A really enjoyable cosy murder mystery, which has a nice referencing to Agatha Christie, and a lovely connection to Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management. The characters are all well rounded, with their own interesting backgrounds, Jinx, Helly and Barney are the perfect sidekicks for Alice, with their own skills and personalities. The plot is nicely twisted, tense, with several red herrings, that leave you guessing right to the end as to who the killer is, always a good thing in this type of book. I really hope there is another book already being written.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

If you like cosy crime books you will love Miss Beeton's Murder Agency. I might even go as far as to say move over Agatha (and not Miss Beaton's loveable dog) there's a new queen in town. The characters were so likeable and relatable and the plot was top notch. I can't wait for the next in the series especially as there may be a budding romance on the cards alongside the murders. Thanks to HQ, Josie Lloyd and NetGalley for the ARC.

Miss Beeton’s Murder Agency is a cosy crime novel with the addition of enticing recipes and a cast of eclectic and intriguing characters. Miss Beeton (Alice) is quite odd fashioned and sats herself she is the wrong side of fifty. She runs a successful agency that hires out domestic staff from private chefs to chauffeurs. Alice is descended from the original Mrs Beeton of Victorian Household Management fame and often quotes her and uses her recipes or lifestyle ideas throughout the book. The book starts during Advent and there are some traditional festive recipes included. This added to the charm of the story.

It took a while for me to realise that the storyline was set in modern times, as Alice’s attitudes, background and dress all seem quite dated. Despite being a bit behind the times, even for her age, I do find it refreshing to have a more mature protagonist and Alice is certainly one of a kind. I also felt that it took a little too long to set the scene before any important plot points occur. I persevered through several chapters before I got to the pivotal point where Alice hires a lady she describes as “perfect” to be added to the books of her agency at the very last minute with no time to do her usual background checks and the fun begins. Murder, mystery, grand theft, undercover work and lots of scheming ensue.

The cast of characters that become Alice’s team of detectives and undercover agents and her interactions with them, made me want to read on. The book is clearly setting the scene for further adventures and I am up for it. After a slow start I warmed to Miss Beaton and her eclectic mix of friends and really enjoyed reading about their adventures. With thanks to the publishers HQ and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

Perhaps if I were a dog lover and/or a baker I would have enjoyed this more but overall I found it slow going and quite dull. At times it comes to life, especially when the daughter of the house is featured, and the characterisation is good but in my view the story is just too weak even for a book described as 'cozy crime'.

Sadly I really didn't click with this book. Partly due to the formatting issues and \i'm not sure if I lost part of the text and how much.
Quite slow going and food related stories seem to have become ubiquitous in crime fiction.
Sorry, didn't do it for me.

A fabulously written gripping story that was a pleasure to read. I would absolutely recommend this book, it was brilliant

Alice Beeton – yes, descendant from the legendary Mrs Beeton – is the owner of the Good Household Management Agency, offering highly skilled domestic staff to rich people who don’t know how to cook, clean or generally be grown-ups. Her newest charge, Enya (Francophile, impeccable references) is snapped up before she’s even left her initial interview, but to Alice’s horror, her employee is found dead. With no trust in the police to find out who’s responsible, Alice takes it upon herself to do so.

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for the ARC.

As a fan of crime fiction and cozy mysteries, I really enjoyed my time with Miss Beeton's Murder Agency. The characters are well written and engaging and the plot will keep you guessing

This was an enjoyable story however I found it a little too drawn out for my liking which did mean my attention kept wavering.

I would like to give 3.5, but can't here, unfortunately. This book takes a little while to get going; we’re 25% of the way through before there is a murder, and given the title and the genre, this feels a little unusual. (I wasn't sure whether I was wrong about this, but a rough straw poll of other readers suggested a death in the first 10% would be expected, with 20% at the outside. I'd love to know what other people think!) A lot of the preceding content IS important/relevant, but I don't think the narrative structure needed to be organised so strictly chronologically, and there were plenty of ways in which material could have been woven in elsewhere.

Nevertheless, this is a pleasing cosy in many ways, and I enjoy the successful mid-life "spinster" main character; there are some moments of great pathos and humanity, as well as great humour and tenderness in the relationships she has with long-standing and new friends along the way. It's great to get back to the very genuine heart of the detective fiction genre, when in the nineteenth century snooping (or thieving!) servants were a major concern and so many of the female detectives of the period went about their work by slipping into a maid's uniform.

On minor grumbles: I don't think the first four Holmes stories were published in Beeton’s annuals. The first, certainly, but it's not clear this is true for the others, published in Lippincotts (Sign of Four) and then The Strand (where the majority of the rest also appeared). And hopefully the final edit will catch some of the blips (repost for riposte, errant prepositions, Jinks for Jinx, there’s a weird “herself” instead of “her” that makes it sound like Alice is cuddling up on the sofa with Camille, etc.)

I do love a cozy crime book and this delivered. Good story lines and nice characters. I look forward to further books

This is a fun Christmas book for fans of cosy detective stories. Packed with quirky characters, this takes us from upper class London (from the eyes of the staff mainly) to a crumbling country home.
Alice Beeton is a delightfully quirky lead character - she runs an agency providing domestic staff, and lives with her dachshund Agatha - a nod to Miss Christie perhaps?
When one of her staff is found dead she gets dragged into investigating - and can't back out when Agatha is used to ensure her cooperation.
The story also brings in her impecunious brother, heir to the family estate and his wanna-be influencer wife.
Lots of fun and quirky twists and turns, this is a great pre-Christmas read for a taste of snowy England.

A solid, Christmassy detective read - sometimes a bit too twee for my taste but I liked seeing Alice come into her own and start having her own adventures. Some good twists and turns in the plot as well so this book won't be drawing in readers just from the recipes alone!

December, modern day, London: Miss Alice Beeton runs a placement agency, the Good Household Management Agency, which provides domestic staff to wealthy people needing a maid, housekeeper, chef or other servant. No sooner has she hired someone new, Enya, then she gets a request for a new housekeeper from the uber wealthy Messants who's housekeeper has abruptly left. Miss Beeton immediately sends her out. Unfortunately, Enya is killed a few weeks later. The powers that be want it dismissed as a burglary gone wrong (against the detective’s wishes, it should be noted); however, when Miss Beeton gets the opportunity to do some snooping on her own, she takes it, becoming Messents’ new replacement housekeeper. It also helps that she can use the generous salary they are paying and that she has no place to live at the moment as her basement flat is unlivable having been damaged by the renovations going on upstairs.

I picked this up thinking it was a historical novel, maybe set in the 1920s or 1930s, with the reference to ‘Miss’ in the title and the comments about baking, housekeeping, Miss Beeton’s comments about not having a family, etc - all seem to be from bygone days. But no - it’s modern day with computers and cell phones which…was disconcerting. I actually gave up at one point, deciding to restart it a few days later with the different mindset. I’m glad I did as it was an enjoyable book. Bits of it were a little implausible, but still fun. I’m looking forward to more stories with Miss Beeton. She feels like a character that’s been trod on by her family (with her brother constantly asking for money so he can be 'lord of the manor' and not work) and society (especially her landlord), living in the past to a degree, and is now coming into her own. The book ends with the detective showing up, saying he’d like her insights to a case he’s currently working on - over dinner - suggesting a possible future for the series and a new romantic relationship for Miss Beeton.

Recommended. I received a copy of this from NetGalley.com that I voluntarily chose to review.

Miss Beeton runs an agency that supplies staff to rich families in London. Her own background is not too shabby, being related to the Mrs Beeton of Household Management fame. Although her agency is a success, everything else in Alice's life is a mess. She is sustained by her dog, Agatha, her love of detective novels and her baking skills. This is not where she thought her life would take her, yet here she is.

Placing a housekeeper at the home of a wealthy art dealer and his family she is shocked to discover that not only is the housekeeper not who she seems to be, but she is murdered at a New Year's Eve party. Alice steps up to investigate.

This is the first in a new, cosy crime series written by Lloyd. It's not my usual type of read but it was a quick, entertaining read and perfect for any cosy crime fans who you might be looking to buy a book for Christmas for.

Not every book is for every reader and this book was not for me. Let me be very clear, there is nothing wrong with this book but all the things that are right with it do not appeal to me. Cozy crime with pretty people and endings tied up in neat bows are not my cup of tea but if that’s what you enjoy then give this book a read I’m sure you will enjoy it.

I enjoyed this character-driven story. The main characters are well-written and work together well. I thought it was a bit long-winded, it was about two-thirds of the way through the book before you learn about the possible crime that might be the reason for the earlier murder. But once Alice is forced to investigate she proves extremely capable, and has a tight-knit group of friends supporting her, with all the specialist skills between them that are required to make their sleuthing successful.

On the other hand, by expanding the story so that the reader gets to know all the characters sets up a series of books perfectly, and I would look forward to reading them.

recipes, cozy-crime, golden-age-mysteries, amateur-sleuth, pet-dog, England, local-law-enforcement, investigation, murder, not-TTS-enabled, Christmas-season, dognappers, class-consciousness, wealthy, situational-humor, sly-humor****

Alice Beeton runs the Good Household Management Agency which provides domestic staff to the wealthy and seems to be a distant relative the renowned author Mrs Beeton. A woman presents herself for employment and is shortly sent to a very respectable home. Yet she is murdered there and we are introduced to Detective Rigby of the Met. Now the fun begins as the investigations cross each other, the plot keeps twisting, and recipes pop up just anywhere. Good fun, but I can see where it would be impossible to make it TTS enabled unless the recipes were gathered at the end.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from HQ via NetGalley. Thank you!
Pub Date Oct 24, 2024 #MissBeetonsMurderAgency #NetGalley

I had thought that I would enjoy this cosy crime mystery, however on this occasion I made the wrong choice. The book is a disappointment, it is very long winded and overly descriptive of mundane situations. The main character Alice Beeton seems to. be one of life’s put- upon people, exploited and bled dry financially by her feckless brother, and her natural good nature taken advantage of by others. I wanted to give her a shake on several occasions.
Allegedly descended from the original Mrs Beeton, famed in days gone by for her housekeeping book, and referred to frequently by Alice, as if it were her Bible, gives the excuse to insert many recipes into the text, though in the e-reader version, they are formatted as to be completely incomprehensible. This pads the book out unnecessarily.
I’m not sure why this fashion for including recipes within the narrative of a novel has become so popular, but this is the third such novel I’ve read in the last six months. I’m not a fan, as I’m never likely to try to cook/ bake these dishes.
The actual murder, and the immediate aftermath, when Alice goes to investigate, complete with dog Agatha, is ridiculous. No murder investigation team in the country would allow the dog, followed by Alice, right through the house and up several staircases, into the room where the murder victim lay. It is too silly and far fetched.
Having read to 30% this book will be a DNF for this reader.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

Alice Beeton, distant relative of that Mrs Beeton, runs the Good Housekeeping Management Agency providing high class domestic staff to high class customers. One of her top clients calls in urgent need of a new housekeeper near. Christmas. Alice sends off a fairly new recruit. Only trouble is Enya is found dead at the property on New Years Day. The police do t seem to be getting anywhere so Alice decides to give them a hand. And she’s good at it! And I loved it. I hope it’s the first of many