The Carriage House

Carriage House #1

by Carla Neggers

Fun and a little hard work. That's all Tess Haviland had in mind when Ike Grantham paid her for her graphic design work with the run-down, 19th-century carriage house on Boston's North Shore.

Then Ike disappeared and now Tess finds herself with much more than a simple weekend project to get her out of the city. It's not just the rumors that the carriage house is haunted. It is the neighbors: six-year-old Dolly Thorne, her reclusive babysitter, Harley Beckett and especially Dolly's father, Andrew Thorne, who has his own ideas about why Tess has turned up next door.

But when Tess discovers a human skeleton in her dirt cellar, she begins to ask questions about the history of the carriage house, the untimely death of Andrew's wife and Ike's disappearance. Questions a desperate killer wants to silence before the truth reveals that someone got away with murder.

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Romance, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Contemporary, Thriller

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 25, 2001

About the author

Carla Neggers is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sharpe & Donovan series featuring Boston-based FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, and the popular Swift River Valley series set in the small, fictional New England town of Knights Bridge. With many bestsellers to her credit, Carla loves to write now as much as she did when she climbed a tree at age eleven with a pad and pen and spun stories perched on her favorite branch.

A native New Englander, Carla and her husband divide their time between their hilltop home in Vermont, a sofa bed at their kids' places in Boston and various inns, hotels and hideaways on their travels, frequently to Ireland.

Find out more and sign up for Carla's newsletter at CarlaNeggers.com.

Reviews

[Veena Regit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The synopsis very much tells you the story and if I say anything more it will be a total giveaway. So I will just tell you my feelings on this book…it is predictable, and to me it seems that the author wanted it this way. I liked Tess a lot and her dad and her Godfather too. The dialog between Tess and her Godfather (who keeps on getting on her nerves) is hilarious and I loved it. You won’t be able to stop from giggling on those. I really felt that I wanted a friend like Susan was to Tess and how Harley was to Andrew! And Dolly, oh sorry, Princess Dolly was adorable to say the least.

With highly likable characters and just a bit of mystery, this is a light and fluffy read that I enjoyed!

[Read With Chey]

DNF @ 39% because I don’t like the heroine and simply don’t care about anything that’s happening 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Ike Grantham hires Tess Haviland, a graphic designer, she is overjoyed to help him renovate his historic carriage house. But when Ike disappears, Tess finds herself the owner and realizes she needs to make a decision to keep it or sell it. Upon visiting the house, she runs into her interesting neighbors - 6 year old Dolly, her babysitter Harley, and her father Andrew who doesn't feel like she belongs there. Shortly after arriving at the house, Tess also finds a full skeleton in her basement - leading her to question Andrew's wife's sudden disappearance years back and Ike's disappearance. Though scared, Tess is determined to uncover just what happened in the house, and to whom it happened to.

This book was a super quick read, but just average overall. You have a mix of a mystery story line and a budding love/hate romance. I didn't find myself super invested in the characters, but also curious enough to finish to its conclusion. Overall, the book is a bit predictable but also had enough plot to keep interesting.

[Laura Rittenhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is classified as Suspense Romance on its back spine. The suspense isn't something that keeps you on the edge of your seat since you are told early on who the skeleton in the cellar was before his life was cut short and who killed him. The drama revolves around how the heroine (the woman with the skeleton under her carriagehouse) will deal with the discovery and when/if the guilty party will be caught. The 2nd strain of the story is a classic romance between the heroine and her reticent (but extremely attractive) neighbour. As is required by the genre, there is a lot of heating up only to have cold water thrown on it multiple times before boy-gets-girl can be realised. I'm sure I'm not doing this part of the book justice because Romance isn't a genre I read and generally avoid. From what I've read of this genre, this is a cut above.

This was an easy read, ticked all the boxes, maintained a consistency within the characters (something I often complain doesn't happen in these generes) and was a good holiday read (yes, I was on a short holiday when reading it).

[Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this mystery and even though it was somewhat predictable and obvious who the killer was, I loved the family dynamics and the slow burn romance. Definitely will be trying more from this series and this author.

[Stacey Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like Carla Neggers but this was so unbelievable that I just couldn’t get it! A person has been “missing for a year and you find a skeleton in your cellar,but don’t tell anyone, right then on top,of that you let a six year old girl come to your house to play just not believing it sorry!

[Ashley Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite what I enjoy in a book. Was ok, just felt like maybe it was geared towards an older audience.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

From Wikipedia:

A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.

The blurb of this book had me thinking that it was about a haunted house.  After I started reading the book, I reread the blurb and realized that I might have been mistaken.  Aside from the "human skeleton in the dirt cellar," and the "rumors that the carriage house is haunted," there really was no other indication that The Carriage House  is a book about a haunted house.  Ah well.  Though I DID get curious about what a carriage house is because of the way it was being described as a farm and whatnot.  Thus, the Wiki definition above.

I admit, my research stopped there.  But I might look into it a bit more.  The idea of old, historic homes, whether for people or carriages, still intrigues me.

Moving right along...

The Carriage House  turned out to be an enjoyable, well-written, old-timey romance.  And it isn't too dated either, although there were a few quibbles I had here and there about the way people acted towards one another.  On the other hand, the romantic suspense part of the story was a little flimsy since there really wasn't much murder mystery to the murder crime.  From the beginning, you pretty much know who the human skeleton in the cellar belongs to, and the murderer is pretty obvious as well.

But some of the parts of the book DID give me a creepy vibe: the victim was given enough significance in the book to give some significant emotions, and some of the other characters were just kind of scary.  And a bit insane maybe.  But mainly creepy.

Kudos on the attempt to derail the reader's suspicion by throwing another possible suspect out there.  But seeing as how Andrew Thorne is the main male character, and this is a typical category romance (a la Harlequin Romances, after all), it wasn't like we didn't already know for a fact whether he had anything to do with the murder.  Of course, it also helps take suspicion off of a lot of people when the murderer pretty much admits the crime, even if not vocally.


A Mix of Story Summary and More of My Thoughts:
So the basic gist of The Carriage House  is that Tess Haviland did some work for an eccentric rich guy named Ike Grantham.  Ike Grantham is the most charming snake charmer to ever charm his charming way into the land of charming.  But after all that charm is no longer in front of you, you realize how much you resent the guy for charming you into agreeing to do things you otherwise wouldn't have done.  And somehow, that causes problems.

And so somehow he had managed to convince Tess that she would be very happy to take the old Thorne carriage house in Beacon-by-the-Sea, some fancy area overlooking a nice beach and ocean view, I think, as payment for the work she had done for him--something to do with graphic design.  So instead of real money, she goes for it.  To her, getting the new property for the price of her expertise is a bargain because she'd always wanted a large, old home in the middle of nowhere by cliffs and beaches with rumors of hauntings by an ancient ghost.  It reminds her of her mother, she says... the area, not the actual house itself.  And everyone else around her pretty much tells her that she's been swindled and wonders what the heck she'd been thinking.

Now, my own personal thoughts were conflicting, to be honest.  The romantic in me would absolutely love to receive a nice, old-fashioned home with so much rich history, overlooking beautiful scenery.  For one, it would be a nice, historically rich place to bask in; and things like that appeal to pretty much anyone.

The practical, logical part of me, however, says that Tess should have had the darn house inspected first before going for it.  It's an old house, an old building, and it hadn't been inhabited in a long time.  Yes, it's probably beautiful.  Yes, it's probably got all sorts of stories to tell.  Yes, it would be kind of cool to tell people you live in an historic landmark that might possibly be haunted.  Like I said, it's a romantic notion and people are nothing if not impractical about romantic notions.  It's attractive.

But it's also an old rundown house without proper upkeep maintenance or modern plumbing, and probably doesn't even have electricity.  I don't know, I wasn't really paying too much attention and I don't think we went into too much detail about the shortcomings of this carriage house aside from some broken windows, creaky wood boards, useless locks and doors, and maybe some broken stairwells.  I mean, Tess had to sleep in a makeshift cot on the floor of the front room.

Color me shallow, but I needz my modern plumbing!


Anyway, back to the book...

So Tess decides to stay at the carriage house for a weekend in order to determine whether or not she’d like to keep the home or put it back on the market for sale.  After all, Ike very much turned over the entirety of ownership to her and she is very much legally the owner of this carriage house.  She can either have a nice, history-rich home to live in, or she can sell it and make a ton of money.  As it seems, everyone and their neighbors in this book seem to want to snatch the place right up if Tess were to sell it.

In staying the weekend at the carriage house, Tess inadvertently triggers a mountain of activity, especially after finding the human skeletal remains of a possible murder victim in her cellar… who then disappears after she keeps the incident a secret because she thinks she was hallucinating and isn’t sure of what she saw.  Now the local police and the media thinks she’s insane or trying to stir up trouble, and the real murderer thinks that Tess Haviland needs to be eliminated before she digs too much deeper.

Meanwhile, there’s a handsome next door neighbor with an adorable six year old princess to contend with.


Final Thoughts:
As I already stated, the murder mystery was pretty predictable from the start. Among all the discussion between characters about whom the skeletal remains belong to, if Tess even saw a human skeleton, or if the house is haunted at all, all fingers inadvertently point to all the answers quite obviously. It doesn’t take a start detective to know the entire story without reading the entire story. And so, in the end The Carriage House was more a romance than it was a murder mystery.

Although, I must say, that the atmosphere and the imagery of the book were quite excellently done. If any other books by Carla Neggers focuses more on the crime thriller parts and tweaks certain storytelling styles just right, I’m certain they’d be excellent murder mysteries to read.

I will definitely try to pick up another Carla Neggers book in the future.


***

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[MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review may contain SPOILERS.
DNF. This book promised romantic suspense with a strong female lead, but delivered a frustratingly weak and unbelievable story. Tess, the protagonist, is far from strong; her reactions to discovering a skeleton are childish and illogical, undermining any attempt to portray her as capable. Her subsequent secretive behavior and impulsive bar fight only solidify her image as a poorly developed, frustrating character whose actions defy belief. The motivations of supporting characters are illogical, leaving the connections between the skeleton, the sister, Andrew's deceased wife, and the alleged murder utterly unconvincing. Andrew’s behavior is also unconvincing when he decides to ‘spy’ on Tess. The pacing is slow, by chapter 18 (half-way through), the lack of meaningful plot progression is annoying. I struggled to connect with any character's actions or motivations, finding them inconsistent or implausible. This book fails to deliver on its promise of romantic suspense, leaving me very disappointed and unwilling to risk another book by this author.
(To be fair, this review was written with a lot of help from squibler.io.)

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one has been on my TBR shelf for a while and I don't know why it took me so long to get to it, but I loved it! It has Neggers trademark writing style and feels a lot like the Swift River Valley Series, but with a new cast of characters. While this is billed as a romantic suspense, the romance is very subdued and definitely driven by the suspense side of it. Neggers slowly builds the mystery surrounding Ike Grantham's disappearance. A property tax bill prompts Tess to finally go check out the old carriage house that Ike gave her as payment for some work she did a year ago. Little did she know that her visit would set off a chain of events that would affect several people in the quiet little town--including Ike's sister and Tess's new neighbors. I love the slow simmer that Neggers manages to build in her stories but that in no way takes away from the heat of the romance. I was cheering for Tess and her neighbor, Andrew, from the very start--they needed each other and they fit together so well, even if they both needed a little time to adjust to that reality.

[Aanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A romantic suspense..But its so predictable dat u can't actually call it a suspense..The possible angles were so interesting than d actual plot which is clear to all from the start;I felt some lines kept being repeated and few unnecessary investigative hypothesis which was just to push the story to more pages...the characters were indeed so well done and i felt the description of a character was sometimes unasked for as they were already clearly etched..My fav character was Harl - such a gruff guy wit soft heart, he could deal with brawls and murder but found it difficult wit school kids ;))) i loved the similarity drawn between pop,Davey & Tess wit Andrew,Harl & Dolly...(wished some ghost angle had been used here but alas no...)
Apart from main story i really loved few lines in the book generally. For eg the one where Tess thinks "...having a book in the house signalled an open mind. An ability to compromise. An understanding of different tastes and sensibilities."

[ShyAnn64 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and a little hard work. That's all Tess Haviland had in mind when Ike Grantham paid her for her graphic design work with the run-down, 19th-century carriage house on Boston's North Shore.

Then Ike disappeared and now Tess finds herself with much more than a simple weekend project to get her out of the city. It's not just the rumors that the carriage house is haunted. It is the neighbors: six-year-old Dolly Thorne, her reclusive babysitter, Harley Beckett and especially Dolly's father, Andrew Thorne, who has his own ideas about why Tess has turned up next door.

But when Tess discovers a human skeleton in her dirt cellar, she begins to ask questions about the history of the carriage house, the untimely death of Andrew's wife and Ike's disappearance. Questions a desperate killer wants to silence before the truth reveals that someone got away with murder.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just an OK read for me. I actually thought the premise was good and I was hoping for more of a thriller but I pretty much had the plot figured out after the first few chapters. I hardly ever figure out what's going on until the very end and I kept expecting a twist but...I was right. But in spite of that, I still enjoyed the overall story. I think the saving grace was Princess Dolly, a 6 year old character with an invisible friend, a curmudgeon of a babysitter, a love of cats and an irrepressible personality. When the new owner of the neighborhood's haunted carriage house shows up to check out her new property, she meets her neighbors, looks for Princess Dolly's pregnant cat and then finds a skeleton in her cellar.

[Linda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ike Grantham gave graphic artist Tess Haviland a derelict carriage house in lieu of payment for work she had done and shortly thereafter disappeared. It is haunted and on a tiny piece of property, but on the shore. She doesn't do anything for a year and then decides to spend a weekend there and decide whether to keep it or sell it. Remnants of the Thorne family, father Andrew, daughter Dolly and cousin Harley, historic owners of the carriage house, live in the main house next door. During Tess's stay she hears Dolly's cat in the basement and comes across a skeleton. In indecision she waits for a day to call police and the bones are gone by then. Not a big mystery about the body but the history of the house and its family and Tess's family interactions are what made an interesting story.

[Cat_whatever · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked some parts of this book. I'll definitely read more by this author. I like the way that there's a real sense of each scene (the beach, an old house, a bar, etc) and somehow doesn't feel too wordy. Also there's some genuine history as well as the fictional history of the story. Over all the various characters are fantastic. Mostly I had problems with the woman main character. There were times where I really liked her and then suddenly -- what? why? Perhaps the author is trying to make her 'quirky' or trying shoehorn her into the plot; or both. The mystery and the romance were not super exciting but quite good.

[Terri Borkgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to introduce this Carriage House Series by Carla Neggers Tess Havilland a graphic designer is deeded a carriage house from her client, Ike Grantham. A year later Ike disappears and she takes a trip to decide about getting rid of it for keep it Meeting Princess Dolly, her father and cousin descendants of the man who had killed a man in a duel, in her carriage house is a start of the adventure involving a cat by the name of Trippy Tail, and a skeleton she uncovers one night trying to locate the very pregnant cat for Dolly. I am sure this series will be as great as the others Carla Neggers has penned.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by this author that I have read, and I enjoyed it. Tess has done some graphic design work for Ike, and in lieu of payment, he deeded her a carriage house. Then promptly disappeared. A year later, Tess finally decides it is time to check it out and meet the neighbors. On a sleep over, a pregnant cat meowing in the basement startles her, and she goes looking to see what the matter is. When she trips, she ends up eye to eye with a skeleton under a cot. Question is...whose?

[Emilie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

Carla Neggers never fails to satisfy with a good story. The Carriage House is no exception. A hint of a long dead ghost story revived years later sets the stage for murder. Add a missing friend, a pregnant cat and 6 year old princess and you have the makings of a great story!!

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was difficult to put this book down! Murder in the past and a mysterious disappearance in the present are linked ... somehow. Is it the carriage house or the family who owned the estate? Tess finds herself with more than she bargained for when she went to see the property Ike gave her.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder mystery. Some funny parts. Not my favorite genre, especially when it gives me an upset stomach.

[ANN FAIRCLOUGH · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

Thoroughly enjoyed it A+++ .........I am moving on to book 2 of the series......and will then go on to book 3.

[Amanda Berghof · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was more romance then I thought it would be. This was my first book read by this author, I will read others buy not this series.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story - can't wait to find Carriage House #2

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Ginger · Rating 1 out of 5]

No mystery. Author tells us everything by the middle of the book and fails to deliver the corpse buried in the basement.

[susana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nota Geral: 2.7/5
Escrita: 3
Cenário: 3
Originalidade: 2.5
Personagens: 3
Suspense: 3
Humor: 3
Romance: 3
Capa: 2
Aditivo: 2.5
Previsível: 2

[Sandy Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book & story. Can't wait to start book 2 in this series

[Dee Roll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting plot with very interesting characters, all with lots of quirks!

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was OK, just moved really slow for me. This is part of a series so hopefully the next one picks up speed.

[Callie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a good book, lots of twists and turns. You have to get to about chapter 4 before you get hooked. It is kind of hard to follow in the beginning so many different things happening.