Favorite Quotes:

Katie wrinkled her brow. She and Beth were among the few that could pull off this feat in Dulwich, since Botox had become a hobby of the mummying classes.

Zoe was a dream babysitter, one of those swotty girls who’d been liberated from terminal uncoolness by J. K. Rowling’s wondrous invention, Hermione Grainger, patron saint of over-achieving girlhood everywhere.

She tiptoed further down the corridor, thanking the Lord for her soft soles. Angie Douglas might well turn her nose up at such comforts, and she was never going to argue that these lumpen shoes represented the most stylish choice out there for a woman of her build, but there was a lot to be said for rubber. She felt like the hippo in Fantasia creeping up on a load of half-starved gazelles.

Though much prettier –and a lot less wrinkly –the women were like the velociraptors in the Jurassic Park films: hyper-vigilant; alert to every threat; and presumably, every bit as deadly if anyone dared threaten their young.

Beth felt as though she was getting shorter by the second as he stood up. By the time he was upright, she was like Alice in Wonderland after drinking the shrinking potion.

My Review:

I enjoyed the premise and various storylines which picked up shortly after the first book left off, although I struggled more than a bit with the pacing with this installment and was waffling on the overall rating until I sorted through my favorite quotes and was thus compelled to give it a four-star rating due to the author’s wickedly clever wit alone. While I adore her skills, I didn’t feel as fully engaged with this narrative as I had been with the first book as there was a multitude of loose and rambling story threads to throw me off-track. Yet I reveled in the vibrant character depictions and deviously humorous observations, inner musings, and foibles of this quirky ensemble. My main annoyance was while the storyline of the floundering investigation advanced at an excruciatingly slow rate; in the final pages, it was resolved so quickly it felt anti-climatic. However, I remain eager to read the next installment and am well pleased to announce two new additions to my Brit Vocabulary List with "argy-bargy," which the Urban Dictionary told me was “a heated discussion, perhaps one that has become bad-tempered enough to amount to a spat or minor quarrel,” and is actually of Scottish origin; and OAP which Mr. Google told me was an Old Age Pensioner and what is now my official designation… I wear it with pride!

Read books 1-7 and while it was an enjoyable read , after a while some things repeated. So I'm not going on with the series

The second of The Beth Haldane Mysteries starts when Beth discovers an unconscious teenage girl on a bench in a museum. Despite the suggesting that this was an attempt at suicide, Beth is unconvinced and sets out to find the truth.

This mystery explores issues such as body image, and the pressures of teenagers, especially girls, to fit the social ‘norm’.

After somewhat enjoying the first book in this series, I moved on to Murder Museum expecting pretty much more of the same. In a way, I got it: the friend is still quirky, the cat is still a dominant personality, the main character is still skiving off her job as often as possible and imagining herself a better detective than the hot detective, and the hot detective love interest is still a hot detective love interest. Only this time, I was expecting to be happier because there was art in the background. I liked that Beth visits "friends" in the museum - I have said the same thing while hunting out Juan de Pareja at the Met (probably my favorite painting).

What's odd about this one is the bits that seemed like the author was trying to aim for a grittier tone. The vast majority of the book is firmly POV Beth Haldane, so when it shifts over to the tight flashback POV of a victim, or of her "boyfriend", it's ... well, it's odd. I wouldn't say unsettling, though I think it tried - and that alone is odd, because in case the author and editor hadn't noticed, this is indubitably a cozy mystery... I wouldn't say it was enlightening, though I think it tried for that too. It added very little to the plot of the book, and was largely irrelevant in that none of what was revealed in those vignettes was ever really known to anyone else in the book - it had absolutely nothing to do with the resolution of the mysteries. What it did do was paint an already sad and depressing plot - the self-harm and deaths of teenaged girls - an even darker shade of bleak. To which Beth's response is, on the whole, "thank God I have a son and not a daughter". She's deep and compassionate that way. None of which is what I'm looking for in a cozy ...

The characters were largely unlikeable in this one, too, with the exception of Katie, Beth's friend. And, to my infinite surprise, Beth's son, who I will admit is one of the less obnoxiously written children I've come across lately (largely, perhaps, because he isn't given much to say or do). Beth certainly was never someone I enjoyed, even when I was moderately enjoying the books.

At the time of reading, I enjoyed this a moderate amount; as I said in reviews of other books in the series, the reason for a single star rating is an absolutely awful fifth book in the series which tainted everything backwards. I wouldn't recommend that one to anyone, so it doesn't make sense to me to recommend any of them.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

The Murder Museum is the second Beth Haldane cozy by Alice Castle. Originally published in 2017 (as The Girl in the Gallery), this reformat and re-release from 22nd Aug 2022 is 274 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently available to borrow and read for free. The other books in the series are also currently available on KU.

This is a competently written and engaging amateur sleuth mystery featuring an archivist who takes to sleuthing to help solve the mystery of a near-murder of a young girl in the art gallery she's stopped in on her way to work as an archivist at a local upper end school. The writing is engaging and the mystery is quite readable. I liked the protagonist and the author does a good job with the settings and descriptions.

The dialogue is a bit rough and uneven in places but overall, it's an entertaining and readable cozy mystery. There are 8 books extant in the series currently (and all are available as part of the kindle unlimited library service), so it would make a good choice for a binge read for fans of light cozies. The mystery, denouement, and resolution are satisfying and well wrought, and self-contained in this volume so it would also work perfectly well as a standalone read.

Four stars. Worth a look for fans of J.R. Ellis, Faith Martin, and Merryn Allingham.

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

I thought this was a really good follow-up to the first story. The plot was interesting, as are the characters. Again, I thought the story was a little slow to develop, but still an enjoyable way to spend a few afternoons. I still find myself having to look up the British terms in order for the sentences to make sense, but no big deal. Well done.

Beth is at it again. This time she finds a girl lying on a casket in the museum she loves to visit. When she finds her she is barely alive, and rushed to the hospital. She remains in a coma while Beth and York try to figure out what happened. In the mean time another girl ends up in the same situation. Will beth and york be able to figure it out before any one else gets hurt? Thanks netgalley

Publish Date: August 22 2022
📖📖📖

A light read, but no comparison to the first installment.

The second installment in the Beth Haldane series continues the adventures of Beth as she tries to solve the mystery of the “sleeping” girls from College School. With many of the same main characters in the mix, the environment felt familiar and welcoming.

This book, however, failed to capture my undivided attention as much as the last one. The pace felt a bit lax, and lapses in the plot left me a bit distracted. While still a good story, it begs the familiar saying, “the original was better”.

EXCERPT: It was quite possible to walk past this set of two creepy rooms without knowing their purpose - and Beth heartily wished she had never been curious enough to find out about it. Although she quite liked the joke that the art dealers had made a spectacle of themselves, her twenty-first-century mind recoiled from the reality of death. And after the recent events which were still horribly vivid, she was all the keener to canter past the whole business.

And that's what she started doing. But as she sped on to the last gallery, containing the current exhibition, she stopped for a second opposite one of her favourite canvases - the spectacular red, white and blue bouquet of Jan van Huysum's still life; one of the jewels of the collection. She'd heard that eighteenth century flower painters were paid extra for insects, and it was one of her little habits to try and spot the wriggling wildlife every time she came. This time, it wasn't a beastie in the bunch of flowers that caught her eye, though. It was something on the very edge of her peripheral vision. Something that, she realised with dread, was in the mausoleum antechamber. Something that meant, however much she did not want to, she had to turn back and look.

Beth's heart started to thud. It was a flash of scarlet.

ABOUT 'THE MURDER MUSEUM': Caring mother, school historian, and amateur sleuth Beth Haldane loves to while away an afternoon in the Museum of Art. But will she be next in the frame… for murder?

Beth Haldane is gazing at enchanting paintings of the rolling English countryside when her daydream is rudely interrupted: by the discovery of a teenage girl unconscious on a marble bench.

Shocked, Beth realises this is no snoozing schoolchild. Someone dastardly has carefully crossed the girls’ hands across her white dress, as if she’s in a painting herself. And the girl’s discarded red backpack found in a corner of the museum is totally empty. Is someone suspicious hiding evidence? And who would want to harm this innocent soul?

With poor Sophia in hospital, and the parents of Dulwich Village in uproar that their little darlings might be next, Beth pesters police for updates. And with her keen eye for detail and research skills, Beth is perfectly placed to do some sleuthing of her own… but why are Sophia’s gaggle of friends so close-lipped? Has some typical teenage drama taken a dark turn?

But her questions are ruffling feathers at every turn. With Sophia’s life hanging by a thread, can Beth find her attacker before it’s too late – and before the finger points at Beth herself?

MY THOUGHTS: There's something strangely endearing about the main characters in this series. Beth Haldane is a young widow, mother of nine year old Jake, and archivist at one of the two local 'posh' schools - Wyatts. She's a local girl and knows an awful lot about what's going on in Dulwich. She's like a magnet for information. Harry York is the local detective who, although he keeps lecturing Beth about keeping her nose out of police investigations, often turns to her for information, usually revealing more than he should in the process. Reading is his passion - who isn't going to love this man? - and he is a devotee of the Golden Age of crime fiction. He also has a twinge of an Irish accent which becomes stronger when he is getting emotional about something. There's a definite attraction between these two characters, but the mechanics of police investigations keep getting in their way.

It really is the characters who carry this story. The Murder Museum is an unconventional cosy. It embraces the subjects of bullying and fat-shaming, and toxic teenage friendships.

Although I didn't find the ending particularly satisfying - I had a few unanswered questions - overall I enjoyed this read and am looking forward to the next in the series.

⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheMurderMuseum #NetGalley

I: @alice_castle_ @bookouture

T: @AliceMCastle @Bookouture

#contemporaryfiction #cosymystery

THE AUTHOR: Alice Castle lives in South London with her two children and two cats. She was a feature writer on the Daily Express for many years and has written for most other national newspapers. She has a degree in Modern History from St Andrews University, is the British Royalty expert for Flemish TV, and lived in Brussels for nearly a decade.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Murder Museum (A Beth
Haldane Mystery #2) by Alice Castle for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

The second book in the series finds of principle character, Beth, taking a stroll around a local museum. Finding a body lying there is something that Beth is hoping is not going to become a regular occurrence.
Despite the suggestion that this was a suicide, Beth is not convinced and yet again finds her curiosity drags her into the investigation much to the dismay of the Dashing inspector who would rather she not be involved as his developing feelings for her are beginning to conflict.
A wonderful easy to read cosy mystery that is perfect to curl up to with a cuppa.

Re-published with new titles and cover designs, the Beth Haldane Mysteries is a series of seven cozy mystery books dealing with widow Beth Haldane and her quest to solve mysteries while raising her son in the upscale Dulwich Village.

Each book deals with a murder mystery revolving around the residents of Dulwich Village with the elite Wyatt's School and College School and other landmarks of the village making up the scene of the crime. Each murder mystery is connected to a social/moral issue (child sexual abuse, incest, peer pressure, health and image issues amongst teenagers, abusive relationships, cheating and jealousy, foul play/fraud, etc.) which becomes the motive for the crime.

As an inquisitive character with a strong sense of truth and justice, Beth can't resist attaching herself to each mystery and doing everything possible to make sure the culprits are caught and punished, which irks DI Harry York to no end.

In my opinion Beth should just become a private investigator instead of staying on as an archivist at the Wyatt's School, a job she rarely finds herself doing.

The thing that gradually became annoying as I kept reading the books was Beth's constant introspection and self musings about everything that was happening in her life at that moment, her past, her future, etc...it was repetitive and most times steered away from the issue at hand.

I have so far read the first four books in the series. I will continue and read the rest of the books but I feel I do need a break from all the incessant self musings/brooding of Beth.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture and the author Alice Castle for the e-Arcs of the books.

Ratings:

The Murder Mystery (previously published as Death in Dulwich)- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Murder Museum (previously published as The Girl in the Gallery)- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Murder Question (previously published as Calamity in Camberwell)- ⭐⭐⭐💫

The Murder Plot (previously published as Homicide in Herne Hill)- ⭐⭐⭐💫

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.
I enjoyed this second book as much as I did the first one. Fun read that kept me interested. On to the third.

Beth Haldane is at it again! Our protagonist finds herself in the position of finding a body in a strange place - this time in her favourite museum.

I'm quickly growing fond of Beth and her knack of finding trouble. This is her second outing and I was once again delighted with this cosy crime.

This is the third book I've read of Castle's and it's now fair to say I'm a fan. Her writing is additictive. The treatment of Haldane and York is great, if (deliberately) infuriating.

And I almost, almost solved this one! There was a moment when I thought "hmmm, I wonder" before losing that thread.

I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys cosy crime.

Many thanks to Alice Castle, NetGalley, and Bookouture for this copy.

Sophomore effort that met expectations, which isn't always the case. Again, everything in this mystery just clicked for me. It was believable, enjoyable, well-paced, well-plotted, and there was character growth from the first book.

The Girl in the Gallery by Alice Castle is the second book in Beth Haldane Mystery series and I really enjoyed it especially as it was a cosy mystery and I love these. This new series is based in Dulwich Village, in South London. and this book was originally as The Girl in the Gallery. It’s a perfect summer’s morning in the plush south London suburb, and thirty-something Beth Haldane sneaks off to visit one of her favourite places – the world-famous Picture Gallery everything is perfect and Beth is happy especially as she is enjoying a few me moments. She stumbles across a shocking new exhibit on display a young girl is left barely alive and nobody seems to be looking for her. Inspector Harry York who is investigating this brutal attack begins to learn of Beth's skills and starts to open up to her despite knowing he shouldn't be apart of an official investigation.

Another great book in this Beth Haldane Mystery series. I highly recommend these.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and the author Alice Castle for my advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to starting a new cosy series. But I made the mistake of asking for all 3 that were available. I struggled with the first one and then just couldn't bring myself to continue. Apologies. It just wasn't my cup of tea and I am a big fan of Agatha Christie. I didn't find it gripping. I'm sure others will enjoy the series.

Thanks to Netgalley, Bookouture and the author for my advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is for London Murder Mystery #1 -3:
These books include nice descriptions of London and create a nice feeling for readers while in the story. There are fun characters, gossip, adventure, and written in a charming style. The stories are engaging, and have satisfying endings. The author knows how to write in her sweet spot. I look forward to pickup the others in the series.

I really appreciate the free review copies for review!!

The Murder Museum by Alice Castle
A Beth Haldane Mystery Book #2 - Previously released as The Girl in the Gallery

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

Caring mother, school historian, and amateur sleuth Beth Haldane loves to while away an afternoon in the Museum of Art. But will she be next in the frame… for murder?

Beth Haldane is gazing at enchanting paintings of the rolling English countryside when her daydream is rudely interrupted: by the discovery of a teenage girl unconscious on a marble bench.

Shocked, Beth realises this is no snoozing schoolchild. Someone dastardly has carefully crossed the girls’ hands across her white dress, as if she’s in a painting herself. And the girl’s discarded red backpack found in a corner of the museum is totally empty. Is someone suspicious hiding evidence? And who would want to harm this innocent soul?

With poor Sophia in hospital, and the parents of Dulwich Village in uproar that their little darlings might be next, Beth pesters police for updates. And with her keen eye for detail and research skills, Beth is perfectly placed to do some sleuthing of her own… but why are Sophia’s gaggle of friends so close-lipped? Has some typical teenage drama taken a dark turn?

My Opinion

This series of books is being re-released with new names. I worked my way through this book in a few hours. For me they are quick and easy books to read and make for a good weekend read. Castle grabs the readers attention from the beginning, and holds it until the end. An enjoyable cosy mystery with a great pace.

Rating 4/5

Book.2 in a brilliant murder mystery series. Equally better than the first and I’m really excited by what’s to come in the series

I enjoyed the first Beth Haldane book so I was interested to see where the author took the series in the second book - and overall, I enjoyed this read as well. We get to see Beth develop more as a character as she delves into her second murder mystery and see her relationship with DI York develop as well (even if Beth doesn't seem to think it is developing!).

This book felt darker than first, which wasn't a problem for me but might be for readers looking for a light murder mystery - it felt we were veering a bit further from the cozy part of the mystery which I personally enjoyed. The book again took several twists I wasn't expecting and enjoyed. One thing I don't love about the series there sometimes is a lot of descriptive language that feels repetitive - what the village mums are like, what the coffee shops are like, etc. However, that minor and doesn't overly detract from the story.

Looking forward to reading the next book!