Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library is the first book in a new library cozy mystery series by Amanda Chapman. Released 26th Aug 2025 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in paperback, library binding, 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.
This is a fun bookish/library cozy with a strong (unexplained) paranormal element, or really more magical realism. Agatha's back from the afterlife, and she's inhabiting a library in the Van Dyne mansion in Manhattan which is made to replicate her (Christie's) beloved library at Greenway House. She shows up and tells conservator Tori Van Dyne that she's come back to help solve a mystery which hasn't happened yet.
The author does a good job of engineering a twisty plot full of a plethora of characters, scattering red herrings around, tossing in some fair-play clues, and dropping lots (and LOTS) of canonical Christie quotes and other Golden Age mystery authors to search out later. It's relentlessly whimsical and a bit campy in places, there's also a romance subplot, some outlandish crimes, and a gather-the-suspects-in-the-library big reveal.
It's eminently readable, if honestly a bit over the top and precious in places.
Four stars. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition, home use, or a buddy read. Currently no available publisher info available for book 2. The denouement and resolution are self-contained in this volume; no cliffhangers.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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