Heirlooms and Homicide

Hearts Grove #1

by Danielle Collins

A mysterious death, an antique box, and a missing girl.A cozy mystery from #1 Bestselling author Danielle CollinsHenrietta Hewitt runs an antique store in Hearts Grove, Washington. In the process of collecting antiques, she comes across countless unusual items, many with a story. Some with secrets. When a missing girl is mixed with a prized antique, things turn deadly. Can Henrietta solve the mystery of the antique box and keep everyone safe?Heirlooms and Homicide is the first book in the Hearts Grove Cozy Mystery series. If you enjoy cozy mysteries with interesting characters, you don’t want to miss the Hearts Grove Cozy Mysteries.Download Heirlooms and Homicide and start solving your next mystery today!Always FREE on Kindle Unlimited

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Novella, Amazon, Thriller

156 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 2, 2019

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery listening 🏠😉🎵😮🎶

This kindle novel is from my Kindle Unlimited account book one of twelve

She has a antique shop and is a part time detective. The retired police officer who is now a PI approaches her with a case. It leads to a load of twist and turns leading to the truth and a happy ending 😆.

I would recommend this series and author to readers of romantic family and friends relationships adventure mystery novels 😮😎👒 2024

This is the third series by this author and I have enjoyed each. Happy reading and have fun 😜.

[Linda Langford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cover attracted me to this book, and the blurb sounded interesting, so I bought it. I was pleased to find this short story well-written, well-edited, and very good! The protagonist, Henrietta, is a strong leading character who thinks logically, and reminded me of amateur sleuth, Jessica Fletcher in the TV shows. Henrietta is surrounded by likeable and caring co-workers and friends. Sepia, her Siamese cat is a beautiful pet and companion. I highly recommend this book, especially if you’re looking for a short, fast read. I look forward to reading future books in this new series.

[Paulette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Very quick read. It read like it was composed off of note cards. No information about the characters who clearly have ongoing relationships. The homicide was not really developed or an integral part of the story at all. I could go on. This was a Kindle Unlimited book. I'm very glad I didn't pay for it.

[Kiki Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, let's just get straight to the problem--this wasn't well-written at all. The homicide is only mentioned once or twice towards the end, and I don't think we're actually told if it was really a homicide or not; we're just supposed to assume it was, I think. The main mystery is a girl Henrietta's friend Ralph, a PI, is looking for. Despite claiming she doesn't want to help, she ends up helping. Her random albeit measured guesses are always correct without fail. She manages to figure out everything easily, and she gets the girl to talk to her.

And here's where the writing really fails: nothing happens. Henrietta's guesses are always right, the information is easily persuaded from people who don't need to talk to them, and the two threats that are made aren't very scary or acted on. Bottom line, there's no tension or suspense or anything to compel you to keep reading. If this story was any longer, I probably wouldn't have. To be honest, the lack of tension is probably because there's zero mystery to it. A majority of this book feels like a setup to a full plot, but no, somehow this is all that happens: Ralph is hired to track down a girl who fled home, Henrietta gets two vague threats, Henrietta and Ralph talk a lot, Scott has a crush on Henrietta's assistant, they find the girl, the girl tells them everything, the criminals are apprehended after little drama and investigation.

Another reason this book feels so lackluster is the lack of non-dialogue thoughts. It might as well not be in any specific point of view because we're not privy to much of Henrietta's thought process, emotions, or anything else. The level of detachment here is pretty strong. With no strong characters, little mystery, and a hasty plot, this doesn't feel like a fully fleshed out story so much as an outline or a first draft. Although I have a set of the first three books, I won't be reading number two.

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me long to figure out how old the main character was. It wasn't mentioned and it wasn't really clear either. That wants to say that characters were extremely flat.

This was cozy, there is no denying that. The mystery wasn't really intriguing and the plot a bit mess.

This was quick read, but easy to forget.

[Shirley K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heirlooms

The author dumps the reader right into the story with no background of the characters. Who, what , why, and how are lacking so the whole thing is disjointed. Who is Harriet, who is Ralph? What is the relationship between them? Why does Ralph think Harriet should be a private investigator when she has a thriving antiques business? There is no way for the reader to know, nor bond with the characters. I will not read any more books by this author.

[Krystyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puzzles and secrets

Awesome. A very readable story with a great plot that has a great ending. A story based on a puzzle box. If you have ever had one the satisfaction of getting in is vast, warm characters even if the main character Henri starts of as being slightly cold and aloof. As the story progresses all the characters emerge fully developed and well fleshed out.
When her PI friend tells her about a girl that is being sought by her parents, her curiosity is aroused. Then when she purchases an old puzzle box at an estate sale things go into overdrive. Threats, a break in and no way to get into the box as it also has a code placed on the secret compartment. Can they find the girl? Will they be able to break the code? What is in the secret compartment? Why are the parents so intent on finding a 20 year old that left a written note for them?

[Tari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really quick and fun first book in a brand new series. I enjoyed getting to know the main characters, and Henrietta and her friend Ralph made quite the investigating pair, despite her protests that she wasn't going to investigate with him. There was no murder, but it was a good mystery case with a twist at the end that I didn't really see coming, some puzzles to solve and a great resolution for a nice girl named Cybil. I'm definitely interested in reading more of this series.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little whodunit story. Four stars of entertainment.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I downloaded this through Kindle Unlimited because I wanted something quick and interesting to read because I was struggling with the other books I was reading.

This was a quick read but it felt like a game of "and then" at points because the author was telling us what happened with not a lot of description. The way the characters talked was over the top in places - it felt stilted which ruined it.

Heirlooms and Homicide had some good ideas but the execution was lacking. If it had been a little bit more developed and the speech had been more realistic I would have enjoyed it a lot more.


Also, where was the homicide?

[Babs]

Henrietta is the owner of an antiques store and Ralph is a family friend and PI. He has a case he wants help with and even though Henri says no she helps anyway.

At an auction she finds an old puzzle box and bids on it and wins at the dismay of someone else that was bidding against her. Now with threatening notes and a blueberry festive on the way she can only just move on and hope for the best.

Will the missy girl Cybil have anything to do with this?

A fun mystery with some twists. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on and who was behind it but the guessing was part of the fun. The characters were well developed and easy to like. A fun read in this series. This is the first book I have read.

[Merry Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in a very promising new series by Danielle Collins. If you are a follower of the author's other series then you know this one is going to be good. The main character is a strong willed woman named Henrietta who runs an Antique shop in Hearts Grove living above the shop. Then we have Ralph and his son who run an investigation agency who want Henrietta to work with them in the agency since Ralph keeps telling her she has incredible deductive and reasoning abilities that would really help in the investigations. And he tells her he has a case concerning a missing girl who seems to have run away from her parents and would like her help. She keeps saying no, but will she actually get involved. When she goes to an auction looking for antiques, Ralph asks to come along with her. When she finds an antique box that strikes her fancy, she bids on it against a hidden bidder she can't see. She wins the box and then the story takes off on a fast track that keeps you turning pages until the end! You just can't put this book down once you begin. I can't wait to see what Henrietta and Ralph will get themselves into next! I received and ARC but the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

[Courtney ✩ · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely quick, easy, cozy mystery. Obviously at 150ish pages it’s not in depth, not a whole lot of character development, and resolves very quickly. However, knowing it’s a long series of book, there’s likely to be more of the above coming? Will give book 2 a go and see if it’s worth continuing after!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
I liked that there is no murder. There is death, disappearances, and kidnapping. So there is lots of mystery to wonder about. I liked the characters we are introduced to, like Ralph, Henrietta, Olivia and Scott. I like the antiques and can’t wait to learn more about them. This is a great start!

[Clemmie Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The puzzle box

This felt like a Sunday night mystery movie to me.love the way it didn't take long to get into the plot. Peaked my interest from the beginning.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henrietta owned an antique shop. Her friend Ralph was a PI and asked her to help him find a girl who was missing. She was at an estate sale and bought a puzzle box which causes lots of problems.

[Hannah Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little short cozy mystery, will read more in the series for the vibe

[Drishika Bikraj · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an easy to read cozy mystery. The plot was intriguing but there was a lack of suspense. I wasn't a fan of the way Henrietta guessed on the first try the passcode to the mysterious box and all the other details she got right. I would have loved a little bit more insight into her thought process.

[Patricia L .Jex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun, light read. The title is a little misleading, there is really no homicide here, and there were a couple of logic gaps in the story, but the characters were likable and the story kept my interest.

[Charlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cozy mystery

This cozy mystery had a twist I didn’t see. Most will find the characters interesting. I’ll probably read the next in the series.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heirlooms and Homicide is a novella by Danielle Collins. It is about Henrietta, who is the owner of an antique store. She gets roped in, by a private investigator friend, to help find a missing girl. And then she begins getting threats because she bought a mysterious box at an estate sale. The book is 14 chapters long, 156 pages long.

My first thought about the book was that it felt kind of bland. I didn’t like the characters much. I don’t particularly like Henrietta. She’s one of those types of characters that I wouldn’t want to know personally; considering the way she thinks about people and talks to them. Even with people she’s meant to be on friendly terms with, she has some rude stuff to say about them. I got the feeling that the author was trying to make her seem like she was making jokes, but just so much of what Henrietta said and thought was pretty rude. She even ends up blackmailing some guy for information; information that she had no right to have (considering the guy had privacy concerns of his clients to think about). And it felt weird that the private investigator friend kept insisting that she needed to become a private investigator. I just didn’t understand why he would think that. She wasn’t particularly gifted in investigations in any way. It was just by coincidence that she happened to find the girl a few times. If the guy really wanted more investigators, why not just hire them? The “friendship” between Henrietta and Ralph felt really awkward because of the behaviour of both of them. It felt like neither of them even liked each other. They were just using each other for work purposes. Yet the author kept insisting that there was a friendship between them, even though the way they spoke to each other was far from friendship. Henrietta was just so unlikeable for me.

And I think it’s weird that the cat was allowed to roam freely around the shop. Considering the expense and age of many of the items that would be there, I think having a cat in the area is an absolutely terrible idea; considering how cats are well known for clawing at things, and causing huge damages to things like furniture. And apparently the cat sleeps in a grandfather clock. Which (after a quick look on a search engine) I find that could be harmful to the clock. Being that cat fur could get stuck in any clock gears, meaning that it might not work properly because of the cat fur. Honestly, if it were me, I would not let a cat anywhere near a lot of these antique things; regardless of how easy going a cat might be. It seems weird how this cat is written to be around in this business so much.

I felt like there needed to be more explanations to what’s going on in scenes, where characters are, why they’re there. The author often left out a lot of details, in my opinion. And to be blunt, the author didn’t really give much of a description of a variety of the main characters, or primary locations. At a lot of points in the book, it’s very unclear as to who is speaking. There’ll be multiple lines of text, with very little indication as to who said what. On a similar note, it’s very difficult to determine what they mean by statements, in a lot of cases. I felt like the author needed to be clearer with a bunch of remarks people would make. And, also, a lot of the behaviour of characters just doesn’t make sense and isn’t logical in any way. A bunch of times throughout the book, I was left wondering, “why the heck would (character) do that?” And unnecessary attention is called on things that can be highly irrelevant in the book; meanwhile, things that should be more important don’t get much of a second look. Such as the Blackberry festival; for how important the author makes it out to be, I felt like we didn’t get much of a view of it. It feels like the entire theme of the Blackberry festival could have just been taken out of the book and it wouldn’t be much different without the festival. Yet the author keeps bringing up mentions of irrelevant things like a book that the protagonist is writing, judgey thoughts about what other people are doing with their property and lives, and mentions of the cat. I felt like there were so many irrelevant characters introduced. Some really important characters got very little time, whereas unimportant ones got a lot.

There weren’t many clues to the mystery; not much evidence to follow. Henrietta herself didn’t even seem to care much about the investigation. A lot of the investigation work wasn’t done by Henrietta. And the stuff she was involved with was just guesswork and assumptions on her part. Even the puzzle box, which is so plot important, didn’t have much evidence to solving it. She had a few lucky guesses as to what the number combination might be, and happened to be right. Also, the title says “Homicide”, but the majority of the plot has nothing of the sort; only a sort of assumption that a guy might have been murdered.

Overall… Hmmmmm… I don’t really know. It was okay in some ways. I thought the mystery aspects were pretty bland and obvious as to where they were leading. In other ways I didn’t like a bunch of stuff about the book. For example, I didn’t really like the characters much. Henrietta in particular wasn’t a very nice person, and had a tendency to say and think rude remarks about people. There were aspects about the writing that I wasn’t a fan of; I felt like the author needed to be more descriptive about a lot of things, and give more explanation as to who is talking at points. Otherwise, I feel like the book did have a bit of promise. Considering it’s the first book in a series, I feel like the next one could be better. So, I might read further on into the series.

[Michele Blanchard · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a cozy mystery book, this was okay. I didn’t think the descriptions or introductions to the characters were well written, so that it was often confusing who was who or if they were important to the story. Also, I couldn’t get over a key detail that seemed to be an error in the book. There is this puzzle box in the story that they can’t open, but then say they found the initials of the puzzle maker INSIDE the box - which gives them a clue to opening it. How can this be? If they can’t open the box, how did they see the initials in the box? I don’t think I will be reading any more of this series.

[Rhona Crouthamel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

I was a bit disappointed in this book. I found the characters and the storyline both very poorly developed. Henrietta never really seemed to follow any clues to solve things, rather merely guessed, intuition she said, at what was happening, but no clear path was laid out for the reader. Finally, I found Henrietta quite unlikeable, which isn't great in your main character. The other characters were so poorly developed there was no way to form an opinion. I don't believe I will be moving any further in this series.

[MarkedWoman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was interesting, although not particularly intricate. The characters were not as well developed as they could have been. I did enjoy the view of historical restoration the author expressed through her main character, that modernization does not have to involve elements changing the character of the original structure. I would like to see this author do something more lengthy and develop both characters and plot more.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read and the front runner to a series.
I found that it was quite well paced and there were a few enjoyable twists and turns.
Well written, fun read. Can't wait to get back to Heart's Grove.
I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy and give my review willingly.

[Jessica Proepper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice cozy read. Nothing too crazy or wow but kept me interested. 3.5 stars.
It was a bit predictable.

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henrietta attends an estate sale to procure some items for her shop. While there, she bids on an antique puzzle box and ends up winning it. In the meantime, her friend Ralph (who's been trying to convince Henrietta to work for his PI business) asks for her input on a missing persons case. A young woman from the east coast has disappeared, and her parents hired Ralph in an effort to find her. Her trail went cold in Heart's Grove. Soon after buying the box, Henrietta starts receiving threatening messages warning her not to sell it. Henrietta is no wilting violet and she goes ahead with plans to offer the box in a silent auction. It soon becomes apparent that the mystery of the box and the mystery of the missing woman are converging. Henrietta is convinced that if she solves one half of the mystery, she'll solve the other as well.

To begin with, this is the first in a series, but I felt like I got dropped into the middle of a series. This may be a spin-off, but who knows? There is history between Henrietta and Ralph (as friends, not romantically), and Henrietta seems to be quite affluent although no mention is made as to how or why. It was frustrating. Beyond that, I did enjoy the story. Henrietta is engaging enough, and the plot proceeded at a good pace. Best of all, the mystery did not involve a murder. I maintain that more cozies should focus on missing persons or stolen goods, etc.

A staunch and lively heroine, an intriguing mystery, and a cat. Woo! Four stars.

[Lisa Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the verge of the blackberry festival, antique store owner Henrietta Hewitt goes in search of just the right little antique to donate to the silent auction. This brings her to an estate sale and when a mystery bidder bids her up on that oh so lovely little jewelry box Henrietta has the feeling there's more to it than just a love of collecting. She's right. The threats start the very next day.

Meanwhile her PI pal Ralph has dragged her into his missing person case. A couple from the east coast have lost touch with their daughter and are terribly concerned. Henrietta and Ralph soon learn there's more to this missing girl case than meets the eye.

It was a lovely read. Henrietta feels like old southern money but the story is set in the Pacific Northwest. Henri, as Ralph calls her, could easily be a transplant I suppose. Plenty of those. It's a cute, cozy read. Almost not a policeman in sight. Just enough characters to keep things moving and a plot that was uncluttered. Series start.

[Meghana Suresh · Rating 2 out of 5]

As advertised, this book is definitely a cozy mystery. It is a breezy read that doesn't require you to pay too much attention nor does it make you get out of your seat in surprise, wonder... or anything, really. Our heroine seems to find all of the answers pretty quickly and extremely conveniently which takes away from the fun of a whodunnit story. I need more!
Where's the backstory? Where's the satisfaction of uncovering a mystery? What's the reasoning behind Henrietta's deductions?
And no, 'intuition' is not always a satisfactory answer.
I expected to feel the same 'warm, cozy excitement without the stress' vibe that series such as Famous Five or Secret Seven would give me. But this was only warm and cozy, so excuse me if I dozed off in between.
I did love the overall vibe of the book though and will probably read part II in the series in the hope that it will bring a little more excitement in my reading journey. A 2.5 from me!

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new to me cozy mystery series by an author I've never read before.

Set in a small American town called Hearts Grove, the main characters are connected with the lovely antiques shop run by Henrietta Hewitt, she's helped by Olivia. The other main characters are father and son Ralph and Scott, Private Investigators. Ralph is the husband of Henriettas best friend who died a few years before.

The 1st story is about a missing person's case Ralph has and a puzzle box which Heberietta wins at an auction.

The books are quick and easy to read, no bad language just good cozy mystery reading. Ideal for an afternoon on the sofa with a blanket and a cuppa.

I really enjoyed the first book and have the second ready to read.