Murder on Charity Lane by Jo Nichols

Item: Murder on Charity Lane
Rating: 4
Author: karenbaron

Posted August 12, 2026 by karenbaron in Mystery, Review / 0 Comments

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Murder on Charity Lane

by Jo Nichols

Series: Marigold Cottages Murders #2
Series Rating:

Published by Minotaur Books on August 18, 2026
Setting: California
Genres: Romantic Mystery
Pages: 343
Format: Audible Audiobook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Bookhype
BookBub
Storygraph
Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective

The charming and heartfelt follow-up to The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective, written in the vein of The Thursday Murder Club and "Only Murders in the Building," with a southern California twist.

After the recent 'hubbub'—as Mrs. B describes the murders on the property—quiet descends upon the Marigold Cottages. Sophie is moving in with Nicholas, Anthony is smitten with Lily-Ann, and life is returning to normal.

But Mrs. B misses the hubbub.

That's why she invites her friend Elsa Moore to move into Sophie's now-vacant cottage: Elsa is a suspect in the death of her employer, who tumbled down the stairs of his mansion during a dinner party. His much-younger window claims she saw Elsa push Frank, but Mrs. B knows she's innocent.

Mrs. B rallies the residents to investigate the party-goers: an eccentric couple who owe Frank, a fundraiser who depends on his largesse, and an old friend obsessed with life-extension. But the tenants all come to the same conclusion: Elsa is guilty.

And as they investigate, someone is snooping around the Cottages, leaving windows unlocked and papers misplaced. Then there’s a second murder, and they discover that Mrs. B risked the Marigold Court for Elsa. With their tight-knit community on the line, they must prove her innocence.

Murder on Charity Lane by Jo Nichols takes place six months after the first book and shows how everyone is settling in with what they did in the first book.

Will the Marigold Cottages Murder Collective solve another mystery?

The Marigold Cottage residents are all doing well even after what they ended up doing in the last book. It was all for a good cause, though. I have to say that I enjoy being with these loons. Mrs. B reminds me of my great-grandma sometimes with the crazy schemes she pulls.

The Marigold Cottage Residents

Mrs. B

Mrs. B is still as delightful as always. She keeps her tenants on their toes, trying to figure out what she will do next. I honestly love going into her perspective and how she decides to twist things to go her way. Mrs. B is a wonderful old lady who cares a lot about her residents and only brings in new ones when she feels like they would fit in with her group. Honestly, this community seems so much fun, but I am unsure if I want to be anywhere near them since they all seem like mystery magnets.

Sophie

Sophie is our playwright in residence. She is also the only one in first-person narrative. I think I love Sophie more than I do Mrs. B because she’s this shy creature when you first meet her, and then she turns into a spitfire if you dis one of her friends. Sophie is an awesome character that changes from being scared of every shadow to being certain of what she wants. She is also dating Nicholas.

Ocean

Ocean is a wonderful mother of her two kids and is thinking about starting to date again. She isn’t too sure of it, since she wants this but isn’t too sure she wants to disrupt her kids’ lives with it. Ocean is the artist in residence of the Marigold Cottages and tries to take care of Mrs. B.

Lily-Ann

Lily-Ann works from home some days and doesn’t really pick up on social cues very well. She is also very into spreadsheets and things like that. Lily-Ann is great at solving puzzles and riddles, which makes her the best character in this series for solving mysteries. She is dating Anthony.

Anthony

Anthony isn’t too prominent in this mystery. He is working now and spending some time with Lily-Ann as they are dating. Anthony is great with kids and is also great at helping Ocean with her son Miles.

Nicholas

Ever since Nicholas started dating Sophie, he’s definitely changed. I like Nicholas and how happy he is with Sophie. Nicholas is also busy with work, but he is able to talk to some people about Sophie’s play script from the last book. He is a good character, and I like him. Nicholas has also been spending time with Mrs. B.

Hamilton

Hamilton doesn’t really have much time in this book since he’s a recluse in his house. I do like Hamilton and how he can do things that the rest of the group can’t do.

The Mystery

Sophie and Nicholas are at a party that Mrs. B got Sophie invited to so Sophie can rub elbows with the rich to get them to donate to the theater. They didn’t see the actual crime happen but the aftereffects of it. I figured out some things early on with this mystery, but not why until it was getting revealed.

Four Stars

My rating for Murder on Charity Lane by Jo Nichols is four stars. The husband-and-wife duo behind Jo Nichols does an awesome job of bringing all of these characters to life. I loved coming back to these characters and had a good time solving a mystery with them. I also loved seeing how they have been since the last time we were with them.

Marigold Cottages Murder Series

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Murder on Charity Lane by Jo Nichols.

Happy Reading!

Baroness’ Book Trove is an Amazon affiliate, which means that if you purchase something from Amazon, this blog receives a tiny percentage of the sale. This helps with the cost of the website and a few giveaways.

About Jo Nichols

JOEL ROSS is the author of an award-winning fogpunk adventure series that includes THE FOG DIVER and THE LOST COMPASS, the BEAST & CROWN series, and ALLEY & REX series. As Joel Naftali, he wrote a skunkpunk children’s series and co-wrote THE ARMY OF FROGS trilogy which became a Netflix animated series—for which he and Lee wrote the screenplays. He is also the author of two adult WWII thrillers. And as Joel Dane, he wrote the CRY PILOT science fiction series, along with the science fiction podcast, MARIGOLD BREACH that starred Jameela Jamil and Manny Jacinto.

LEE NICHOLS is the author of five chick lit novels including the bestselling TALES OF A DRAMA QUEEN and HAND-ME-DOWN. She’s written the HAUNTING EMMA series for young adults, which is currently optioned for TV and co-wrote the animated Netflix series, THE ARMY OF FROGS.

Lee and Joel met in college and have lived together more years than they have not. They currently reside in Santa Barbara with two cats named Earl and Betty and have one son who pretends to be learning something while away at college. After collaborating on roughly thirty books together for both children and adults, they finally sat down to write The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective, their first mystery.

Goodreads | Bookhype | Amazon

Reading this book contributed to these challenges: