RFM team members share books they have enjoyed. Maybe you will, too!
Needing something to read while on vacation earlier this year, I picked up Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library. I was hooked instantly by the notion of a reserved book conservator in modern-day New York City solving a murder with the assistance of Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime herself.
This charming book delivers everything you’d expect from a mystery — murder, red herrings, twists and turns — and adds an amusing cast of characters, hidden backstories, simmering romance, and a setting that becomes a character in itself. Sure, it’s never really clear how Mrs. Max Mallowan — the name Agatha used in her private life — returns from the dead. But we see her quite at home in a room that replicates the personal library from her Devon cottage.
I suspended disbelief along with conservator Tory Van Dyne, who finds herself drawn to Mrs. M. and protects her secret even as their sleuthing expands to include Adrian, the Mystery Guild Library’s head librarian; Nic, Tory’s actress cousin; Mairead, an 11-year-old interested in “fixing books”; and Sebastian Mendez-Cruz, a dreamy police detective. Together, this group forms a community in which different perspectives are welcomed and encouraged, even if they sometimes lead to faulty conclusions. Mrs. M. is a gentle teacher and leader, allowing everyone to play a part and feel valued as they do so.
Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library is the first in a series from author Amanda Chapman, with the follow-up, Mrs. Christie and the Mystery in the Mews, set for release in October. I can hardly wait!
