Death at the Village Garden Party – Alice Carroll Is Back Solving Another Cozy Mystery!
Last Updated on July 22, 2026
For those of you following along with Debbie Young’s Cotswold Curiosity Shop Mysteries, Death at the Village Garden Party is book number four in the series.
I’ve previously written about Death at the Village Chess Club and Death at the Christmas Fair, and suffice it to say, I really enjoy reading about Alice Carroll as she practically stumbles over one body after another.
If you’re not already familiar with Alice’s backstory, let me enlighten you.
Alice was with her ex-partner for over 25 years when he had a midlife crisis, upped sticks, and left to find himself in India.
In her 50s, she found herself starting over in a Cotswold village called Little Pride, where she bought an old curiosity shop and soon got to grips with her new life.
Through the first three books, we’ve seen Alice embed herself in her new surroundings, befriend the villagers, strike up a relationship with her neighbor, and solve three murders!
And now she’s about to solve her fourth…
Reviving The Garden Party
Her new beau, who also happens to be her next-door neighbor, Robert, is a billionaire who has just purchased a private country estate in the nearby village of Cold Bottom.
But this is no ordinary village. It belongs to the estate, which was formerly owned by the late Duke who sold it lock, stock, and barrel to Robert before his death.
Robert, for his part, plans to develop the estate into a conference and events venue, but would really like the residents’ buy-in before he does.
In order to ingratiate himself with his new tenants, he decides to revive the old Garden Party on the estate.
The day arrives, and the party goes off without a hitch. However, as Robert gets ready to give his presentation to the villagers, one is shot with a bow and arrow and promptly dies right in front of him.
As Alice, her mother, and her friend Danny were all in the marquee when it happened, they realized very quickly that if they didn’t solve this murder asap, they could be next on the killer’s hit list.
Another Solid Mystery
There is something incredibly endearing about Alice Carroll. She is every woman just making her way through life with friends, good neighbors, a budding romance, a meddling mother, and a shop to run.
That said, she must also have no sense of self-preservation because she has only been living in Little Pride for a year and so far has solved four murders – that’s a pretty high rate for such a small place. Most of us would have hightailed it out of there by now!
But she loves her life, and we get to read all about her adventures, so I guess it’s win-win.
In terms of Death at the Village Garden Party, this is a tiny bit different in that Alice does do a fair bit of investigating, but not at the risk of putting herself in danger.
Instead, she works closely with the detective on the case, keeping herself out of trouble as much as possible. Smart, sensible sleuthing.
Should You Attend This Garden Party?
Did I guess the culprit in Death at the Village Garden Party? Not really. There are a lot of players in this book, given that anybody in the village of Cold Bottom could have committed the deed.
Other than one or two locals, we don’t really get to know a lot about any of the others, and when the reasons for the murder become clear, they also kind of come out of the blue.
Now I get that not every cozy mystery is designed to be solved along the way, and that’s perfectly okay. I still really enjoyed this book because I’m a big fan of this style of writing.
I love it when characters are rooted in reality and are not only credible but relatable, and that’s what I get from Alice Carroll.
It’s the same familiarity that I have with the Nosey Parker Mysteries, which also has a really great female lead character with an extended community of family and friends.
Overall, Debbie Young’s book gets a big thumbs up, and I had the best time heading back to Little Pride, catching up with Alice and her curiosity shop.
