Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison

Summary from Amazon:

In Hannah Dennison's Murder at Honeychurch Hall, Kat Stanford is just days away from starting her dream antique business with her newly widowed mother Iris when she gets a huge shock. Iris has recklessly purchased a dilapidated carriage house at Honeychurch Hall, an isolated country estate located several hundred miles from London.

Yet it seems that Iris isn't the only one with surprises at Honeychurch Hall. Behind the crumbling façade, the inhabitants of the stately mansion are a lively group of eccentrics to be sure—both upstairs and downstairs —and they all have more than their fair share of skeletons in the closet.

When the nanny goes missing, and Vera, the loyal housekeeper ends up dead in the grotto, suspicions abound. Throw in a feisty, octogenarian countess, a precocious seven year old who is obsessed with the famous fighter pilot called Biggles, and a treasure trove of antiques, and there is more than one motive for murder.

As Iris's past comes back to haunt her, Kat realizes she hardly knows her mother at all. A when the bodies start piling up, it is up to Kat to unravel the tangled truth behind the murders at Honeychurch Hall.

My Thoughts:

Kat has just left her lucrative job starring in an Antiques Roadshow type television show in order to open up her own antique shop with her mother. Suddenly though, her widowed mother calls to tell her she doesn’t want to open the shop with her and she’s moved several hours away to northern England and bought a rundown carriage house on an old estate! On top of that she’s broken her arm and needs Kat to come right away to help her.

Highly exacerbated, Kat takes off for Little Dipperton to the Honeychurch Hall estate only to discover not only her mother’s house falling down around her but tons of mayhem all around. The Honeychurch family is fighting amongst themselves and Kat’s mom is hiding something and acting very strangely. Next thing you know someone has been murder and there are so many suspects it’s hard to figure out which one of them is the guiltiest!

This is the first book in a fun little cozy British mystery series. At first I was a little confused with all the characters and all of their connections (everyone was related somehow or other!?) but I finally worked it all out in my wee little brain. Kat is a really good female lead character but rather dense when it comes to men. Kat’s mother, Iris, is crazy-in-a-good-way character who will definitely be providing a lot of laughs. My favorite character was probably little Harry whom I’m hoping makes several appearances in the rest of the series!

My only complaint about this story is that the actual murder didn’t happen until about two thirds of the way through the book so the solving of the crime was rather hurried at the end. I never guessed "who dunit" as there was honestly so many possibilities. This to me is the mark of good mystery writing! I will definitely be reading more of this series and hope that Kat wises up about the men in her life.

4/5 stars