The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge is technically the third book in the Rachel Savernake series, but can be read as a stand alone! I haven’t read the first two books yet, but believe they would mostly provide some character background on Rachel and perhaps one or two other characters.

There was a lot going on in this book! I liked all the mini mysteries surrounding the primary locked room mystery, but sometimes it did feel like there was a little *too* much going on, making it difficult to keep track of everything. The large number of characters didn’t help that feeling as well. I listened to the audiobook and it was a little difficult to tell whose POV we were in and who was talking at any particular point in time.

I am very interested in reading the earlier books in this series, though, so I can see a little more of Rachel’s investigative techniques!

I truly enjoyed this mystery, and it kept me musing for several weeks afterwards. The pacing was a bit off for me at points (I would have liked a tighter story with a bit less meandering) but the mystery and the setting kept me hooked throughout. I've not read the first two books in the series, but I did not feel lost in any way.
Helen MacFarlane's narration was also fantastic and added well to the gothic feeling of the book.

Blackstone Lodge is set in Yorkshire in 1930s. It is a tail in involving a locked room type mystery, a spooky tower, seances, dangerous caves, precarious cliffs, a small hostile village, and a very suspicious sanatorium.

There’s a huge number of characters to keep track of which did make it more difficult on audio. I liked all the breadcrumbs along the way to help me solve the mystery, and to throw me off track.

All of the characters were well written and I liked how smart the character, Rachel Savernake, was. She was not that likable to me, but I did enjoy her thought processes. I think if I would’ve read the first two books I may have felt different about her. It’s always best to know the backstory and about the character development when you read them in order.

A few things that stand out to me and made this book more enjoyable is I really appreciated there isn’t excessively graphic violence and there was no belittling of the women’s intelligence. I did not feel like this book had a lot of terror or horror on it. So I classified this book as more than a cozy, but not a bloody thriller.

The audio was done well and I enjoyed the narrator Helen MacFarlane

I really enjoyed the end and there was a good shock factor at the end. It was very well done and I would highly recommend this historical fiction mystery. As well as I’ll be reading the first couple books in this series.

3.5 Stars - This one started out really strong for me - interesting mystery, intriguing characters, atmospheric setting. It was a good mystery and I liked the resolution but I think it got a little too complex in the middle. Reading this one may work better than listening to it? That being said, the narrator is very good.

Set in the 1930s, THE PUZZLE OF BLACKSTONE LODGE does feel very Christie-esque from the locked-room aspect to the cast of characters. If you are a fan of Golden Age mysteries, this is a fun nod to that era and an enjoyable reading escape!

I’m a big fan of Martin Edwards but have not particularly liked the previous Rachel Savernake books, so this was a pleasant surprise.

It’s by far the best of the series, with an intricate and well-paced mystery and plenty of atmosphere.

There’s some implausibility to this that is common to puzzle mysteries, but despite the convoluted series of events and WAY too many murders that aren’t ac tally directly related, but at least it all makes sense in the end.

I liked the setting a lot and though Rachel isn’t really to my taste as amateur detectives go, her role in this works better than in other books in the series and the rest of the cast is an intriguing group of characters.

The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge is the third book in the Rachel Saversnake series, however, you do not need to have read the previous books in order to jump into this one. As a book advertised as for fans of Agatha Christie, and as a huge Christie fan myself, I thought this was a match. Unfortunately, I found the book slow and the mystery did not grasp my attention. Fair warning, I have not read the first two books, so its possible I could have enjoyed it more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media & Martin Edwards for an audio arc of The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge in exchange for an honest review.

"1930. Nell Fagan is a journalist on the trail of an intriguing and bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, judge's daughter Rachel Savernake. Thank goodness she did, because barely a week later Nell disappears, Rachel is left to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

Looking for answers, Rachel travels to lonely Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. With help from her friend Jacob Flint—who's determined to expose a fraudulent clairvoyant—Rachel will risk her life to bring an end to the disappearances and bring the truth to light.

A dazzling mystery peopled by clerics and medics, reporters and rogues, this book explores the shadowy borderlands between the spiritual and scientific, sanity and madness, and virtue and deadly sin."

I was so excited for this story as it sounded exactly like the type of story I enjoy. Sadly, this book bored me to tears. I had to stop and restart it multiple times over the last few weeks, which is not normal for me. I was trying to give it a chance thinking maybe I wasn't in the mood for it.

It was hard to follow and not at all entertaining. I am very sorry, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to @poisonedpenpress for sending me a physical copy and @dreamscape_media and @netgalley for gifting me an ALC for The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge.

This book is actually book 3 in the Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery series. However, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by reading this one as a stand alone.

This book gave me heavy Agatha Christie vibes with a journalist investigating Blackstone Fell where people have vanished multiple times over the years. Rachel Savernake is called in by said journalist and proceeds to solve this mystery that includes a (fake?) clairvoyant and eerie vibes.

There were a few slow parts in the storyline, but overall this is a solid mystery. One part of the ending I wasn’t super keen on, but it still gets a very positive review from me. If you’re into a mystery with this kind of vibe, I’d definitely recommend it.

The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge by Martin Edwards is the third installment of the Rachel Savenake Golden Age Mysteries. Before I realized that this was the the third book in the series, the storyline was a bit confusing. Once I realized that this was part of a series it made me want to check out the first two books. I did finish this book and it was a good murder mystery that tied up all the loose ends perfectly.

I hadn't realized that "The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge," by Martin Edwards, was the third book in the Rachel Savernake series, which led to some slight confusion when she is referred to in the first pages without any context--she finally appears almost 15% into the book. Until that point, it seemed that the novel's primary sleuth would be intrepid journalist Nell Fagan, who has traveled to Blackstone Fell in Yorkshire under an assumed name, purportedly to investigate the mystery of two men who disappeared into a locked tower centuries apart and were each never seen again. But Edwards' puzzle is much more complicated than a simple locked room mystery, and it takes all the cunning and wits of Rachel Savernake, the young and beautiful star of Edwards' series, as well as her retinue of household staff and journalist friend Jacob Flint, to uncover what's really going on in Blackstone Fell.

Author Edwards edits the popular British Library Crime Classics series of Golden Age mysteries, so expect all their usual trappings--a Gothic village peopled with eccentric characters, lots of tea and coffee meetings, a rising body count, and action that builds toward an elaborate set piece which gathers all the major suspects together for the big reveal. I loved the bits of British history woven into the plot as well as the windswept setting, and although I found Rachel herself a bit cold and offputting, I still enjoyed "The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge" and will go back and read the first two in the series to fill in more of her backstory. NOTE: I listened to this title on audiobook and thought narrator Helen MacFarlane did a great job of distinguishing between the many character voices and their many accents, from both a geographic and a class perspective, which added even more depth and interest to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Dreamscape Audio for providing me with an ARC of this title in return for my honest review.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @dreamscape_media for giving me access to an audio
ARC of this historical mystery !
The newest installment in Martin Edwards' fascinating historical crime series set in the 1930s. This book is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's or Dorothy L Sayers' writing with echoes of the golden age of crime writing and strong elements of the gothic.
The sleuth is Rachel Savernake, smart and strong willed with a strong sense of justice and remarkable gift for untangling mysteries - financially independent due to her inheritance.
Nell Fagan is a journalist with a chequered career, she is on the trail of a dangerous mystery centered at Blackstone Tower, in 1606, Edmund Mellor vanished from a locked gatehouse, 3 centuries later, it happens again with the disappearance of Alfred Lejeune. Nell is the new tenant of the 'cursed gatehouse', located in the remote Yorkshire village of Blackstone Fell, with its eerie and sinister landscape of moors, deadly bogs and caves, and an isolated cutting edge Sanatorium run by Professor Sambrook and his 2 children, Denzil and the scarred Daphne. Can Nell figure out what is going on here? She tries to entice Rachel with a joint investigation but Rachel senses Nell is not telling her everything. When Nell herself has a fatal accident an intrigued Rachel simply cannot resist investigating despite the inherent dangers, there is a whiff of far too many 'accidental deaths'. There are secrets and deceptions galore below the surface of a seemingly idyllic village and its widely disparate residents, that include the pretty Vicar's wife, a Doctor more interested in sports cars than people and a still grieving Major Huckerby, as Rachel pieces together all the intricate parts of the most complex of puzzles.
One of the highlights for me is the denouement scenario organised near the end by Rachel, everybody comes together to see a medium (ventriloquist) and the whole setting is just mystery perfection!

3.5 stars.

A good choice if you like British historical cozies without too much gore or violence, slower pace, and a smarter-than-most female protagonist. I didn't realize this was part of a series, so I figured Nell was our protagonist until she was killed and Rachel Savernake came into the forefront.

This is one of those stories you will never figure out so just sit back and enjoy the ride. Fairly well done with the suspension of disbelief and acceptance of a female in that era to have the kind of freedom, money, and influence Rachel does. It's satisfying, though.

I received a free audiobook copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Set in 1930s England, investigative journalist Nell Fagan wants a second chance at her career and investigates a mystery in a remote Yorkshire village with dire consequences. In 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell asks Rachel Savernake, investigator and daughter of a notorious "hanging judge" to help her. Rachel refuses at first but is drawn in when things get deadly.

This is the third book in the Rachel Savernake series but the first one I have read. I wasn't overly impressed, unfortunately. The plot was overly complicated, longer than it needed to be, and full of "Mary Sue" energy. I know you're supposed to like Rachel and admire her wit and cleverness, but she just came across as clairvoyant and haughty. I pushed through to the end, but I don't think I'll go back and read the first two. Oh well, they can't all be winners!

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. The premise sounded interesting, but unfortunately I couldn't get into it.

This overly complicated book has knotted my brain. The story here revolves around the mysterious deaths happening at the Blackstone Fell. Contradictory to the behaviour of its residents, this place in Yorkshire reaks of ill fate and fatalities. When a journalist (Nell) sniffs the stories of this mysterious town, she can't resist solving the mystery. But as she knows she can't take this big bite of a case, she confides in the expert (Rachel) for help. And thank God she did, as only a week in Blackstone and Nell is already dead, leaving Rachel to unearth the secrets of the deceased.

The book is marked 2nd in the Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mysteries series but can be read as a standalone too. There were too many characters to keep track and if you attempted to solve the mystery as you went along the story, you would surely end with a scribbled maze on paper, like me. Don't worry though, everything is explained towards the end, but I still feel the need to emphasise the level of complications this book has is relatively high.

Thank you @netgalley @dreamscape_media @medwardsbooks for this mysterious ARC.

Genre: #crime #mystery #thriller #murdermystery
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️

I tried really hard to enjoy this book. I worked a bit harder than I like to get all the way thru. I love a good mystery, and did enjoy the characters. However, I felt truly lost for most of the book. I literally listened to almost the entire book before I was finally (sort of) drawn in. Then I discovered the likely reason. There were two books in this series before this one, and it really wasn’t a stand-alone book. There was a lot of back story I could have used to fully immerse in the pages. I am pretty certain I would enjoy this series if if I were to seek out the first two books (in order) to read first.

Thank you, netgalley and Dreamscape media, for allowing me to listen to this audio book in exchange for an honest review. I treasure this opportunity!

Dear The Puzzle of Blackstone Lodge,
I kind of feel like I was missing things because you are the third in a series and I have not read the other two books. I feel like there was significant character development that I could have used as a way in. But I did love parts of you. I loved the puzzle at your core, and the way the two crimes and the side story ended up weaving into each other to create a giant knot. There were times I got lost in your cast of characters, and unfortunately, you just didn't transport me.

Unaware that this was the third instalment, I felt like I was lacking substantial background information while reading the story. Those who appreciate classic crime fiction, such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, and enjoy being transported to a bygone era while solving intricate puzzles will find Blackstone Fell appealing. I regret not beginning with the first book as I thoroughly savored the mystery in this tale.

A fun puzzle with an enthusiastic narrator. Number three in the series, though I have not read the first two.

1930. Nell Fagan is a journalist on the trail of an intriguing and bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in a remote Yorkshire village, and 300 years later, it happened again. Nell confides in the best sleuth she knows, judge's daughter Rachel Savernake. Thank goodness she did, because barely a week later Nell disappears, Rachel is left to put together the pieces of the puzzle. I hadn’t read the other books in the series but I will now. This was a story well told and I listened long into the night. The narrator was excellent. Lots of twists and turns and quite the ending.