The Fatal Folio

The Cambridge Bookshop Series Book 3

Elizabeth Penney

St Martin’s Pub

Oct 24^th, 2023

In this third installment, The Fatal Folio, by Elizabeth Penney, the main character, Molly Kimble, goes back to Gothic times. 

The story opens with Kieran’s Cousin, Oliver, up for a promotion to a full professor if he can prove that the allegations against him by a student, Thad, are untrue. Meanwhile, everyone in England is celebrating Guy Fawkes Day.  Even though Molly is an American she embraces the festivities with Kieran, and her friends enjoying the costumes, fireworks, and fun. But the celebration comes to a halt after a body is found. Thad has been stabbed to death, after threatening to file a complaint against Oliver to prevent his long-awaited promotion.

“I like Gothic books and novels. Instead of Halloween I did the Guy Fawkes Day.  It is more uniquely English than Halloween. There was a plot against the government by Guy Fawkes who was caught.  Now they celebrate how he was caught, and that Parliament was not blown up. They have effigies of him that is burned on bonfires.  It is an excuse to be outside, listen to music, eat food, and drink beer with fireworks. November 5^th is Guy Fawkes Day, so it is close to Halloween.  I chose this holiday because I wanted to do something different.”

Kieran shows Molly the original manuscript of The Fatal Folio, a gothic novel published in 1842 by Selwyn Scott. Selwyn is an ancestor of Kieran’s, but the name was a pen name. No one has ever discovered which of the Scott’s were the actual author of the famous novel. Kieran and his parents gladly accept Molly’s help to try and uncover who the original author of the famous book was.

“I used the Gothic atmospheric theme because fall seems a good time to have it. Since it is a bookstore setting, I wanted to find something in literature. It was a way to showcase the books.  There are professors in the story, including Oliver, that study Gothic literature. I wanted to write something that could be real. There is a lot of symbolism in Gothic literature.” 

Molly is hired to investigate the authorship of The Fatal Folio, a gothic novel published under the byline Selwyn Scott. Since the family has no Selwyn on record, Molly is commissioned to search out the real author, who might be a Scott ancestor of Kieran. Readers get a bonus because Penney includes excerpts from the novel throughout the book, as Molly reads it while undergoing her research. 

As the suspect list piles up, the murder suspects are all from the same general area, all are students or professors focusing on gothic literature. Plus, the manuscript of The Fatal Folio is stolen during an event sponsored by the college’s Gothic Institute. Molly suspects that the murder and the theft are somehow related.

This book-within-a-book format makes for an interesting read. The Fatal Folio is a modern-day gothic novel with a mystery surrounding a death in modern time as well as a mystery surrounding the author of an old gothic novel.

It seems Penney likes to write her stories surrounding holidays. The next book, out in November 2024, titled Madrigals and Mayhem, is a Christmas book. It will feature dolls, doll houses, and a toyshop with Molly’s friend, Charlotte a suspect in a poisoning death.

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