Death in Little Puddlebury by B.L. Bandy

Death in Little Puddlebury by B.L. Bandy
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

Harriet Harbottle came to Little Puddlebury for peace, quiet, and perhaps the chance to write the sort of cozy mysteries she once edited for London’s famed publishing house, Wetherby & Finch.

Instead, she finds a corpse.

At the village spring fete, Harriet purchases a battered Edwardian ledger from a table of unwanted books. Hidden inside is a forgotten will tied to the grand manor house of Swincombe Hollow. The document threatens to overturn generations of inheritance and expose secrets the village has long preferred buried.

Before Harriet can learn more, the village solicitor is found dead in his office. The police call it an unfortunate accident. Harriet is not convinced.

With the help of her loyal Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Bramble, an endlessly gossiping neighbor named Gladys, and a foul-tempered stray cat who despises rain, Harriet begins untangling the history of Swincombe Hollow and the people desperate to keep its past concealed.

But in Little Puddlebury, old money hides sharp teeth behind polished smiles. And someone is willing to kill to keep a dead woman’s final wishes
from coming to light.

Harriet Harbottle is a retired book editor having moved into a cottage left to her by her aunt in a village named…you guessed it…Little Puddlebury. This is the perfect English cozy in a little English village. Not the stuffy type of village, but definitely the “let me put the kettle on dear” type. Puddlebury is a place where everything is everyone’s business. In fact, Harriet finds they sometimes know what she is going to do before she does it.

This is a well-written, quick 170+ pages. The characters are quite visible, and a few have their own personalities. I did find it a bit slow now and then but not enough to stop me reading it. What did keep me reading it was Harriet’s delightful bit of sarcasm and humor and her wonderful King Spaniel named Bramble.

This is Book 1 in the series, and it looks as if Book 2 is already published. I’ll have to see what Harriet and Bramble get into next.