I am delighted today to provide a review for you at my blog stop for The Fever Cabinet by Frankie Bow on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. Scroll down to enter your chance to win the Giveaway!
The Fever Cabinet (Professor Molly Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
9th in Series
Hawaiian Heritage Press (August 20, 2019)
(November 20, 2019, all formats)
Print Length: 209 pages
ASIN: B07VFD3D26
An abandoned hospital, an antique contrivance, and a very modern murder . . .
All Professor Molly wanted to do was teach literature. Instead she’s just been named chair of her department at Mahina State University, and her department has been relocated to a run-down former asylum. She’s buried in paperwork and her dean has assigned her to mentor the department’s new “star”, the prickly Fiona Spencer.
Fiona Spencer had her own reasons for relocating from Oxford to join the faculty at remote Mahina State University. She is willing to put up with the broken air conditioning and constant construction noise in the College of Commerce building (formerly the Territorial Inebriates’ Asylum). She can even tolerate her annoying department head, Molly Barda. But when she finds a body in her office, clamped into an antique medical device, it’s all a bit much. Especially when she becomes a murder suspect.
Now Fiona and Molly have to work together to find a solution. And the answer won’t be found in the back of the textbook.
I requested Book 9 as an introduction to the Professor Molly Mysteries which is sited in Hawaii at a small college undergoing construction while wrestling with financial constraints. Indeed, as department head of Mahina State University, Molly has been deemed the person to make sure their new star professor from Oxford University, Dr. Fiona Spencer, is happy. Pretty hard to accomplish as the good doctor quickly discovers a small college strangled in short funds and her office moved to a run-down former asylum with construction debris around her.
Written in first person, the protagonist Molly switches POV with Fiona while Fiona’s current state of marriage is briefly outlined in disturbing terms. She relocated to Hawaii to be with her husband, Elliott, but things don’t go quite as she’d planned.
Elliott is Head Master at a boys academy and not everyone at that school is thrilled with him.
The chapters switch between POV’s where there is some overlap picking up where the other left off. But the narrative does begin rather slowly while introducing support characters and developing background information. I loved the location of Mahina and the fragrant descriptive flavor of the islands, along with occasional pidgin adding authenticity. Professor Molly is balancing academic life with her baby and home life.
“Only a baby could make complete self-centeredness look so adorable.”
She is not a barn-burning sleuth out to interview every possible suspect after a body is found in a Victorian fever cabinet in the construction debris of Fiona’s office.
I enjoyed the author’s humorous writing style, invoking numerous satirical analogies. The setting of a struggling university is atmospheric with the classic political turmoil and contradicting rules and regs. The character of Fiona’s mother, Harriet Holmes was fantastic, loved her, even if I disagreed with her choice of bike. (Note to Ms. Bow–bikers ride off–not drive.)
This well-plotted mystery comes to an easy conclusion with the author wrapping up all possible loose threads and no big surprises under the circumstances. I received the digital download from the author and publisher for the blog tour and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Recommended for those readers who enjoy a leisurely but entertaining pace in their cozy mysteries.
Sign up for your chance to win one (1) Winner’s Choice, either print or digital of A Professor Molly Mystery (print open to U.S. only) of this Rafflecopter giveaway
Like Professor Molly, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining. In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.
Author Links
Twitter https://twitter.com/Frankie_Bow
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7809288.Frankie_Bow
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/frankie_bow/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/frankie.bow.1
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankiebow/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/frankie_bow/
Purchase Links – Amazon – Apple – B&N – Kobo
Thank you for visiting my stop on the tour and please visit the other stops listed below!
Tour Participants:
November 20
I Read What You Write – REVIEW
StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
The Book Diva’s Reads – SPOTLIGHT
Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
Books a Plenty Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
November 21
Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
Mysteries with Character – REVIEW
Baroness’ Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT
November 22
The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – SPOTLIGHT
Rosepoint Publishing – REVIEW
Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
Laura’s Interests – REVIEW 
Thanks to Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this cozy mystery!
©2019 V Williams 
Far from a domestic goddess, Sarah Blair would rather catch bad guys than slave over a hot stove. But when a dangerous murder boils over in Wheaton, Alabama, catching the killer means leaving her comfort zone . . .
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Two Bites Too Many, as well as One Taste Too Many, the first of Kensington’s new Sarah Blair cozy mystery series. She also wrote Should Have Played Poker and IPPY Award-winning Maze in Blue. Her short stories, including Anthony and Agatha nominated “The Night They Burned Ms. Dixie’s Place,” have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Weekly. Debra serves on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and is president of the Southeast Chapter of MWA and past president of SinC’s Guppy Chapter.
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Duffy Brown loves anything with a mystery. While others girls dreamed of dating Brad Pitt, Duffy longed to take Sherlock Holmes to the prom. She is a National Bestselling author and now conjures up who-done-it stories of her very own. She has two series the Consignment Shop Mysteries set in Savannah along with rescue pup Bruce Willis and the Cycle Path Mysteries set on Mackinac Island with judgmental cats Cleveland and Bambino.
Rosepoint Publishing 