The First Edition
Prequel to Murder at Marchmont & Bell
The Bloomsbury Bookshop Mysteries
by Imogen Penrose
Published: May 21, 2026
Publisher: Sidecar Press, Inc.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Short Read, Cozy Mystery, Animals, Ghost
Blurb:
The bookshop comes with a cat. The cottage comes with a ghost. The village comes with a body in the garden.
Cleo Marchmont travelled to her great-aunt’s Sussex cottage for a funeral.
She
did not expect the cat.
She did not expect the ghost.
She
really did not expect the dead woman at the bottom of the garden
steps.
When Cleo arrives in Firlestone for a quiet week of cottage-clearing, she gets an opinionated tabby called Boswell who is choosing her against her better judgement, and a Great-Aunt Vivienne who has been waiting eighteen months for someone to talk to.
Then
the village’s most disliked resident is found dead at the foot of
her own garden steps.
The constable is content to call it a
tragic fall.
Vivienne, with one raised eyebrow, is not.
A scone still warm on the counter. A kettle on a low heat. A bone-coloured hairpin in the gravel.
Cleo has four days to catch a killer, pack the cottage, and post the keys back to the solicitor. Someone in this village has already noticed she is asking too many questions.
And in her bag are the keys to a struggling Bloomsbury bookshop she has not yet seen.
The First Edition is the standalone prequel novella to The Bloomsbury Bookshop Mysteries. For readers of Lucy Connelly, Verity Bright, and Jackie Baldwin.
My Review:
Cleo
Marchmont's aunt dies, and she inherits a bookshop with a cat
attached, a cottage with a ghost, and, did I mention, a dead body at the
bottom of the garden steps.
The
constable is content to call it tragic, but the evidence states
otherwise. Cleo tries to find the truth, but the villagers may not
want the truth to be revealed. Well, at least someone probably does
not.
The
First Edition is a short read and a cozy little mystery that is sure
to keep you busy for an hour or so. So grab a copy of The First
Edition, a warm, cozy blanket, and maybe a cup of hot chocolate, and
put your feet up for a while.
