Murder at Raven's Hollow is the third English village cozy mystery in a series by Louise Marley. Due out 3rd Jan 2025 from Storm Publishing, it's 356 pages and will be available in paperback, audio, 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. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free (at publication). The first books in the series are also currently available on KU.
It's told in a dual timeline scattershot format with glimpses of the past interspersed as they play into the current day (human remains discovered in the course of an abandoned greenhouse renovation). It's a hybrid village cozy and credible procedural with a likeable and competent lead investigative duo. The author does a great job with the setting, and there's a sort of creepy, gothic vibe to the village which is less than jump-scare territory and more vague uneasy dread.
The prologue scene is moderately terrifying and it takes a long while for the story to circle back around to resolution. There are twists and surprising interconnections aplenty and amateur armchair sleuths will likely not guess all the wrinkles before the end. The denouement and resolution are not 100% finished in this volume and strongly foreshadow at least one more book to come.
It's the third book in the series with developing characters, but it works well enough as a standalone, with the codicil that there will be slight spoilers from the earlier books if read out of order.
Four stars. Very well written and engaging story, well told. It would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, cozy(ish) procedural fans, or a nice binge/buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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