Un Noël mortel

Honeychurch Hall Mystery #8

by Hannah Dennison

Panique générale à Honeychurch : un homme vient d'être retrouvé assassiné en forêt ! La victime, Charlie Green, est un escroc qui avait quitté le village des années plus tôt en laissant un très mauvais souvenir derrière lui. Pourquoi est-il revenu pour finir par manger les pissenlits par la racine ? Est-ce lié aux portraits miniatures d'une valeur exceptionnelle qui avaient été volés et qui viennent de refaire surface ? Pour la détective amateur Kat Stanford, cela ne fait aucun doute. Mais entre l'étrange vraie-fausse romancière soi-disant en vacances dans la région et les villageois qui n'ont pas digéré les escroqueries et les adultères commis par Charlie Green, ce ne sont pas les suspects qui manquent ! Kat va avoir du pain sur la planche pour démasquer le coupable avant que les choses ne tournent sérieusement au vinaigre...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Cozy

304 pages, Pocket Book

First published November 4, 2021

About the author

British born, Hannah originally moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. She has been an obituary reporter, antique dealer, private jet flight attendant and Hollywood story analyst. After twenty-five years living on the West Coast, Hannah returned to the UK where she shares her life with two high-spirited Hungarian Vizslas. She enjoys all country pursuits, movies, and theatre, reading and seriously good chocolate.

Hannah writes the Honeychurch Hall Mysteries (Constable) the Island Sisters Mysteries (Minotaur) and the Vicky Hill Mysteries (Constable)

Fun Fact: Hannah is part of the BookTalk author group on social media with pals Kate Carlisle, Jenn McKinlay and Paige Shelton.

Reviews

[Raphaël Brière · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je ne suis pas sûr que commencer au 7e ou 8e tome d'une série est la meilleure chose à faire. Je m'attendais à suivre une enquête sympa dans la campagne anglaise. Au final, l'enquête m'a semblé être reléguée au second plan et ce sont les interactions entre les différents personnages qui prédominent. La plupart sont des personnages de comédie avec des réactions qui nous horripileraient si ce la se passait dans la vraie vie. A cause de ça j'ai eu du mal à rentrer dans l'univers et l'histoire. A priori je passerais mon chemin pour les autres tomes !

[Tiffany E-P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice cozy English village murder mystery series. I think I’ll look for the earlier books. Kat and her mother are interesting characters. Loved the description of the dollhouse in this one and also the historical miniatures that were painted on playing cards. Very interesting little tidbits.

[Lyn Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I missed Harry as an actual character and not just a side note. But otherwise, it was a good read to cozy up with and meet new characters. I like Mallory's personality better than Shawn's. I never thought Shawn was the right guy. Here's hoping. There was an inconsistency; at the beginning of chapter 27, Kat says she left her mobile in her car, but at the end of chapter 28, she grabs her raincoat, mobile, and car keys. I think I'm going to see if I can find a Frozen Charlotte.

[Nanette Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously intelligent cozy.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one as much as the previous one I read. Quirky, eccentric characters that made me chuckle. Another nice, light-hearted read.

[Donne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet cozy mystery- the characters are now all well developed and so it’s like hearing a story from a bunch of friends.

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un de mes préférés de la saga ! Le mystère, l'enquête et sa résolution sont intelligents et bien ficelés. Un vrai plaisir !
De nouveaux personnages intéressants même si Harry et M. Chips m'ont un peu manqué dans ce tome :)

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable

Enjoyable but after the first quarter was wondering if this was going anywhere. It's the same likeable characters and a few new . Perhaps not the best in the series but takes you away from reality for a while .

[Yacrap Dums · Rating 5 out of 5]

Encore et toujours des meurtres à Honeychurch....mais cette fois, ce n'est pas Shawn l'enquêteur. Du coup, la méthode change. Kat se retrouve au coeur de l'enquête sans le vouloir suite à ma découverte de miniatures et de charlottes transies.

[Emily Lytle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cozy light read with a plot that kept me intrigued and characters full of charm.

[Ramona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read.

[Rachel Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story telling, the characters are brilliant. Looking forward to the next one.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

J’étais ravie de retourner à Honeychurch, et de retrouver tous ces personnages.
L’arrivée de nouveaux personnages permet de redynamiser la série et c’est agréable.

[Kathy Laweryson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely delightful story! Hannah Dennison describes the town, buildings and landscape wonderfully, making it very easy to picture the lovely English countryside. Great mystery, too, involving two murders, forgeries, and intriguing suspects. I'm going to go hunt for the rest of the series now!

[Book Jester · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, another ‘cosy crime’ mystery which I liked the look of because it made me think of an episode of Midsommer Murders. As seems to be the case with these sorts of books there were some things I liked and some things which annoyed me. The story was told in 1st person but it was hard to get a grip on the narrator, Kat (e.g I had no idea how old she was or what she looked like) and I couldn’t really connect to her. But I liked the Dartmoor setting and the random bits of historical and art history – it was very obviously well researched and I’m always a sucker for any story to do with art theft. Not sure I’ll bother reading the other books in this series as I don’t think they are really my thing.

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[Greg Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first 1/3 of the book, I was feeling a bit ho-hum about it. Honeychurch Hall, and the village around it, has been rapidly turning into the murder capital of Britain. I realise that the premise of the series revolves around the Hall, and that necessitates all the murders happening around there, but it is starting to stretch credibility that the village seems to have a crime rate that rivals Chicago. In any case, we are tossed a few juicy red-herrings to throw us off track, but just after the half way mark the book really took off and became a superb whodunit. The plot is surprisingly complex, but makes total sense when all is said and done.

I like that Kat really puts her grey cells to work, and actually focuses on her own antique business instead of endlessly doing "volunteer work" for the Honeychurch clan, and helping her mother wiggle out of the troubles she created for herself. It was hard to imagine that Kat had a successful business when she spent so little time with it.

I was very disappointed at the end of the book when Kat's wandering eye kicked in, but I suppose that is going to be the nature of the series. I predict tears before bedtime, with Shawn stumbling upon a cosy little "It's-not-what-it-looks-like" scenario.

By the way, I was excited that the author resurrected the almost forgotten Uncle Alfred, but unfortunately he made only a very brief appearance. Iris was less prominent in this book, which was a nice change. I'm happier seeing the focus more on Kat. I'll admit, I'm finding the never ending "Krystalle Storm" drama to be a bit wearisome. I find myself hoping that the title of her next (and final) bodice-ripper will be Busted!!. But I love having a little giggle every time one of Lavinia's family or friends call her "Lav"! Lavvie would be even better! :D

I think the series would do well to branch out a bit; have Kat and her mother go on holiday somewhere away from the Honeychurch clan, and the village with the alarmingly limited gene pool.
But this book came up aces and really delivered a cracking good mystery!

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I needed something light and fun as a break from darker, more somber fare, I knew one of the best places to turn: Hannah Dennison's Honeychurch Hall series. Murder in Miniature at Honeychurch Hall was exactly what I needed.

In this installment, I actually already knew about one of the featured antiques: little china dolls called Frozen Charlottes. My grandmother had a couple of them in her collection. Some people consider the Frozen Charlottes to be creepy, but I never did. (Kewpie dolls hold that distinction for me.) As you might have guessed from the book's title, miniatures are the other featured antiques. Dennison can always fascinate me with her choice of antiques, just as much as she can with the way she weaves details about day-to-day life on a crumbling country estate where repairs are legion and money practically nonexistent.

In this book, Kat's boyfriend has moved to London for an important job with the Metropolitan Police. In his place is Detective Inspector Gregory Mallory, a very handsome, very tall, man who has the tendency to make me laugh. I know I shouldn't find it funny, but the old and new lumps and bruises on his head from walking into low beams made me laugh. Although those old buildings can ooze buckets of charm, I'd never buy or rent one because I refuse to live with the constant threat of traumatic brain injury. Mallory also made me laugh as he tried his best to question the local villagers. You would be hard-pressed to find a better collection of eccentrics, and the more Mallory developed eye tics, the more I laughed.

I even enjoyed Kat's mum this time around. Normally Iris drives me around the twist with her secret bank accounts and income tax avoidance, but this time she kept me amused with her dodgy boyfriend and her own attempts to solve the crime.

With its well-plotted mystery, its knowledge of antiques, its humor, and its marvelous cast of newcomers mingling with generations of the upstairs and downstairs folk of the Honeychurch Hall estate, Murder in Miniature... was a delight to read. If you're in the market for some lighthearted fun in your mysteries, I highly recommend this series.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally enjoy these visits at Honeychurch Hall. Never a dull moment in Little Dipperton with rogues of various sorts all over the place! Should we include the MC's mom in that description? Along the way to solving a murder or two there is a fascinating art forgery mystery for Kat to solve, along with the interesting discovery of Frozen Charlotte's and their use to form a major clue.

A question about the climax. If you were being led at gunpoint to your death on the moors, of all the articles of clothing to leave behind as a clue, how do you leave your thong without the guy with the gun noticing?

We are also left at the end with a bit of a romantic dilemma for Kat. Who will win out? I can't decide who is best... Surely Ms. Dennison is hard at work at the next book to provide the answer?

Mallory was an enigma to me. "And here you are, swapping a city career for a quiet life in the country."
"Hardly quiet," said Mallory. "And you're wrong. It's in small communities like this that jealousy, greed, and anger fest. They tend to get lost in big cities—I'm finding life in Little Dipperton very enlightening..."

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a Fun Romp

I’m always left satisfied and smiling as I finish another book about Honeychurch Hall, Cat, the antiques expert and her growing circle of friends. She is a lovely, fun character I enjoy spending time with and I especially am endeared to her mother, Iris, secretly a very famous romance writer! The dialog in all Hannah Dennison’s books is fast paced and written spot on. The historical descriptions are done well, yet with a light hand. I never feel like I’m reading an encyclopedia. The descriptions of the Devonshire countryside are picturesque as well.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kat and her mom, a romance writer are quietly living their lives on the property of Honeychurch Hall when a body is found in the woods. Kat can't go to her policeman beau because he is in London, so she is left to deal with the handsome new detective. He plays by the rules, so she may not be able to help as much as she'd like. That doesn't stop her from digging deeper and finding the root of the murder.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est un petit livre sans prétention, mais qui se déroule avec aisance. Il n’y a pas trop de flottements, on est vite embarqué dans l’histoire.

Un peu trop de protagonistes à mon sens. S’agissant d'une série, on peut penser qu'ils ont été introduits progressivement au fil des livres, mais sans avoir rien lu des précédents ouvrages, certains personnages semblent inutiles et rendent un peu compliqué le suivi par moment.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy the Honeychurch Hall Mysteries (and anything else from Hannah Dennison!), and Murder in Miniature at Honeychurch Hall was no exception! Another fun and murderous return to Little Dippperton, I'm glad I ordered early from the UK and didn't have to wait until it's published here in the US. 5 stars!!!

[Lori Bonkoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kat gets involved in another murder on the Honeychurch Estate. This happened before her time there, but is newly discovered and Kat discovers miniature portraits in a doll house belonging to the deceased (Charlie's) aunt. The aunt is killed and more mystery abounds. Blackmail, infidelity and greed are part of the story that leads to an interesting conclusion. Well written with great characters.

[Beverley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series of books!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

[Jayne E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual choice but the light read I needed whilst recovering from Covid.

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The eighth Honeychurch Hall cozy village mystery is a pleasant addition to the series.