The Marmalade Murders is the ninth book in Elizabeth J. Duncan''s award-winning mystery series, celebrated for its small-town charm and picturesque Welsh setting and starring amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan.The competition is friendly and just a little fierce at the annual Llanelen agricultural show as town and country folk gather for the outdoor judging of farm animals and indoor judging of cakes, pies, pastries, chutneys, jams and jellies, along with vegetables, fruit and flowers. But this year, there’s a new show category: murder. Local artist, Spa owner, and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan agrees to help with the intake of the domestic arts entries and to judge the children’s pet competition on show day. When the president of the Welsh Women''s Guild isn’t on hand to see her granddaughter and pet pug win a prize, the family becomes concerned. When a carrot cake entered in the competition goes missing, something is clearly amiss. A black Labrador Retriever belonging to the agricultural show’s president discovers the body of the missing woman under the baked goods table. A newcomer to town, a transgender woman, is suspected, but amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan believes her to be innocent. She sets out to find the real killer, but when a second body is discovered days later, the case is thrown into confusion, and Penny knows it’s up to her to figure out what happened—and why.

This witty and wise work is the first in Elizabeth J. Duncan’s charming new mystery series.

A Catskills resort’s production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet takes a wickedly ironic turn when the leading lady, Lauren Richmond, is first poisoned and then stabbed. Who would extinguish the life of such a beautiful young thespian? It seems like just about everyone had a motive to pull the ropes on her final curtain call. At the center of this Shakespearean tragedy is Charlotte Fairfax, formerly the costume mistress of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Upstate New York is a long way from the royal stage, but Charlotte is always the queen of her domain. As this small production’s costume designer, she has stitched her way into everyone’s lives, learning more than anyone could possibly imagine about the rise and fall of Lauren Richmond.

It’s the most important night of the year for the Catskills Shakespeare Theater Company: the annual fund-raising performance at the country estate of the wealthy widow Paula Van Dusen. And this year promises to be even more special as the company will give a moonlight performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the wedding celebrations for Paula’s daughter, Belinda, and her fiancé Adrian. But “the course of true love never did run smooth,” and in the wake of a disastrous after-party, the stage is set for murder.

Hugh Hedley, son of a prominent upstate New York family and Adrian’s rival in the cutthroat world of high-end Manhattan real estate, is found murdered with a prop stolen from the play. Mrs. Van Dusen is desperate to keep her daughter’s name out of the paper, and so Charlotte Fairfax is drawn into a murder case amid her costume-design responsibilities and finding a home for the company’s new theater school.

Charlotte nevertheless throws herself into an investigation of shady business deals, a missing dog, and long-buried family secrets because “though she be but little, she is fierce!”

The Marmalade Murders is the ninth book in Elizabeth J. Duncan''s award-winning mystery series, celebrated for its small-town charm and picturesque Welsh setting and starring amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan.The competition is friendly and just a little fierce at the annual Llanelen agricultural show as town and country folk gather for the outdoor judging of farm animals and indoor judging of cakes, pies, pastries, chutneys, jams and jellies, along with vegetables, fruit and flowers. But this year, there’s a new show category: murder. Local artist, Spa owner, and amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan agrees to help with the intake of the domestic arts entries and to judge the children’s pet competition on show day. When the president of the Welsh Women''s Guild isn’t on hand to see her granddaughter and pet pug win a prize, the family becomes concerned. When a carrot cake entered in the competition goes missing, something is clearly amiss. A black Labrador Retriever belonging to the agricultural show’s president discovers the body of the missing woman under the baked goods table. A newcomer to town, a transgender woman, is suspected, but amateur sleuth Penny Brannigan believes her to be innocent. She sets out to find the real killer, but when a second body is discovered days later, the case is thrown into confusion, and Penny knows it’s up to her to figure out what happened—and why.

This witty and wise work is the first in Elizabeth J. Duncan’s charming new mystery series.

A Catskills resort’s production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet takes a wickedly ironic turn when the leading lady, Lauren Richmond, is first poisoned and then stabbed. Who would extinguish the life of such a beautiful young thespian? It seems like just about everyone had a motive to pull the ropes on her final curtain call. At the center of this Shakespearean tragedy is Charlotte Fairfax, formerly the costume mistress of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Upstate New York is a long way from the royal stage, but Charlotte is always the queen of her domain. As this small production’s costume designer, she has stitched her way into everyone’s lives, learning more than anyone could possibly imagine about the rise and fall of Lauren Richmond.

It’s the most important night of the year for the Catskills Shakespeare Theater Company: the annual fund-raising performance at the country estate of the wealthy widow Paula Van Dusen. And this year promises to be even more special as the company will give a moonlight performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the wedding celebrations for Paula’s daughter, Belinda, and her fiancé Adrian. But “the course of true love never did run smooth,” and in the wake of a disastrous after-party, the stage is set for murder.

Hugh Hedley, son of a prominent upstate New York family and Adrian’s rival in the cutthroat world of high-end Manhattan real estate, is found murdered with a prop stolen from the play. Mrs. Van Dusen is desperate to keep her daughter’s name out of the paper, and so Charlotte Fairfax is drawn into a murder case amid her costume-design responsibilities and finding a home for the company’s new theater school.

Charlotte nevertheless throws herself into an investigation of shady business deals, a missing dog, and long-buried family secrets because “though she be but little, she is fierce!”