MYSTERY AT MAPLEMEAD CASTLE (The Chaplewick Mysteries #2) by KITTY FRENCH :: REVIEW

16 March, 2017

Rom-Com mystery supernatural elements series

SYNOPSIS

Welcome to Chapelwick, a leafy English town in the hills of Shropshire, where chocolate pecan cookies come with a helping of sabotage.

Maplemead Castle is crawling with ghosts, and the new owners need them gone. When Melody Bittersweet and the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency arrive on scene, they quickly identify the troublemakers swinging from the chandeliers… literally.

A century ago, stunning trapeze artist Britannia Lovell plunged to her death, and has done every night since. But did she really just fall, or was there something more to her demise?

Forced to work with Leo Dark, her scoundrel ex, and infuriating, irresistible reporter Fletcher Gunn, Melody’s investigative powers are under strain (i.e. lost in a pink mist of lust and confusion). She needs her team on top form, but best friend Marina’s cake pipeline goes AWOL, assistant Artie’s distracted by a giant sausage roll, and the pug is scared witless by a lion.

Somewhere, hidden in the castle, is a heart-breaking secret, but what will it take to find it? And is there a chance it could set Britannia free, or is she doomed to repeat her last fateful act forever?

Purchase MYSTERY AT MAPLEMEAD CASTLE below

Reviewed by Gitte & Jenny

4.5 stars

“I genuinely cannot fathom what goes on inside your head, ghostbuster,” he says. “You’re the most unusual person I’ve ever met.”

This series just gets better and better! Bravo Kitty French, this second instalment was just brilliant. What a fabulous time we spent back with characters that now feel like best friends, seeing their journey continue, revelling in how everyone is getting on and what’s happening with them, personally as well as their new ghost hunting shenanigans. Melody, Marina and Artie, we want to join your crew! Melody, we want to come drink champers round the kitchen table with your mum and gran.

“Gran, are you offering to lend me your gimp mask?”

“Don’t judge me, darling, I’ve been married for over sixty years, how else am I to keep the spice in our marriage?”

What we loved is how book two builds on the development of characters and their relationships. Book one felt like an introduction and the slow build has encouraged and solidified this deep connection we now feel. Kitty French has made us care deeply for all her characters whilst laughing our arses off and feeling the subtle vulnerability and emotional angst threaded through the story. We definitely saw a different side to the arrogant heart-breaker, Leo as well as journalist and sceptic, Fletch…

‘Needless to say, my mum and gran can’t abide him; he never misses a chance to take pot-shots at us and our industry in the press.’

This is pure British comedy with an ongoing romantic possibility that we yearn for, but for once the anticipation is just as delicious and addictive as a loving end, when and if that comes.

‘He’s offering to be my summer fling, but not my winter coat. My fair-weather lover. Can I do that? I worry that my heart cannot withstand him, but then I also worry that he will for ever be my missed regret.’

The supernatural elements are marvellous and we loved the mystery in this one, it was circus-fantastic, yet so sad and quite distressing too. A perfect blend. It’s fanciful, silly, sweet, funny, emotional and exciting. It’s eccentric and quintessentially British. We bloody love this series! This RomCom is without question a feel-good read that’ll have you smiling and laughing out loud, it’s so different to what’s out there at the moment and we’re loving that!

‘Fletch and I have an inexplicable connection and it’s bloody inconvenient for both of us.’

THE CHAPLEWICK MYSTERIES SERIES by KITTY FRENCH

The Skeletons of Scarborough House Book One

Mystery at Maplemead Castle Book Two

Share This Post

Latest Posts

HAPPY PLACE by EMILY HENRY

“Part of me wants to pretend I have you, but another part thinks I’ll die if you don’t tell me you love me, even if it doesn’t change anything. Even if it’s just getting to hear it one more time.”

MORE THAN I COULD by ADRIANA LOCKE

‘It’s such a simple word – just four letters. Home. But there aren’t enough letters in the alphabet in the world to capture the meaning of it.’

SWEET MEMORY (The Painted Daisies #1) by LJ EVANS

“I’m afraid I’ll fall completely, head-over-heels in love with you, and that you’ll fall back. I’m afraid we’ll discover we’re the missing pieces of each other’s souls.
The words had a beat -a rhythm- like it was a song she’d already written.

THE NEW GUY (Hockey Guys #1) by SARINA BOWEN

“All you had to do was love me.”

OUR FEBRUARY REVIEWS & MARCH ANTICIPATED UPCOMING RELEASES and so much more…

Wow! It really was FABULOUS FEBRUARY as far as our reads were concerned!
We can’t wait to share them with you and hopefully give you some reading inspiration!
We’ve got some fabulous books on our reading list this month! Check out our latest reads, our wonderful current read, and see the books we’ve added to our TBR’s for March!