This Lady Hardcastle mystery from author T.E. Kinsey follows on from A Quiet Life in the Country and In the Market for Murder. I’ve included images of all three covers as I rather like them and the continuity between them.

This third outing for Lady Hardcastle and her multi-talented Ladies’ maid, Flo Armstrong, sees the amateur sleuths invited to the country estate of Lord Riddlethorpe, ‘Fishy’ to his friends, to share in his passions for socialising and the new sport of motor racing. Their dreams of racing on the track are quickly scuppered however when one of the drivers who make up Fishy’s new team is killed in the first race in suspicious circumstances.

The police dismiss the death as accidental but the Riddlethorpe residents and guests are not so sure. With Lady H investigating upstairs and Flo investigating downstairs, the formidable duo take on the case and get to the bottom of the mystery though not before the body count rises and scandal is threatened! 

I enjoyed this cosy Edwardian mystery as much as I did the first two in the series and the repartee between Lady Hardcastle and Flo was again a particular highlight. Some of the dialogue is playfully posh in the novel too and I found that people greeting each other in all seriousness along the lines of “What-ho Fishy!” really made me smile. 

I was quite pleased with myself that I picked up some of the clues laid out by TE Kinsey throughout the book but I still didn’t work out the specifics of this mystery which I consider to be a good thing. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a feel-good cosy murder mystery with a nice splash of humour.

Thank you Net Galley.  Cozy mysteries set in old England are fun and relaxing to read. This one is another excellent adventure from T.E. Kinsey.  The story is well plotted and well written. The author uses some interesting and obscure vocabulary which I enjoyed very much.  The book keeps you hooked to the end. I enjoy the Lady Hardcastle adventures a great deal and look forward to reading future installments.

This was a charming story about a wealthy widow and her maid.  When they arrive for a week's vacation at their host's house, their intent is to be immersed in the new world of racing cars (this is the early 1900s) and to try a race themselves on the host's track.  But when a driver is killed in the first race, the racing is abandoned..  The police dismiss the death as a terrible accident, but the chauffeur discovers the brake line had been cut, causing the car to crash into a tree.  A few days later, another guest is found murdered in the garage, this time by a spanner to the head.  Now the police begin to investigate, but the widow and her maid  are better and faster.  

The ending was a surprise.  I enjoyed this cozy mystery and would read more by this author.

Actually I can hardly wait to read this book! I enjoyed the first 2 books so much, I read this one in Kindle as well as audiobook and this book did not disappoint. I really like the characters of Lady Hardcastle and Florence Armstrong, the 2 of them make this book is very interesting and enjoyable. Highly recommended if you like the first 2 books.

Thank you Netgalley for this book.

Synopsis

September 1909, and Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, have been invited to Lord Riddlethorpe’s country estate for a week of motor racing and parties. They both agree that it sounds like a perfectly charming holiday. But when one of the drivers dies in a crash during the very first race, they discover that what seemed like an uncharacteristic error in judgement, reveals that the driver’s car was sabotaged—and the driver murdered. 

Book Review plus 4.7 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed the story.  This story illustrates the difference in classes among those who live above the stairs and those who live below the stairs.  It is interesting to see the difference among the servants below the stairs .  Florence is a ladies maid who gets the information for her lady as their investigate.  It is just so thoroughly enjoyalbe story!!!

I am not much of a fan of the modern cosy mystery but I always enjoy these period ones. [book:Death around the Bend|33537259] is set in the early 1900's and has the upstairs /downstairs settings of the old English country house, horses and carts as well as the newly invented motor cars and lots of high teas and croquet on the lawn. Lovely!
I very much enjoyed the characters of Lady Hardcastle and her ladies maid, Florence Armstrong. They have a great relationship and exchange frequent, witty banter. Lady Hardcastle is quite forward thinking and treats Florence more like a friend than a servant but as they try to solve a variety of murders they find that having a 'spy' downstairs is very useful.
The mystery is cleverly constructed and I came nowhere near guessing the culprit although with hindsight it was pretty obvious.  Nicely written and full of interesting vocabulary - I had to resort to the dictionary twice , once for bimble and once for jentacular. I don't think I will be using the latter but I just have to remember bimble for future use.
Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a quality cosy mystery.

Another delightful Lady Hardcastle book. This series of books is most enjoyable - each mystery proceeds at a gentle pace with ample time to enjoy the nuances of the plot,  the characters and the humorous exchanges between the two main characters.  I particularly like the use of language in these books which really sets the scene for the period. A book to buy and read. I'm already looking forward to the next in the series.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advance copy of Death Around the Bend, the third novel to feature Lady Emily Hardcastle and her maid Florence Armstrong.

It's 1908 and Lady Hardcastle has been invited to Lord Riddlethorpe's estate for a visit and to see his racing cars. She misses out on the chance to drive one when a racing driver is killed in the first race. The police call it an accident, Lady Hardcastle and Flo call it murder when they discover that the car was sabotaged.

I thoroughly enjoyed Death Around the Bend which is a fun read. In keeping with the era it is a straightforward, 1st person narrative of the events from Flo's point of view. The reader knows no more or less than Flo does so it is fun to try and work out the perpetrator and motive along with her and Lady Hardcastle. I didn't manage it ahead of them as the plotting is cleverly done and it could have been anyone.

The plot, however, is not the main thrust of the novel, that is the humour and banter between Lady Hardcastle and Flo which make for a fun read. Their relationship is unorthodox for the time in that while Flo is employed by Lady Hardcastle they are more like best friends and equals. It allows the author leeway in his humour and dialogue and makes for a fun read. I do wish that he would share some of the detail of their past adventures with us.

I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.

4 stars

In 1909, Lady Hardcastle and Flo her companion are both present at the opening of this new novel by T.E. Kinsey. The Lady and Flo are packing for a week’s trip to the country to visit Lord “Fishy” Riddlethorpe who is the owner of an automobile racing track. They plan to have a great deal of fun and perhaps even drive one of the race cars! 

Everyone is shocked when during the very first race an accident causes the death of one of the drivers. While the police brush off any foul play, Lady Hardcastle and Flo are sure he was murdered. 

The pair are off on another adventure to discover the killer and the reason why the man was murdered. They interview the staff, including a surly footman and an outgoing driver. They surreptitiously interview the other house guests. 

When another murder is committed, the police do get involved this time for it is without doubt that the person was indeed murdered. An attempted poisoning increases the tension in our story. When the killer is revealed, it comes as a surprise. 

These books are well written and plotted in an easy manner. The relationship between the Lady and her companion is laid back and witty. This is one example of the best in the cozy genre of mysteries. Gently joking at times, the Lady and Flo get to the bottom of the crime. The suspense builds slowly; the reader almost doesn’t notice it. I enjoy T.E. Kinsey’s novels and will continue to read them.

I want to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for forwarding to me a copy of this nice little book to read.

This is the third book in the Lady Hardcastle Mystery series, although this is the first one I have read, but even before I was half-way through this I bought the first two novels.  Narrated by Florence Armstrong, lady’s maid to Lady Hardcastle this is full of spills and thrills.  I must admit that in some ways the partnering of the two women here made me think of Madame Vastra and Jenny Flint from Doctor Who.

Firstly the two are invited to a neighbour’s house to be asked to work out a conundrum about how a friend always seems to know what he is up to with regards to building his go-kart for their annual race.  But before they can solve this they are off to a large house for some partying and watching racing courtesy of Lord Riddlethorpe, and thus find themselves walking straight into murder and intrigue.

This does make for a very enjoyable mystery, and all the clues are there to aid you in working out what is happening, so you can test yourself against the dynamic duo.  With some romance, a peek at life above and below stairs, as well as different types of relationships this does have a lot to offer and makes for a very good read.

This starts with a car crash on Lord Riddlethorpe’s private race track, which although initially is believed to have been an accident resulting in death, soon proves to be otherwise, and thus there is skulduggery as lives are put at risk, but who is behind it, and why?

If you enjoy a good mystery tale that has other elements in its favour as well then you should probably enjoy this.  

I was very kindly provided with a review copy of this by the publisher via NetGalley for reviewing purposes.