Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Two Truths and a Murder by Colleen Cambridge Series: Phyllida Bright Mystery #6
Published by Kensington Books on October 27, 2026
Genres: Historical Mystery
Pages: 272
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Phyllida is delighted to receive an invitation to the wedding of her friend Dr. John Bhatt. It's a chance to get to know his fiancée, Emily Hartparker, and to explore Coatesworth Manor—the grand seaside estate that belongs to Emily's distant relatives. Coatesworth is now managed by Lady Artemis Coatesworth and offers ample space for a celebration. But it's soon clear that some of the guests have intentions beyond cheering on the happy couple.
As is often the case when extended family gathers, there is bickering, not to mention an awkward love triangle between Emily's lovely cousin Lily, her handsome ex-husband Heath, and his new wife, Tibby. Besides that, some of the other cousins don't seem to get along.
And the drama gets infinitely worse when a wedding guest is discovered dead in the small chapel only hours after the ceremony.
Phyllida immediately agrees to help discover what happened, and brings some of her staff over from Mallowan Hall, Mrs. Christie's manor house, for cover. But with plenty of dark secrets and ugly family dynamics, it seems the killer could be any one of the Coatesworths—and that killer is dangerously motivated to keep the grisly truth from being revealed . . .
Agatha Christie’s efficient housekeeper and talented amateur sleuth has become a murder magnet and even a small wedding party for friends is no exception. Colleen Cambridge draws in the fun of Agatha Christie’s England of the 1950’s when the famous writer might pen intriguing murder mysteries, but her housekeeper actually solves them.
Death Down the Aisle is the sixth of the Phyllida Bright mysteries. While each murder is unconnected to the previous books, there are ongoing personal and relationship developments that connect through all the books.
Death Down the Aisle has Phyllida’s village friend, Dr. John Bhatt marrying the love of his life and they have asked Phyllida to coordinate all their wedding details at a mansion owned by Emily’s distant wealthy relation nearby. Phyllida is delighted to do so, especially with her own employers away from home at present and something unsettling comes up between her and Bradford when he brings home a chatty, young thing to stay. The cool and unruffled Mrs. Bright is not feeling anything like jealousy when Kitty hangs on “Josh’s” arm and knows things about him he hasn’t shared with her.
The Coatesworths create their own drama and Phyllida can only hope that having the ex-wife who was cheated on by her ex-husband and his new wife, the ex-wife’s slick and smarmy new man of interest, and other assorted grumbling cousins present won’t ruin Emily and John’s nuptials. The atmosphere at Lady Artemis Coatesworth’s home has Phyllida speculating ‘when’ not ‘if’ a murder will occur with all those relations brangling among each other and all the cousins dependent on their aunt.
But when the murder comes, Phyllida is shocked at who lies dead.
Death Down the Aisle had the welcome mentions of Agatha Christie works and brief scenes with Agatha and also the fun central theme of ‘love triangles’ and murder that is present in several Christie mysteries. Personally, I immediately thought of Towards Zero when I saw the set up of the Coatesworth family, but there was some Death on the Nile and other works that came to mind as well.
Phyllida is a bit off her game because of the weirdness that sprang up between her and Bradford right when she thought things were pretty solid between them. The reader sees what Phyllida does not when it comes to Kitty and Bradford’s ‘coolness’ especially when he spots a certain flirty reporter around Phyllida. It’s amusing because she usually sees people and situations so well, but has a blind spot about her own love life.
There were some great twists and surprises mixed in with Phyllida and her below stairs friends and staff hunting out evidence and talking to all the people concerned. Her reputation is growing as a sleuth so that the Scotland Yard detective is, well not quite welcoming, but at least resigned to her digging into the case.
All in all, I think this series has hit its stride and I was excited and entertained, comfortable with the style, plot, characters, and background, and also left both satisfied and anticipating the next installment in the series. These are a great blend of historical and cozy mystery in a world with real life character, Agatha Christie, that I can heartily recommend.
About Colleen Cambridge
Colleen Gleason (aka Colleen Cambridge, C.M. Gleason, and Alex Mandon) is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author who can’t seem to decide what type of book to write…so she writes a lot of different genres!
So far, Colleen has written everything from vampire hunters to dystopian romance, to steampunk, historical romance, and mysteries with a supernatural flair or a historical setting. One element, however, that appears in all of her stories, is that of partnership…whether it be professional, romantic, or both.
All of Colleen’s books feature strong heroines experiencing fast-paced adventures, danger, mystery, and of course, romance. But at the core of each story is the belief that every woman deserves a partner who accepts her for her strengths as well as her weaknesses—and vice versa.
Colleen lives in the midwest United States with her family and two dogs, and is always working on her next book.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
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- Death Down the Aisle by Colleen Cambridge @colleengleason.bsky.social @kensingtonbooks.bsky.social @sophiarose1816 @colleengleason @KensingtonBooks - October 21, 2026
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