TEAM SPIRITS

by Julie Anne Rudd

TEAM Julie Anne Rudd's comedy mystery sequel continues the story of “The Hippies of Haggleby Hall” about two families living together in a run-down country mansion in Sussex. It is now 1994 and after spending all their capital restoring the place, the Flowers and Maclarens are heading for bankruptcy and risk losing their home. Then Grannie Grace has a brainwave and they launch a corporate hospitality business, running team games for companies. It keeps everyone entertained, but is hard work and never going to make a fortune. Then they discover that a drab painting under the stairs could be a masterpiece and solve all their problems. But their hopes are dashed when it suddenly vanishes. Storyteller Belinda Flowers is determined to find it, but can she stay on top when her chief suspect is a ghost? Only her astrologer friend, Morwenna Greenway, can help her and save Haggleby Hall.

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2023

Reviews

[Anna Shenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Team Spirits cover is so captivating and having read the author’s previous book The Hippies of Haggleby Hall, I was looking forward to catching up with the Flowers’ and Maclarens. Julie Anne Rudd does a great job with the well explained opening, filling you in on previous happenings in a most absorbing way via the character’s instant action and dialogue. Their wonderful realistic descriptions grabbed me as they try to sort out how to prevent going bankrupt and prepare for opening Haggleby Hall. Cleverly, the author introduces each character as they turn up in their cars, giving detail to their personalities. It’s fun listening to all characters as they decide which games will take place thanks to Grannie Graces’ brainwave of the corporate hospitality business. I love the excitement when a not so appealing painting is found but only later to discover it goes missing. I’m intrigued to know if a ghost has anything to do with it.
If you like nostalgia, living in the 1990’s is another bonus in this heart-warming, humorous story with never a dull moment. I really liked the first book, but I have to say this shines even brighter and although reading both books is best, this sequel can quite easily be read alone. I loved this story as it’s so unique to the norm and well worth a read to get you smiling. It would be a shame to miss it.

[Sally Wragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can easily be read as a standalone but having already read ‘The Hippies of Haggleby Hall’, I was looking forward to rejoining the Flowers’ and the Maclarens and their respective families and reading this sequel, ‘Team Spirits’, also set in the wonderful Haggleby Hall. With its lively story-line and warm hearted, believable characters, so easy for the reader to relate to, I haven’t been disappointed. It’s well written with a thread of genuinely funny humour running throughout lending the whole plenty of feel good factor, just right in these difficult times. I would recommend this book to anyone