Molly Kimball and her gentleman friend, Kieran Scott, are spending time this glorious summer at Hazelhurst House, Cambridge, Kieran’s family’s home, which is a Tudor brick mansion. The wedding of their best friends will be happening soon, and they’re preparing the venue. VOWS AND VILLAINY are on their way. 

Daisy Watson and her fiancé, Tim Ellis, are planning a Shakespeare-themed wedding at the lovely house. There’s a moat and a maze. Molly runs a historic bookshop on the premises and is preparing a display about Shakespeare for visitors. An acting troupe is also in residence. Sir Jordan Peck, an actor of some stature, is found dead in the moat at the start of this adventure. While this is devastating for his family and the other actors, Molly also frets that the death may interfere with wedding plans. Kieran's older brother Alan gets accused – without any serious merit as far as Molly knows – of having had a hand in the death. Turns out Sir Jordan had upset quite a few people in the small world of theatre.

Another lovely site we visit is the Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames in London. With romantic sonnets quoted and frequent mentions of dresses and flowers of Tudor days, the mystery is really atmospheric.

This is the fifth book in the Cambridge Bookshop series. This is named for the Thomas Marlow bookshop, which Molly and her mom manage, after their move from Vermont to England. Molly tells us her life was at a low ebb prior to the move, but her mother’s older relative invited them to come and help her with the work in the shop, and everything improved from that point. Now they have friends, an idyllic countryside and a thriving business. And London is a handy train ride away. Bringing Americans to Britain (or Ireland) is popular these days in mysteries, as a way of attracting readers from both continents and providing cultural contrast. I did at times find it hard to remember who was from where, as we had many mentions of attorneys and none of solicitors.  

Elizabeth Penney has conjured a lovely location and interesting cast. There is not much police work apparent here – the police mainly seem to wait for Molly to phone them with her latest clues – but fans of lighter cosy mysteries will be happy. VOWS AND VILLAINY concentrates on the wedding and its merry theme, trying to reconcile snobby relations while making Molly gradually draw closer to Lady Asha and the rest of Kieran’s family. This is as much a romance as a murder mystery.