Leaving London behind after the end of her marriage, Violet Brewster, has moved to the much smaller village of Merrywell and is determined to make a new life for herself. One in which she is content and happy. Part of her attempt includes beginning a new business for herself called The Memory Box in which she specializes in recording people's memories for them or special events that will be memories years later. Managing to convince Merrywell's council to hire her to make a video celebrating a village milestone, Violet is pleased to have the work and get to know some of her neighbors in the process. However, as she begins her interviews, an old village mystery comes to light and Violet unwittingly becomes a sleuth, searching for answers among those she interviews. But someone doesn't want the mystery solved and it seems Violet is threatening that desire. Will Violet have to try and solve this mystery on her own or will her new neighbors lend a hand?

This was a fun, cozy mystery to pick up and I did so because I got book 2 in the series as an ARC and wanted to read book 1, if possible, first. What I think Bettany captured well in this first book is small village life, the variety of people and personalities and what happens when a new person moves into such an established community. The mystery, or rather the solving of it, was rather cozy when all was said and done but that isn't a complaint as I'm a sucker for mysteries, cozy or otherwise.