Book Review: Murder in Mossyhollow by Sarah Rodecker
Having worked on several projects with Sarah throughout the years, including her previous book Escape from Mathebos, I was super excited when I heard she was working on a cozy fantasy mystery series! I’m always super excited to see more Christian-authored cozy fantasy books, and cozy fantasy plus cozy mystery sounds like the perfect mix, so I couldn’t wait to read Murder in Mossyhollow.
(Required disclaimer that though I received a free copy to review, the following opinions are my own.)
What is Murder in Mossyhollow about?
As Mossyhollow’s apothecary, Sybell Buslingthorpe has her finger on the pulse of the village. When a well-loathed man is poisoned at a dinner party and the fiancée of Sybell’s assistant, Joan, is the prime suspect, Sybell feels compelled to step in and solve the murder before the wrong person is accused.
Sybell Buslingthorpe fills her days with caring for the sick, teasing her young assistant and his spunky fiancée, and going home to her garden and pet dragons. Free time is spent interacting with the village people of Mossyhollow and getting involved in the local politics. Everything an elderly apothecary could dream of.
Her comfortable life is thrown into chaos when her dear friend, Anya Thorne, throws a dinner party and her friend’s grandson is poisoned. Despite everyone hating him, Joan, as Anya’s housekeeper, becomes the prime suspect. Knowing her assistant’s fiancée is innocent, Sybell races against the clock to clear her name and find the real killer.
She finds herself swept up in a world of politics and prejudice, where everyone has a motive, but few have the means and opportunity. Will Sybell be able to patch up Joan’s reputation before it is too late?
Review
Murder in Mossyhollow‘s charm is in its premise, characters, and world. Cozy mysteries in a fantasy setting should definitely be more popular! The town of Mossyhollow is suitably cozy, with its host of unique characters—both elves and goblins, its small-town politics, and cerberi and miniature dragons for commonplace pets. (I always love a good mini dragon!) The world is established well enough to support the story at hand, and to provide the appropriate amount of color. As someone with a particular eye for worldbuilding, I look forward to seeing how the world is deepened and the details are filled in more and more throughout the Mossyhollow Mysteries series.
Sybell is a perfect elderly amateur detective, with a compelling interest in her town and a perfect position within its community from which to investigate. Of course, knowing everyone in town also has its drawbacks, as it’s hard to believe those you know well would commit such crimes, and Sybell’s blind spots add a great bit of conflict to the story.
It’s hard to speak to the other characters without indicating who may or may not be guilty, so I’ll simply say that they’re varied, distinctive, and well-developed for a mystery, with compelling motives and suspicious behavior.
Personally, I found the mystery itself to be rather lack-luster. While the pieces that were put in place were situated well, I felt there was an obvious suspect that was completely overlooked—without even a quickly-dispelled suspicion from anyone endeavoring to identify the murderer—and the ultimate reveal at the end felt like it needed more set-up earlier in the book in order to feel believable. The conclusion as a whole felt rushed, with the revelation of the murderer seeming to come out of left field and the consequences in the lives of other characters seeming a bit weak.
The prose also felt a bit weak, and I would have liked to see more motion and detail written in to strengthen the reader’s connection with the plot and world and really draw them into the mystery.
That said, I enjoyed the story as a whole, and I look forward to seeing future installments in the Mossyhollow Mysteries series! The core characters and underlying setting are certainly compelling, and I look forward to seeing how they’re fleshed out and built upon in later books!
Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy on Amazon | Buy directly from Order of the Pen Press | Add on Goodreads