Death at the Dinner Party by Ellie Alexander [review]

Death at the Dinner Party is the third book in the fantastic Secret Bookcase mystery series by Ellie Alexander featuring book seller Annie Murray.

Title: Death at the Dinner Party
Author: Ellie Alexander
Series: Secret Bookcase Mystery #3
First Published: September 30, 2024
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley

*** Thank you to the publisher, Storm Publishing, for providing me with an e-copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes. ***

When her friend Penny confesses she’s struggling to finance the restoration of the historic Wentworth farmhouse, Annie is instantly inspired. The beautiful property has stood empty since the 1970s, but rumors still swirl about the eccentric Wentworth family and their hidden fortune. It’s the perfect setting for a spooky, immersive dinner party, and the evening is a roaring success – until neighboring landowner Curtis Wright drops dead at the dining table…

Annie knows she didn’t add arsenic to the entrée, so who messed with her catering, and why? Everyone in the party had some reason to hate renowned bully Curtis – not least Penny, who was under pressure to sell land to him. Annie realizes she’ll need to clear her friend’s name fast. Soon, she’s in deep, uncovering long-buried family secrets, shady business deals and pitch-black hidden passageways.

A murderous dinner party

Murder mystery dinner parties have been popular for awhile now – who doesn’t enjoy dinner and a show, especially if you get to do a bit of amateur sleuthing on the side? I was so excited when I read the blurb for this book – it’s the perfect setup for a murder!

There was a small time-jump between this book and the previous one and several of the characters’ relationships have progressed a bit further. Annie and Liam are past the “enemies” stage and there’s definitely a lot of romantic tension between the two. Annie’s friend Priya is firmly in a relationship which was a nice way of bringing newcomer Penny into the action.

The murder victim is such a bully that there are suspects and motives galore. There are a lot of misdirects, some obvious “why did they do that?” shenanigans, and enough clues for the reader to figure out what’s going on. And even though I guessed the killer pretty early, the reveal was still satisfying. I also love the hidden passageways and potential treasure hunt – it added a bit of intrigue to the whole dinner party.

Another great Secret Bookcase mystery

The dinner party is set-up nicely and we’re introduced to a lot of new faces, but there are the usual familiar ones too, including Annie’s boss, Hal, and her co-worker, Fletcher. I like that each book in this series is related to the bookstore that Annie works at, the Secret Bookcase, but so far each mystery has taken a very different premise, so things have been very fresh and unique each time.

Annie continues to shine, both as a bookstore event planner, but also as an amateur criminologist. The long-running mystery of what happened to her best friend and Annie’s investigation into that tragedy continues and I like how that is a driving factor in a lot of how Annie behaves. It will be interesting to see what choices she makes in the future, especially with both of her mentors, bookstore owner Hal, and investigating detective Dr. Caldwell, offering her different future paths.

While this book can be read on its own, the series is definitely much more enjoyable read in order, especially to see the relationships between all the characters develop.

The Secret Books Mysteries have quickly become one of my favourite cozy mystery series – I can’t believe that the first book only came out this year and we’re already on book 3 (Book 4 comes out before the end of the year!

Quote from Death at the Dinner Party