Death at the Village Chess Club

By Debbie Young

What it’s about?

With her Curiosity Shop open for business, Alice Carroll is finally settling into life in the picturesque
Cotswold village of Little Pride. But then her old life comes knocking… Alice’s ex boyfriend, Steven, who dumped her to travel the world, has run out of money and asks Alice to sell off his collection of chess sets.
Alice decides to host a tournament to showcase the boards, and her plan seems to be working.

That is, until chess pieces begin to mysteriously disappear. And when a body is discovered outside the
tournament, Alice realises that the victim was a pawn in another, far more dangerous game.

As the host of the event, Alice is eager to help the police investigate. She doesn’t know why anyone
would be interested in stealing random chess pieces, let alone willing to kill for them, but she’s determined to find out. Can she solve the case before someone else gets hurt? Or will this be one gambit too far for Alice?

What I think:

This was the epitome of a cosy murder mystery.

This is the second book in the Cotswold Curiosity Murder Series but absolutely works as a standalone as the references to the previous book are not difficult to understand.

I really liked the main character Alice. She is  settling in to the village of Little Pride and figuring out how to run her the Curiosity Shop.

Being asked to sell her ex-husband’s chess collection gives her the opportunity to play a part in the local community.

When it’s clear that the chess sets have led to murder, Alice starts to investigate.

This was such an easy read, I absolutely flew through the story and all the twists and turns along the way.

I really enjoyed the way that Alice and Bob’s blossoming relationship is developing. There’s lots of warmth and humour.

The Cotswold setting is perfect for a cosy mystery series, there’s a great cast of supporting characters and I can see them being involved in further adventures in the series.

I for one will definitely be reading more of this series in the future.

About the author:

Debbie Young writes warm, witty, feel-good contemporary fiction inspired by life in the English village where she lives with her Scottish husband and their teenage daughter.

Her Sophie Sayers Village Mystery series begins with “Best Murder in Show” and the first seven books run the course of a calendar year in the life of a classic English Cotswold village. Originally intended to be a seven-book series, further books will follow, due to reader demand.

She also writes the romantic comedy mystery series, Staffroom at St Bride’s, set in the staffroom of an English girls’ boarding school. The series will eventually be six books long, running the course of
an academic year, and the first book is “Secrets at St Bride’s”.

Her books were shortlisted in 2020 and 2021 for The Selfies Award, given to the best self-published
adult fiction in the UK. She also writes short stories and has published three themed collections, “Marry in Haste”, “Quick Change”, and “Stocking Fillers”, and had stories included in many anthologies.

When she’s not writing, she does other bookish things, such as speaking or reading her work at literary events, such as Crimefest, the leading international crime writing event, the Cheltenham Literature Festival and the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival, the event that she founded for her local community. She’s a member of the Society of Authors and the UK Ambassador for the Alliance of Independent Authors.

She loves reading, bellringing, singing in the local choir, gardening, knitting, sketching and travelling
with her family in their camper van. Her many hobbies mean she is never short of ideas for her
gentle tales of rural life.

Social Media
Facebook: @DebbieYoungAuthor
Twitter: @DebbieYoungBN
Instagram: @debbieyoungauthor
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/DebbieYoungNews
Bookbub profile: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/debbie-young

Thank you to Debbie Young and Boldwood Books for my gifted copy of Death at the Village Chess Club and to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to be a part of this fun blog tour.

Check out all of the other stops: