Murder in the Reading Room by Anita Davison

About the Book:

Aunt Violet and her niece Hannah have a bookshop to run. But after a customer comes in asking for a rare book, Hannah takes a visit to the reading room of the British Library – a glorious domed building in the middle of the British Museum courtyard – to find out more

Hannah has barely finished making her request when a man at one of the hundreds of desks slumps over his work. Within moments, it becomes clear he is dead, stabbed in broad daylight, in the middle of the reading room surrounded by oblivious academics.

The reading room is an exclusive space where no one can enter or leave without detection. Yet the initial investigation yields no weapon, no witnesses, and no apparent motive.

But then Aunt Violet discovers the victim had been researching the unearthing of a lost piece of Italian sculpture. And Hannah –despite her new husband’s firm insistence that she let the police do their job – finds herself unable to resist the temptation of investigating just one more murder. 

My Review:

This is another fun cozy mystery from Davison. The characters are great. Aunt Violet is a force and good at getting to places for obtaining information. I like Matilda's involvement too. Aidan, retired from the police force still has the knack and finally puts all the clues together. A possible valuable antique is at the center of the murder mystery. We are not sure whether it is real or a fake until the end. This is a fun series of historical cozy mysteries.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

You can read my review of the previous book in this series, Murder at the Wedding.

About the Author:

Anita is the author of the Flora Maguire Mysteries and the Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet Mysteries set in WWI from Boldwood Books.TBook 1 Murder in the Bookshop, Book 2 Murder in the Library, Book 3 Murder at Midwinter Manor, Book 4 Murder in Covent Garden and Book 5 Murder at the Wedding are all available in E-Book, Audio and Paperback. Book 6 in the series Murder in the Reading Room is due for release on 29th June 2026.

Boldwood Books, 280 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley og this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent review.

(My star ratings: 5-An exceptional book, 4-Better than average, relevant and liked by me, 3-It is average, 2-It is below average and not liked by me, 1-It is practically unreadable.)