Homefront Sleuths Mysteries - (Audio) Book Reviews

 

 

The Blackout Murders
(The Homefront Sleuths Cozy Mystery Series, Book 1)

By Anna Elliott, Charles Veley
Narrated by Iona Campbell

England, 1941. The tranquil village of Crofter’s Green seems like a haven from the chaos of wartime. But when a local air raid warden is found dead in the village churchyard, five villagers decide they need to uncover the truth:

Evie Harris, recently widowed, is new in the village, where she is opening a tea shop (in spite of the difficulty of finding ingredients in wartime).
Dorothy Baker is a young mother who is helping her 
Alice Greenleaf, the village herbalist.
Blake Collins, a schoolteacher, wounded in the war (and with a talent to see patterns that others might miss).
Harry Jenkins, a retired detective. 

 

(The setup of characters reminds me a bit of "The Thursday Murder Club" which I watched as film some time around Christmas, and then also listened to as audio book - but found my impressions of the two clashing a bit in my head, so did not get round to writing a review.)

 

As I'd never heard of this book/series before, and it was included for free, I didn't expect all that much from it. But I found it entertaining enough to keep me company through the first week of my recent cold - even if I also frequently kept dozing off to it, so for that reason did not find it all easy to keep track of all details. 

 

And when I had finished the first, the next one in the series turned up for me as well - so why not continue...

 

 

 

The Spectre of Hawthorne Manor 

(The Homefront Sleuths Cozy Mystery Series, Book 2)

By Anna Elliott, Charles Veley
Narrated by Iona Campbell 

 

"England, 1941: Evie Harris doesn’t believe in ghosts—not even when she spots a glowing figure outside her bedroom window in the quiet village of Crofter’s Green. But when the same eerie spectre is seen by Lord Hawthorne, tied to a long-buried family scandal, even Evie starts to wonder if the past is haunting Hawthorne Manor.

Before she can investigate, Lord Hawthorne is found dead at the bottom of his grand staircase. An accident? Not likely. When the glowing figure begins tormenting Lady Gwendolyn, Evie rallies the Homefront Sleuths to unravel the manor’s secrets.

As the sleuths dig deeper, the twists keep coming:

    A furious daughter returns for the reading of the will.
    Priceless antiques vanish from the estate.
    And Lady Gwendolyn’s strange behavior hints at dangers far beyond ghostly hauntings.

With hidden passageways, family feuds, and wartime schemes at every turn, the sleuths must race to uncover the truth. Is the danger truly from the dead—or the living?"¨

(Just quoting the Audible presentation in full with this one.)

Having got to know the characters a bit better now, I think I'll also continue with No 3 in the series - which also automatically popped up as soon I had finished No 2...

 

 

 

For those who prefer reading with the eyes rather than listening, I see that the books are also available for Kindle at rather reasonable prices.