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Volstead Manor #2
Another Hour to Kill
WHERE BAILEY WALKER LIVES, BEING NEIGHBORLY TAKES ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING. . .
Bailey has survived the mysteries of Volstead Manor, but her latest threats are more ominous than ever. Did her neighbor B.J. die of natural causes? Or was he murdered? And why does the new neighbor, Vlad Tepes, seem to always be watching her?
While searching for a lost treasure and planning a wedding the size of an amusement park, Bailey must discover what monster is still lurking in the neighborhood. Will she unravel the puzzle in time, or will Bailey merely provide the villain with Another Hour to Kill?
Bailey has survived the mysteries of Volstead Manor, but her latest threats are more ominous than ever. Did her neighbor B.J. die of natural causes? Or was he murdered? And why does the new neighbor, Vlad Tepes, seem to always be watching her?
While searching for a lost treasure and planning a wedding the size of an amusement park, Bailey must discover what monster is still lurking in the neighborhood. Will she unravel the puzzle in time, or will Bailey merely provide the villain with Another Hour to Kill?
205 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 9, 2008
81 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Anita Higman
97 books144 followersBest-selling and award-winning author, Anita Higman, has over forty books published. She’s been a Barnes & Noble “Author of the Month” for Houston and has a BA in the combined fields of speech communication, psychology, and art.
A few of Anita’s favorite things are good movies, fairytales, traveling, gardening, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.
Feel free to drop by Anita’s website at anitahigman.com or connect with her on her Facebook Reader Page at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnitaH.... She would love to hear from you!
A few of Anita’s favorite things are good movies, fairytales, traveling, gardening, exotic teas, and brunch with her friends.
Feel free to drop by Anita’s website at anitahigman.com or connect with her on her Facebook Reader Page at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnitaH.... She would love to hear from you!
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 3, 2021
When Bailey first hops next door to welcome their new neighbor, she is shocked to find him dead. But when his vampire-wannabe relative moves in to his house she suspects that she's suddenly got more to worry about than making a good first impression.
So I took a crack at Another Hour to Kill by Anita Higman. Right off the bat I knew I was going to have a problem with this book. The first chapter ends with the lines: In spite of the anxious demands of the moment, my concentration wavered as I became aware of a homeless-looking woman coming down the street toward us. [...] Amid all the sirens and flashing lights, the bag lady stopped and stared in our direction. I strained to see her more clearly. The woman pulled out a rifle from her shopping cart, and without hesitation, aimed the gun directly at us.
This demonstrates one of the bigger problems with this book. The main character had just discovered the dead body of a neighbor. She is panicked and the police lights are sirens are going off all around her. But to push the plot forward she decides instead to watch a bag lady. She watches her and keeps watching her, even 'straining to see her more clearly' even though she has nothing to do with what's going on and there was nothing in the meager description I cut out of the above that made her sound any different than the homeless folks we've all seen ourselves. She'd only just now been mentioned at the very end of the chapter. But screw the murdered neighbor, that bag lady is way more interesting and totally worth the character's undivided attention. And when something does happen (and it's ridiculously sudden for the end of the first damn chapter), what happens next?
Chapter 2 immediately begins: Several days later, as I busied myself scrubbing my vintage toilets in my relic of a mansion, I still felt some heavy duty gratitude for being alive. [...] But the woman- the one who'd been pointing the rifle- had pulled a fast one on us by escaping down a narrow alleyway. In fact, the police found no trace of her. The neighbor's death and the woman sporting the rifle were apparently unrelated incidents.
Are you kidding me? 'Several days later'? The incident is given so few fucks by this character that she assumes we feel the same and that she has to remind us of the woman she's talking about? People in disguise spring guns on you without notice so often that you've dismissed it as having no relation to the death? No concerns that a 'bag lady' managed to turn a corner and vanish into thin air? We aren't even told what happened after she pulled the rifle on them? Christie, this is going to be a long damn book.
And while the main character (who apparently had some sort of stalker trouble in the first book) is written really well as a woman who feels she's being sucked into the same issues she thought she'd left behind and is panicking appropriately, her decisions regarding what's happening to her are stupid as fuck. She tells no one anything and just worries more when the decisions her friends make based on their lack of information just make things worse. This woman should have 911 on fucking speed dial, but hell, that might slow down the plot or something.
And does her best friend have a purpose other than dating people for the sole purpose of getting them close enough to the protagonist to threaten her? And ignoring said protag's plea for privacy and telling everyone in town her personal information, including a fucking reporter? Nope, she does not. Really the fact that the main character considers her the 'best friend' say loads about her decision-making skills.
THE VERDICT? Another Hour to Kill lives up to its name in that taking the time to read it is slaughtering the time you could be using to do something productive. The writing is that of a novelized Archie comic. Nobody talks like that outside 1950s TV sitcoms. And it commits the unforgivable sin of switching POV for the epilogue. There is nothing more jarring than reading a terrible book in first and a terrible epilogue in third.
So I took a crack at Another Hour to Kill by Anita Higman. Right off the bat I knew I was going to have a problem with this book. The first chapter ends with the lines: In spite of the anxious demands of the moment, my concentration wavered as I became aware of a homeless-looking woman coming down the street toward us. [...] Amid all the sirens and flashing lights, the bag lady stopped and stared in our direction. I strained to see her more clearly. The woman pulled out a rifle from her shopping cart, and without hesitation, aimed the gun directly at us.
This demonstrates one of the bigger problems with this book. The main character had just discovered the dead body of a neighbor. She is panicked and the police lights are sirens are going off all around her. But to push the plot forward she decides instead to watch a bag lady. She watches her and keeps watching her, even 'straining to see her more clearly' even though she has nothing to do with what's going on and there was nothing in the meager description I cut out of the above that made her sound any different than the homeless folks we've all seen ourselves. She'd only just now been mentioned at the very end of the chapter. But screw the murdered neighbor, that bag lady is way more interesting and totally worth the character's undivided attention. And when something does happen (and it's ridiculously sudden for the end of the first damn chapter), what happens next?
Chapter 2 immediately begins: Several days later, as I busied myself scrubbing my vintage toilets in my relic of a mansion, I still felt some heavy duty gratitude for being alive. [...] But the woman- the one who'd been pointing the rifle- had pulled a fast one on us by escaping down a narrow alleyway. In fact, the police found no trace of her. The neighbor's death and the woman sporting the rifle were apparently unrelated incidents.
Are you kidding me? 'Several days later'? The incident is given so few fucks by this character that she assumes we feel the same and that she has to remind us of the woman she's talking about? People in disguise spring guns on you without notice so often that you've dismissed it as having no relation to the death? No concerns that a 'bag lady' managed to turn a corner and vanish into thin air? We aren't even told what happened after she pulled the rifle on them? Christie, this is going to be a long damn book.
And while the main character (who apparently had some sort of stalker trouble in the first book) is written really well as a woman who feels she's being sucked into the same issues she thought she'd left behind and is panicking appropriately, her decisions regarding what's happening to her are stupid as fuck. She tells no one anything and just worries more when the decisions her friends make based on their lack of information just make things worse. This woman should have 911 on fucking speed dial, but hell, that might slow down the plot or something.
And does her best friend have a purpose other than dating people for the sole purpose of getting them close enough to the protagonist to threaten her? And ignoring said protag's plea for privacy and telling everyone in town her personal information, including a fucking reporter? Nope, she does not. Really the fact that the main character considers her the 'best friend' say loads about her decision-making skills.
THE VERDICT? Another Hour to Kill lives up to its name in that taking the time to read it is slaughtering the time you could be using to do something productive. The writing is that of a novelized Archie comic. Nobody talks like that outside 1950s TV sitcoms. And it commits the unforgivable sin of switching POV for the epilogue. There is nothing more jarring than reading a terrible book in first and a terrible epilogue in third.
October 5, 2011
Another Hour to Kill continues the story from Another Stab at Life. This story is cleverly written and has enough humor to make for a very pleasant read. Enough suspense and mystery to keep you guessing and the heroine is likable and the hero is quirky and I would certainly like to get to know him.
January 22, 2014
read this in less than a day! ready for the 3rd book! a nice added bonus to this story kind of a mystery kind of a love story. I liked it, nice quick read!
February 2, 2023
Funnily enough, I wouldn't say this was so badly written. When I purchased this, I didn't have a lot of expectations. I knew this wasn't going to be the sort of book to get me hooked and bursting out my mystery solving kit to close the case before the character did. I was looking for something, anything to read. So in a way it served it's purpose.
So if you're reading this in hope of something grand, prepare to be woefully disappointed.
Now there were a lot of little plots added to the main story to make it seem more interesting but at the end of the book, the author pretty much forgot about them. Which makes me conclude that they were there only to fill pages.
I'm talking about the alligator, the secret society, the subtle hints that her fiance could have been cheating on her with her best friend, the wedding, the best friend's sleazy ex, the victim's wife. Sorry I couldn't be bothered to remember their names.
They could have been executed better because as it was they were just a ruse that added nothing to the story.
The characters were lacking, that's all I'm going to say about that.
The way she found the different clues leading up to the treasure was unoriginal.
Now as a Christian, it's always nice to see the author's faith incorporated into a book. However I tend to avoid reading such books because when religion is in the picture, reasoning flies out the window.
Of course it would have been easy to let Vlad trip the wire and fall to his death (how does that work, if they were already underground?), but to save him because you saw 'good' in him over the barrel of a gun being pointed at you is ridiculous.
What was also ridiculous was the murderer basically turned himself in. He wasn't caught, he could have had multiple hours to kill but for the change of heart inspired by a Bible verse. It was absurd.
These were the things that bothered me the most.
So if you're reading this in hope of something grand, prepare to be woefully disappointed.
Now there were a lot of little plots added to the main story to make it seem more interesting but at the end of the book, the author pretty much forgot about them. Which makes me conclude that they were there only to fill pages.
I'm talking about the alligator, the secret society, the subtle hints that her fiance could have been cheating on her with her best friend, the wedding, the best friend's sleazy ex, the victim's wife. Sorry I couldn't be bothered to remember their names.
They could have been executed better because as it was they were just a ruse that added nothing to the story.
The characters were lacking, that's all I'm going to say about that.
The way she found the different clues leading up to the treasure was unoriginal.
Now as a Christian, it's always nice to see the author's faith incorporated into a book. However I tend to avoid reading such books because when religion is in the picture, reasoning flies out the window.
Of course it would have been easy to let Vlad trip the wire and fall to his death (how does that work, if they were already underground?), but to save him because you saw 'good' in him over the barrel of a gun being pointed at you is ridiculous.
What was also ridiculous was the murderer basically turned himself in. He wasn't caught, he could have had multiple hours to kill but for the change of heart inspired by a Bible verse. It was absurd.
These were the things that bothered me the most.
January 27, 2019
Audio version.
It strikes me that there doesn't seem to be a explanation for the stars that are given. So I thought I'd start giving my take on it.
1 horrible no redeeming qualities. So far I've never given a 1.
2 blah but there are redeeming qualities.
3 ok worth reading.
4 great but there's something off.
5 loved it.
So now about this story. This is the first book I've Listened/read, by Anita Higman but it won't be the last. It is a little confusing as it refers to the previous book a couple of times. I can't wait for more of this series, I want to say more about this story but I absolutely hate spoilers, so I won't do it to you by going into details.
Now about the narrator... I'm afraid there are many times when you hear a clicking and she repeats lines. Its very distracting and annoying.
Reasons I enjoyed this audio book:
Witty, Romantic, Wonderful characters, Great world building, Unpredictable, Entertaining, Action-packed, Funny.
Bookshelves/tags:
contemporary, humorous, mystery, romance, series, sweet.
This Audiobook was given to me for free at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review.
It strikes me that there doesn't seem to be a explanation for the stars that are given. So I thought I'd start giving my take on it.
1 horrible no redeeming qualities. So far I've never given a 1.
2 blah but there are redeeming qualities.
3 ok worth reading.
4 great but there's something off.
5 loved it.
So now about this story. This is the first book I've Listened/read, by Anita Higman but it won't be the last. It is a little confusing as it refers to the previous book a couple of times. I can't wait for more of this series, I want to say more about this story but I absolutely hate spoilers, so I won't do it to you by going into details.
Now about the narrator... I'm afraid there are many times when you hear a clicking and she repeats lines. Its very distracting and annoying.
Reasons I enjoyed this audio book:
Witty, Romantic, Wonderful characters, Great world building, Unpredictable, Entertaining, Action-packed, Funny.
Bookshelves/tags:
contemporary, humorous, mystery, romance, series, sweet.
This Audiobook was given to me for free at my request from the publisher, author or narrator and I provided this unbiased voluntary review.
November 9, 2021
Another Hour to kill: A Volstead Manor Mystery
A mystery with a Christian base and many scary episodes. Bailey inherited the manor from her granny and is trying to get used to the house. Trying to plan her wedding with Max but her very weird neighbor Vlad keeps showing up and making her uneasy. Good story.
A mystery with a Christian base and many scary episodes. Bailey inherited the manor from her granny and is trying to get used to the house. Trying to plan her wedding with Max but her very weird neighbor Vlad keeps showing up and making her uneasy. Good story.
August 26, 2024
Bailey & Matt are engaged and starting to plan their wedding. When she discovers her new neighbor dead, circumstances arise to force her to face several things about herself and her future. Good, interesting cozy read.
April 7, 2026
It's been over 4 years since I first read it, but I absolutely loved it. I've actually read it 5 times now. Other than the rather simple plot, I don't have really any complaints about this book. I would 100 recommend this
February 19, 2017
Great series
I'm loving this series. I look forward to reading the next book. I'm definitely going to recommend this series to friends and family.
I'm loving this series. I look forward to reading the next book. I'm definitely going to recommend this series to friends and family.
May 27, 2016
If you're a fan of "cozy" mysteries, and if you have "Another Hour to Kill" (or about 4, actually), this is a book you might enjoy. It's the second book in the "Volstead Manor" series, but there are enough back-mentions in this book to the first book that one doesn't really have to read the first book before this one -- I didn't and had no problems following.
Anyway, Bailey Walker has inherited Volstead Manor, named after the Volstead Act, from her grandmother. The house was used as a home for the ladies of the Supporters of Prohibition (ostensibly) back in the day. But the house has numerous secrets, including a hidden "tunnel" off the master bedroom, which Bailey found in the first book. Her new neighbor B.J. had apparently tried to buy her house and instead settles for the house next door. But then he died mysteriously, and Bailey was the one to find him. And then she finds out that B.J. had a stepbrother, named Vlad Tepes (!), who has stepped in to try to find the supposed treasures in her house. And he's willing to drug her coffee to do a private search and tries to convince her she had a narcoleptic episode. Bailey, however, doesn't tell her best friend or her fiancė, or the cops about Vlad's actions for some unfathomable reason.
For someone who likes a Christian Cozy, this book is probably a winner, even though the premise is kind of hard to swallow at times, and the protagonist's actions and thoughts are frequently difficult to understand. I'd say 3 stars.
Anyway, Bailey Walker has inherited Volstead Manor, named after the Volstead Act, from her grandmother. The house was used as a home for the ladies of the Supporters of Prohibition (ostensibly) back in the day. But the house has numerous secrets, including a hidden "tunnel" off the master bedroom, which Bailey found in the first book. Her new neighbor B.J. had apparently tried to buy her house and instead settles for the house next door. But then he died mysteriously, and Bailey was the one to find him. And then she finds out that B.J. had a stepbrother, named Vlad Tepes (!), who has stepped in to try to find the supposed treasures in her house. And he's willing to drug her coffee to do a private search and tries to convince her she had a narcoleptic episode. Bailey, however, doesn't tell her best friend or her fiancė, or the cops about Vlad's actions for some unfathomable reason.
For someone who likes a Christian Cozy, this book is probably a winner, even though the premise is kind of hard to swallow at times, and the protagonist's actions and thoughts are frequently difficult to understand. I'd say 3 stars.
November 6, 2011
MS Higman has brought the second in the series A VOLSTEAD MANOR MYSTERY to those of us who really liked the first in the series, Another Stab at Life. This second book has the same cast of characters with additional secondaries to make the plot more interesting. I was only a bit dismayed by the fact I figured out the antagonist too soon - my ONLY complaint. ;D
Another Hour to Kill is more action-oriented and the mystery is still mystery. The hero is one patient and loving guy!
Another Hour to Kill is more action-oriented and the mystery is still mystery. The hero is one patient and loving guy!
March 8, 2016
This series is ok. There was really no great mystery for starters, it was obvious and there was no surprise ending as a good mystery should have. I also kept wondering why if she was so concerned about the kid, then why didn't she try to contact CPS? The ending was abrupt with an epilogue full of too much what happened next. I think I'll pass on the third.
July 16, 2015
A good mystery
I enjoyed reading this book it kept my attention through the end of the book. Interesting characters and several other plots going on on within the story. A good read.
I enjoyed reading this book it kept my attention through the end of the book. Interesting characters and several other plots going on on within the story. A good read.
December 23, 2015
I might have been swayed by this interesting cover and there are actually some quite creative moments written in this book; but I will not continue on with this series. The story it self is just not a match for me. Very little mystery and a little heavy-handed on the romance for me.
February 17, 2016
Old houses & mystery
The second book of the Volstead Mansion series. It was riveting. The combination of secret passages, secrets from the past & God being merciful gives this book 5 stars.
The second book of the Volstead Mansion series. It was riveting. The combination of secret passages, secrets from the past & God being merciful gives this book 5 stars.
June 28, 2016
Okay read
Pretty good read for a free book. I thought at first it was going to end up corny, but it didn't. The mystery part was okay, but I found the whole "Little Orphan Annie" character a but unbelievable.
Pretty good read for a free book. I thought at first it was going to end up corny, but it didn't. The mystery part was okay, but I found the whole "Little Orphan Annie" character a but unbelievable.
January 6, 2017
Good read
This was the type of novel that was hard to put down. I already have the third book in this series in my kindle and am waiting to read it. Me. Brigham is a very good author.
This was the type of novel that was hard to put down. I already have the third book in this series in my kindle and am waiting to read it. Me. Brigham is a very good author.
December 1, 2015
I enjoyed this Christian suspense adventure....improbable premise but still fun.
July 8, 2014
If you are looking for a light mystery coupled with a touching story of how a woman begins to consider adoption, this is your book. I look forward to finishing this trilogy!
September 20, 2015
Again we are entertained with another Christian Cozy mystery.
I loved the interaction of the characters
Thanks for a nice read and look forward to the next in the series.
I loved the interaction of the characters
Thanks for a nice read and look forward to the next in the series.
March 19, 2016
Enjoyable read! Kept me guessing.
Loved the character development! I just wanted to continue to explore the secrets of the mansion. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
Loved the character development! I just wanted to continue to explore the secrets of the mansion. Looking forward to the next book in this series.
August 5, 2016
Dumb storyline, poorly written, filled with misused terms and corny phrasing. save your time!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews