A cozy mystery in the vein of Ms Marple. Miss Beeton runs an agency supplying household help to the upper crust. When one of her placements is murdered, Miss Beeton will meddle.....er....involve herself in the investigation, bringing every thing to a satisfactory ending. The book is a perfect cozy that includes recipes for those who need a snack while reading.

Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency by Josie Lloyd is a brand new cosy crime series. Miss Beeton is a very distant relative of the other more famous Miss Beeton. She has never married and runs a Good Household Management Agency in Kensington. She provides discreet domestic staff to extravagant townhouses and sprawling country piles.
So when Camille Messant calls requesting her urgent need for a housekeeper, Miss Beeton sends out her new hire, Enya. However, Miss Beeton is woken up in the early hours of New Years Day with the news that Enya has been killed.
Miss Beeton decides that she will solve the mystery herself, as the police aren’t really getting anywhere.
An entertaining murder mystery solved by an unexpectedly main character.
Recommended

Wonderful cosy crime with likeable but imperfect characters. This book is an ideal read for anyone who likes an old fashioned mystery (with modern attitudes). The cosy recipes were like little treats adding to the atmosphere. Fingers crossed to hear more from Miss Beaton

Things that irritated me about Miss Beeton's Murder agency: Alice, the eponymous main character, thinking that she has to bankrupt herself/put her wellbeing in danger to demonstrate her love for her younger brother; Detective Rigby not having a rank. Surely he should be Detective Sergeant or Detective Inspector.

Things I didn't mind about Josie Lloyd's book: Agatha the dog. (This is unusual for me; I find fictional dogs annoying usually.)

Things I loved about Miss Beeton's Murder Agency by Josie Lloyd; everything else! The characters were realistic and diverse. They interacted well with one another. The plot was complicated but not so much that it bewildered me, and the ending was strong and believable. I also liked reading about a lead character in her fifties who was neither eccentric, old before her time or weighed down with family responsibilities.

More please!

Sometimes you just need a cosy read and this worked well and ticked the boxes, sometimes a bit wordy but good way to just get completely distracted from every day life.

The first in a new cosy crime series introduces us to fifty something Alice Beeton who lives in a basement apartment with her dog Agatha, named after? Yes you’ve guessed it Agatha Christie. Alice runs an agency providing domestic staff to well to do people and all her staff are heavily vetted apart from one! Potential new domestic Enya Fischer just happens to be in her office when Mrs. Camille Messent rang with an urgent request for a housekeeper who can also look after her daughter. Against her better judgement, Alice send Enya to take up this post. A fabulous storyline, even though you need to suspend belief at the situation Alice ends up in but hey it’s fiction and I’m ok with that.

Briefly, Alice is shocked to receive a call New Year’s Day from Detective Rigby telling her that Enya has been found dead. Alice rushes over to the Messent’s home and after chasing Agatha up the stairs sees Enya lying in a pool of blood and fifty pound notes. Feeling in some way responsible she starts to investigate.

Even though it was clearly set in the present I kept thinking I was reading something from the 1930/40’s - it just had that vibe going on then something would be mentioned and I’d be rudely dragged back into the present. I really liked the characters, particularly Alice and Jinks - they have a great friendship that has stood the test of time and you know they will always be there for each other. My favourite is of course Agatha who has quite a story of her own to tell. I loved the inclusion of Alice’s distant relatives recipes and I actually copied one to try! An enjoyable easy read cozy crime that I read in a day. Very entertaining.

What a delightful, fun and entertaining read. This is cosy, this is about family, women friendship and of course there has to be some sort of crime for Miss Beeton to investigate. To top it off the characters in this book are fun, quirky and interesting and to top it all off.... Recipes! I love recipes so this was such a bonus.

I can't speak highly enough of this book as it was a treat to read, well written and a book that I do hope will bring more wonderful books, stories and fun to all of us. Glorious, perfect and oh so fun.

Thank you NetGalley and HQ for giving me the opportunity to read adn review this book.

Alice Beeton a distant relative of the famous Mrs Beeton is also famous for her baking. She is running an agency providing domestic staff and her life has stalled.
When one of the staff she recommended is murdered Alice takes it on herself to investigate with an assortment of friends she has gathered alone the way.
This story keeps a great pace and though it takes a good portion of the book to warm to Alice there is plenty of scope for future stories.
The recipes peppered throughout the story is a bonus.
I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

Thank you NetGalley and HQ for a complimentary copy of this novel!
Alice Beeton owns her own business that provides discreet and professional staff to rich and high-end customers. Enya, her most recent hire, is sent to the Messants’ household as an urgent request because their current housekeeper mysteriously quit. Everything seems to be going well, but on New Year’s Day, Enya is found dead in the Messants’ house. As the local police try to work the case, it gets suddenly taken out of their hands and sent to a higher-level police force. So naturally, Alice Beeton realizes something more is going on. Because it was Alice who sent her to the Messants, she feels partially to blame for Enya’s death and takes it upon herself to try and figure out how and why she died. But the more Alice investigates, the more she realizes this is not a cut and dry murder investigation! There is so much more at play!!!
I really enjoyed this cozy mystery and am looking forward to reading more if it is continued on as a series! AVAILABLE October 24, 2024

There is a lot of world-building in this story, much of it to create a golden-age mystery ethos even though it is set in current times. Still, although this slows the pace, it lets the reader get to know the memorable characters, which are pivotal to a good, cosy mystery. I like the characters, especially Alice, who is complex and relatable. The story has an engaging mystery, which is fun to solve. The connection with Mrs Beeton is mentioned frequently and reinforced with recipes. It's an easy-to-read, cosy mystery with likeable protagonists and a good mystery.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Alice Beeton runs the Good Household Management Agency, and provides excellent and discreet domestic staff to wealthy people in townhouses and country manors. Alice is a distant relative of the renowned Mrs. Beeton of the bakery, cookbooks and how to manage a household fame. Alice holds the famous Mrs Beeton in high regard, aspiring to be like her, and have her own immaculate household some day. In reality, Alice is the other side of fifty, lives in an immaculate but dingy basement flat owned by a terrible landlord, with her wonderful little corgi cross Agatha. Named for that Agatha. Alice’s other passion is murder mystery, hence little Agatha’s name.

When one of Alice’s most influential clients calls in urgent need of a replacement housekeeper, Alice sends in a new hire who has not been fully vetted yet, Enya. This is a bit out of order for the normally very proper procedure following Alice, but Enya is charming, speaks fluent French (a client requirement) and is available immediately. All is going well, until early into New Years Day when Alice is woken to the news that Enya has been found dead in the clients house, during the New Year's Eve party. Alice is shocked, but when the detective on the case, Detective Rigby, seems to struggle with the investigation, Alice takes matters into her own hands. She feels like it was her fault Enya was there in the first place. When she starts digging into the case, she soon finds it hard to stop, even if she did want to.

This book was a charming read. It was full of wonderful characters, along with Alice. All her team, her friends, the bumbling Detective Rigby, were all wonderfully written. It was a real old fashioned murder mystery, wrapped in a modern, warm and fun shell. Alice is not your typical heroine, and we love her for that. Her sense of duty and honour and other traits, while at times coming across as old fashioned, is plausible, and makes her a warm and lovable character.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more escapades from Alice and her team!

*I received this book from NetGalley for review, but all opinions are my own.

Alice Beeton, distant relative of the famous Mrs Beeton, runs her own Good Household Management Agency, supplying staff to the well-off of London and the environs. Her own life hasn’t turned out quite as planned. Living alone in a basement flat with her dog Agatha wasn’t exactly how she saw her life panning out. Nevertheless, she throws herself into being the best at her job, and the best baker she knows.

When wealthy socialite Camille Messent appeals for her help in finding a new housekeeper, Alice goes against her best judgement, and sends a new employee whose credentials seem too good to be true. When said employee meets a nasty end, Alice steps in to try and solve the case. The police seem reluctant to look too closely. Why is that? The rather dishy Detective Rigby is pulled off the case by those upstairs and Alice smells a rat.

I loved the idea of Mrs Beeton’s relative being involved in household management. Alice was absolutely perfect for the job and took her role very seriously. She had a great team around her too - and her pooch Agatha was delightful.

Alice, until this point, had led a rather safe life - but this case brought out her daring side. She took risks and proved to be more resilient than she could ever have imagined. She felt it was her duty to find out what happened to Enya. I found the mystery compelling and hard to put down.

The story was well written, with an appealing main character. I want more of Alice - and her coterie of friends and family.

I really loved this, such an easy read but so enjoyable. I would call it a typical cosy crime caper. Alice is distantly related to the wonderful Mrs Beeton hence her business Miss Beeton's Good Managenet Agency. She provides top notch customers witb staff such as chefs, chauffeurs, housekeepers etc. She unwittingly supplies a housekeeper to a rich couple in the art world who ends up dead so Alice sets out to solve the murder and along the way develops a particular liking to the handsome detective Rigby who is on the case. There's also an old family plle of an estate, a lazy brother Jasper and his family in the mix. An added bonus is the recipe in each chapter which Alice has made her own from Mrs Beeton's original. A really enjoyable read and I really hope there will be another book to follow. Thanks to Netgalley for this copy.

This is a great read. The quirky Miss Beeton and her adorable dog Agatha, solve a wicked crime. It's a fun story, yet at times a wee bit mad. Brilliant well rounded characters, a dynamic plot. It didn't end like I thought it would, it was a rather surprising ending. Loved it.

Alice Beeton never meant to wind up single and childless on the wrong side of fifty. Like her distant relative Mrs Beeton – yes, that Mrs Beeton – she had hoped to have her own spic-and-span household by now. In reality, she lives in an immaculate but dingy basement flat in a rather shabby block in Kensington with Agatha, her fiercely intelligent, if rather over-territorial, corgi-Jack Russell cross. Now Alice runs the Good Household Management Agency, providing discreet domestic staff to extravagant townhouses and sprawling country piles. So when Camille Messant calls in urgent need of a new housekeeper, Miss Beeton sends out new hire Enya. But in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Alice is rudely awakened with the news that Enya has been found dead.
A new author to me & a new series. I thoroughly enjoyed it & look forward to more in the series. I really liked Alice & the adorable Agatha. A well written cosy mystery, which I read in two sittings, the pace is good, the characters have depth & I was kept guessing as to who the villain was. There was the added bonus of recipes. There were of course twists, turns & red herrings as would be expected in a cosy mystery.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a special copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own

This was an easy enough read but a little too contrived for my liking and I did feel it took a wee bit too long to get to the juicy bits. Also there were two instances I think where someone who was undercover was addressed by their actual name,not the fake ID the person addressing them knew them as.

Alice Beeton, distant relation to The Mrs Beeton, runs her own business, The Good Household Management Agency, she and her staff find, vet and place suitable employees for upmarket clients in expensive houses, Discretion is the key.
When one of Alice’s placements is found murdered at a pre-Christmas party, Alice makes the decision to go undercover and find out what happened.
She is aided and abetted by Jacques, the chef, and Agatha her dog, who has a very discerning nose for those she distrusts and others that she thinks will be good for Alice.
Agatha runs into Detective Rigby of the Metropolitan Police and has to be rescued. Alice is unaccountably flustered by him, she is all of a dither, and I do so hope this is the start of a fine romance! Together they manage to solve various clues and the mystery itself.
This is a cosy, comforting novel that is a real page turner. Full of wonderful characters, they are talented, fantastically loyal, discreet, comedic, very supportive and utterly believable. An absolute sweet treat, to read and savour( baking puns intended)
My only gripe was the poor formatting of the recipes in this novel, so disappointing,I do love a good cheese scone. I’m sure these errors will be picked up for the final copy. A five star read, so much fun!
My thanks to Netgalley and HQ Books the publishers for my ARC freely given in exchange for my honest review. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK upon publication.

I’m not a regular reader of so-called cosy crime but I loved this new novel by Josie Lloyd.
Alice Beeton is a distant relative of the famous Mrs Beeton. 50 something, single, she loves to bake, read crime and spend time with her little dog, Agatha. She runs an agency providing domestic staff to the rich and famous and when one of her new hires is murdered during a New Years Eve party she is dragged into a very dangerous situation.
Josie Lloyd has assembled a great cast of characters and a fascinating world around the agency and their wealthy clientele. The story zooms along with the occasional excellent recipe to break up proceedings. There is a great twist at the end and it’s all set up for the next in the series. Alice Beeton is a very welcome addition to this genre.

This is a long book and you have to be in it for the entire read to understand how the lead character moves from a household management agency and onwards into a murder detection agency. This part of the story takes up a lot of pages and hopefully this writer will continue with the series of murder agency stories, but we won't need the initial 100 or more pages the next time. These pages are necessary to explain how Alice Beeston sends one of her employees, to a last minute housekeeper job, who is then found dead at the location. Calling the dog ‘Agatha’ is maybe a mild link to a well known author, but there's no comparison and don't expect to a Miss Marple story as this writer carves out her own characters and novel status. You have to put aside how a housekeeping company can solve murders better than the police and once you do you'll enjoy this story, which is a nice easy read. I didn't really understand the recipes in the kindle version of this book; hopefully these will be better in the final printed version.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

This book is a brilliant start to a new series.

Alice is in charge of the Good Household Management Agency where she employs people where needed in service.

When Enya’s body is discovered, Alice decides to investigate the death and she discovers that Enya wasn’t someone who she knew at all.

I loved Alice, and the other characters, each one different to the other and some were relatable.

I recommend this book.