked down upon others (especially the sleuth). It is also a display of misogyny where men consider women inferior and weak.
However, this is a women-dominant book with most characters being widows, maids, or wards. Still, it was hard to enjoy this one. No one was easy to like. Everyone was judgmental, even the MC.
I went along despite the slow pacing but started to zone out often. Then, I switched to speed-reading. This helped a little. Still, I was ready for the book to end at 60%. The reveal came a long time afterward!
The mystery as such was okay. It was certainly well-thought-out with red herrings, suspects, and twists. However, being unable to empathize with even a single character meant I couldn’t appreciate it as I should.
The ending is set for a series with a lead provided for the next book. My journey stops here, though.

To summarize, Murder at the Palace has a historical writing style and vibe but the characters fail to make an impact.
Thank you, NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This starts out well but it didn’t hold my interests. It soon becomes more about petty squabbles between staff than about solving a murder. DNF.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Historical mystery. Mrs. Bramble, the head housekeeper at Hampton Court Palace, finds one of her residents murdered and decides to investigate things herself as she is not happy with the way the police are handling the case. This was okay, but Mrs. Bramble was a little too forceful in her investigating, in my opinion. The ending of the book suggested this will become a series, but I don't think I would read another. 3 stars.

1/5 stars: This is the first entry in Daws's Historic Royal Palaces series which is a Historical Mystery set in Victorian England and features the Hampton Court Palace Lady Housekeeper, who's in charge of the grace-and-favor apartments, as she turns sleuth after one of the ladies in residence is found with a knife in her back. Daws's writing and character work are well done. Unfortunately, I simply lost interest in this story; leading me to DNF it at 25%.

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group | Orion in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

Great historical mystery. I didn't figure it out, which is always great. It starts and doesn't get dull. Great writing. I will definitely look for more by this new to me author. Would recommend.

I read this a couple of months ago and have already mostly forgotten it, so take that as you will! I do remember it being a good read alike for the Richard Osman series, for whatever that's worth!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. This is a fun cozy historical murder mystery with a wonderful contrast of male ego that constantly underestimated the cleverness and scheming of women. These widowed or unmarried society women all live in royal housing with their servants and Mrs. Bramble, the Housemaid who manages the estate.

I enjoyed the strong personality of Mrs. Bramble using her skills and knowledge to ensure the assigned detective did not just find the easiest explanation and leave her household squabbles unresolved. The story was outlined to show the personalities and history of the women under suspect along with slowly tying the story of the murdered victims and suspected murderers together. The end result was a fun twist that tied everything together nicely and made me happy I pushed through to the end.

However, while I do understand the is an ARC and still needs some final editing it was difficult at times to follow the story as the author kept mixing up Rosie and Kitty and mislabeling them in the story. There also were too many characters introduced without any backstory that made you remember them or distinguish them. If there was a bit more background and intrigue to the characters I may have been hooked early on in the story versus it taking over half the book before I became intrigued.

At Hampton Court, the Royal family is no longer is residence and the apartments are occupied by grace and favor residents, mostly elderly widows of men of importance to the government.

When one of the ladies in residence is found murdered, hunched over her desk, an investigation is opened by the local police to catch the killer. When incompetence abounds by the force and another lady obviously not guilty is arrested, the main housekeeper of the palace, Mrs. Bramble, decides to start an investigation of her own. She’s determined to make the palace safe for her residents again.

This is a cozy who dunnit fiction story based on the real palace of Hampton Court in England. Mrs. Bramble is way more intelligent than the local police and will take you on a tale of intrigue, murder, and clue hunting as she takes on the case. I did feel like the book is a bit long winded and was a bit of a slower read but I did enjoy it. If you’re a fan of mysteries and Royal non fiction, add this to your TBR list. Murder at the Palace is available March 13th.

Thank you @netgalley and Orion Publishing for allowing me to advance read this upcoming story.

Being fond of cosy mysteries with a royal flavour, I had high expectations for this novel. The setting was nice for the escapism element but the pace was off and dragged. I didn’t get hooked. Too bad.

I was given Murder at the Palace by N.R. Daws in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley and the publisher.

Mrs. Bramble, a palace housekeeper, finds herself investigating a murder when the police fumble their investigation. A clever and engaging mystery that was a little slow in the beginning, but wrapped up in an unexpected way.

This would be a great novel for the cozy mystery lover or someone new to the genre.

Love Love Love!

I absolutely devoured this book. A cosy mystery set in Hampton Court Palace.
The ultimate locked room mystery.

A housekeeper determined to solve it.
A grace and favour apartment resident is found murdered and the Housekeeper wants to get to the bottom of it. I loved being able to picture exactly where everything was taking place and seeing how everyone had a small part to play or a clue to uncover. Her sidekick is the Reverend and was my absolute favourite! Always 5 steps behind and completely clumsy. I loved all the scenes he was in.

If you love historical fiction and mysteries then this book will take your fancy!

As someone who hasn't read, watched or engaged with anything to do with. murder mysteries outside of An Inspector Calls for school exams, or the play The Mousetrap as a trip, this was a refreshingly fun, different and exciting read!

Daws did an excellent job of setting up the world- Hampton Court, sometime after a World War (which in my opinions is all that was necessary for the plot), and kept giving us little hints throughout of who the murder and the culprit could have been (and should I re-read this, i'm sure they'll be glaringly obvious, but only a few things stood out as being odd (in a 'why is that being highlighted' way), but they weren't glaringly obvious. I had my suspicions about who the murderer was and was foiled twice! Mrs Bramble and Reverend Weaver are a wonderful duo, and show a great take on the 'inspector and his deputy' (given that the real inspector was almost an anti-hero in this) and I adored their dynamic throughout. We had a colourful cast of side characters, and while there was many people to get to know from the start (thanks to the list) it was quite clear which residents of the palace were people to be focused on, and who served to fill out the background. Mrs Bramble got to show that women should be listened to, and not just cast aside and I quite liked how defiant she was towards Inspector Cole and his opinions on women and their 'weaknesses'.

Something that would have helped me understand the timeline of events a little more was either a map of the grounds at the start, or possibly having days/times at the start of each chapter (as I had no clue this happened in the span of three days I think?). It was quite hard figuring out some of the pieces as I wasn't sure how close buildings were to each other or any sense of direction (but perhaps this is intentional! I'm as confused as the Inspector). The final 1/3 of the book did have me hooked and gripped (it took me a while to get going- but it has a quick starting plot) and I could do nothing else but laugh at the final line! I really hope this gets a sequel of sorts so we can see what happens next, i was highly entertained reading this.

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC!