Murder at Honeychurch Hall Book Review

Sometimes Brad and I like to meander through Barnes and Noble. To be honest, I don’t know any book lovers who don’t love a good meander through any book store, but I digress. One day, we were taking a stroll through the local B&N when I happened across this book on the bargain shelf. I’ve been searching out more modern-day cozy mysteries lately, so it immediately caught my eye. I had never heard of this series or this author, but it was around six dollars and the description was intriguing, so I snapped it up. The random choice book gods were smiling kindly on me that day because it might be the best six dollars I’ve ever spent.

REVIEW

Title: Murder at Honeychurch Hall

Author: Hannah Dennison

Published: May 13, 2014

Format I Read: Hardcover

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: Kat Stanford is a famous antique dealer with her own television show, but she is ready to leave stardom behind and begin a small antique shop with her mother, Iris. Little does she know, her mother has up and left the city, purchasing a crumbling carriage house on the country estate of Honeychurch Hall. Kat moves in with Iris to try and talk her out of living there, but soon she is drawn into the drama of the Hall and its quirky inhabitants. When the nanny goes missing, the housekeeper is found murdered, and Iris’ past comes into question, it’s up to Kat to solve the mystery and save the day.

Thoughts: In case I have not mentioned this before, I am a HUGE Anglophile. I love everything British. The TV shows, the movies, the books, the Bake-Off…the list goes on and on. Brad and I are particularly obsessed with British mysteries. We watch a lot of British mysteries on television (Midsomer Murders, anyone?), but our love began with golden-age cozy mysteries. We started with some Agatha Christie and the collection exploded from there.

As a reader of cozies, I decided recently that I should read some modern-day ones. The cozy mystery genre has grown exponentially in the last couple of decades, which makes it hard to know where to begin. There is an entire section of our local B&N that is dedicated just to cozy mysteries, but some of them seem way too hokey for me. In case you are not familiar with cozies, they usually have some type of hook and an amateur detective. In modern-day cozies, you see a lot of series based around a vocation or theme such as “the Tea Shop mysteries”, “the Southern Chef mysteries”, or the “Yoga Teacher in a Haunted Garden mysteries”. Seriously, there is a cozy series for almost anything. I had read one book from a tea shop series (wasn’t joking, it’s a real thing!) earlier in the year and enjoyed it, but I was not immediately drawn to read more.

When I picked up the Honeychurch Hall book, I knew it had promise. It was set in England, which was an immediate plus. Even better, it was set in the English countryside on a large estate. There were a lot of the standard English country estate characters such as the lord of the manor, the stuffy wife, the acidic yet sharp dowager, and the traditional downstairs staff.  It may sound cliche, but I am not above admitting that when it comes to the English countryside, I love a good cliche. I am not a frequent antique buyer, but I do enjoy a good episode of the Antiques Roadshow any day, and the main character had hosted some sort of Roadshow-esque program. All in all, it sounded like a great story line.

Reading Murder at Honeychurch Hall is like sinking into a comfy chair. It just feels good. The writing is well done and does exactly what it should do. It transports you to Honeychurch Hall and entwines you in the lives of the characters. Kat and Iris are likable people you want to see succeed. The antiques part is interesting, and Kat’s knowledge of antique toys plays a part in solving the mystery. I enjoyed that Dennison actually made it part of the plot and not just an interesting occupation. The mystery is good but is in no way the only interesting part of the story. There are so many other things happening that the mystery is almost secondary, and I’m okay with that. The murder doesn’t take place until quite far along in the book, but Dennison still manages to wrap it all up without it seeming rushed or forced.

To me, the best part about cozy mysteries is the escapism. A cozy series can repeatedly whisk you away to another place with a group of people you love. You don’t have to worry about things getting too deep, too messy, or too dark and can focus on the enjoyment. The quote from M.C. Beaton on the cover of Murder at Honeychurch Hall is “Just the thing to chase the blues away.” Spot on, M.C., spot on. This book just made me happy. It was light and (dare I say it) cozy, yet still had a mystery worth reading. M.C. Beaton writes the Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series. I have not read any of her books (something I hope to remedy), but I have seen the Agatha Raisin TV show adaptation. I knew if she found this book fun, I probably would too. If you love any of the topics I have mentioned (England, antiques, cozy mysteries, reading for pure enjoyment and escape, snarky British dowagers, and more) then I highly recommend you search out this book. I can’t wait to read the next three in the series, and will definitely be picking those up soon. Well worth your reading time!

P.S. Also, check out my review of Still Life by Louise Penny if you are looking for another fantastic mystery series to get wrapped up in.