The Mecklenburgh Square Affair
The Bloomsbury Bookshop Mysteries #3
by Imogen Penrose
Published: October 1, 2026
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Short Read, Cozy Mystery, Animals, Ghost
Blurb:
The cat has forgiven the radiator. The ghost has gone quiet, which she never does. And a foreman’s torch has found a man folded against a cellar wall, behind an iron door that was on no plan.
He
was twenty-six, and cataloguing the Ansell papers, in 1973.
The
family said he had gone to America.
Crispin Fell reads houses for television. He has found the one that will make his name, and he means to have it alone.
Nine days after the door comes down he is dead beneath it.
Cleo Marchmont sells second-hand books in Bloomsbury. She reads provenance for a living.
No purchase. No bequest. No accession.
A granddaughter with a sale to close. A producer written out of the film that was to make him. A cousin who keeps the flame, and the run of the place.
One of them can describe the inside of that room.
A house can hold its breath a long time.
The Mecklenburgh Square Affair is the third Bloomsbury Bookshop Mystery. For readers of Lucy Connelly, Verity Bright, and Jackie Baldwin
My Review:
The Mecklenburgh Square Affair is the captivating third installment in Imogen Penrose’s The Bloomsbury Bookshop Mysteries series. From the very first page to the final sentence, this book kept me completely hooked and left me with so many burning questions.
The story follows Cleo, a Bloomsbury bookstore owner, who is hired to catalog books in an old estate. The twist? The bones of a man have just been discovered hidden inside the house. His family claimed he moved to America years ago—but clearly, that wasn't the case. Talk about suspicious! How does a family just assume someone left the country and never check in? It’s incredibly mysterious, but luckily for us, Cleo is on the case.
As she investigates, she realizes the old house holds secrets that someone—or maybe the house itself—is desperate to keep quiet. Shortly after Cleo starts digging, a man named Crispin Fell is found dead. What did he uncover? Which of the house's dark secrets cost him his life? Cleo quickly realizes there is no shortage of suspects who wanted Crispin silenced permanently.
I highly recommend The Mecklenburgh Square Affair to all cozy mystery fans. Grab your copy today—and honestly, pick up the first two books while you're at it. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
Check out all the books in The Bloomsbury Bookshop Mysteries series I’ve read.
The First Edition (Prequel to Murder at Marchmont & Bell)
Murder at Marchmont & Bell #1
Death at the Book Club #2
The Mecklenburgh Square Affair #3
Connect with Imogen Penrose
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