Review: The Fatal Folio by Elizabeth Penney

The Fatal Folio (The Cambridge Bookshop Series, #3)

by Elizabeth Penney

Release Date: October 24, 2023

2023 St. Martin's Paperbacks

Ebook Edition; 320 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250787750

ASIN: B0BQGFXGTM

Audiobook: B0DL6GWR72

Genre: Fiction / Cozy / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

After moving to Cambridge, England, Molly Kimball has found a lot to love, including—of course—her family’s ancestral bookshop, Thomas Marlowe-Manuscripts and Folios. And though she’s not quite ready to use the “L” word when it comes to her boyfriend Kieran, she’s definitely fallen for his intimidating family’s library.

His family is paying her handsomely for an updated catalog when Molly discovers the original manuscript of a Gothic novel, A Fatal Folio by the pseudonymous Selwyn Scott. Kieran’s cousin Oliver, a professor specializing in Gothic literature, is eager to publish a paper on the mystery—especially because a troublesome student, Thad, is threatening to file a complaint against him and prevent his long-awaited promotion.

On Guy Fawkes Night, Molly, Kieran, and her friends set out to enjoy the costumes, fireworks, and fun—at least until a stray firework starts a panic, and the group stumbles upon a prone body, their face covered by a mask. It’s Thad, and he’s been stabbed to death.

 

My Thoughts

The Fatal Folio is one of those genres of books I like to read between the heavy-hitters as I am always in need of some easy, fun reads to give myself a break. This one fit that bill quite nicely as it was interesting, fun, but didn't necessarily have a lot of depth to it. 

 

It's always fun to continue a series and see how the characters develop and to be honest, I like a series where the romantic relationship is not full of drama and miscommunications, where the adults actually talk to each other and discuss their issues, so this is always a bonus in my eyes. Both Kieran and Molly are main characters that are interesting and don't typically do anything silly when they are investigating. I enjoy Molly's interactions with her family, with whom she lives, and like learning more about how they manage the bookshop they co-own. I mean, I am a book girly, so why wouldn't I find that interesting? 

 

The plot itself was a bit erratic and while I thought the inclusion of the story within the story was interesting, to be honest, it really had no purpose as it didn't have anything to do with the actual mystery. And while there was a lot going on in this book, and there seemed to be a lot of twists and turns because of all the events, in hindsight, there really wasn't and the actual mystery was pretty shallow and predictable. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but it was quite easy to figure things out as they happened and I would have liked a few more red herrings. And even though I read this just a few weeks ago, I actually had to look at my notes to remember the ending as I couldn't remember what happened; it just wasn't something that was memorable and stuck in my head. 

 

Verdict

The Fatal Folio definitely had some things going for it such as the descriptions of the city as well as some unique background information, something I really appreciated. The mystery itself was a bit muddled and I found it to be quite simplistic and easy to figure out. There were also some contradictory statements with regards to Molly's knowledge of things that I noticed, but not enough to really bug me too much, just something that as a librarian she would have known. Otherwise, even though this wasn't my favourite of the series, it was still fun. The publisher did send me a copy of all the books in the series so on to the next one.