Peril at Pennington Manor by Tracy Gardner

Peril at Pennington Manor
by Tracy Gardner

ISBN-13: 9781643859064
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Released: June 7th 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Thanks to Aunt Midge’s unlikely friendship with Nicholas Pennington, the Duke of Valle Charme, Avery Ayers and her associates at Antiques and Artifacts Appraised head off to their most glamorous assignment yet—cataloguing and appraising the contents of a castle-like mansion on the Hudson River. But regal splendor becomes a backdrop to mayhem when the precious Viktor Petrova timepiece disappears—and housekeeper Suzanne Vick plummets from a parapet to her death.

Avery, her dad William, and colleagues Micah Abbott and Sir Robert Lane soon learn that Suzanne’s predecessor also met with an untimely end. Further, the housekeeper’s suspicious demise coincides with Avery’s discovery that many of the Duke’s most priceless heirlooms have been replaced by fakes.

Detective Art Smith lends his expertise, but the suspect list encompasses the Duke’s entire retinue—including his family. A criminal mastermind is making a desperate bid for ill-gotten riches…can Avery bring the culprit to justice before her time is up?


My Review:
Peril at Pennington Manor is a cozy mystery with a lot of family drama. At least a third of the book was Tilly's school woes, Avery's dating woes, marathon prep, and family drama (both hers and the royals). There were also some kittens and dates with Art. This was a clue-based mystery, but it had so much filler that I forgot to even care whodunit. Avery tended to jump to conclusions but Art would remind her of other possibilities. She was very nosy (even opening doors to bedrooms in an area where she wasn't supposed to be working, and in front of her detective boyfriend, who didn't even object). She eavesdropped (as did Art) to gather clues, but it ended up coming down to discovering who sold the stolen goods.

This book is the second in a series. I didn't need to read the previous book to understand this one, but I might have cared more about the family drama if I'd started with the first book. There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'm recommend this to fans of family drama in their cozy mysteries.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.