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Charles Honeybath #2
Honeybath's haven
When portrait-painter and occasional detective Charles Honeybath pays a visit to his old friend Edwin Lightfoot, there are a few surprises in store. Edwin's irksome wife is packing her bags, while Edwin is indulging in an eccentric game of pretense - acting the part of a long-dead petty criminal named Flannel Foot. Days later, when Edwin disappears, Honeybath finds himself with a mystery to solve and some decisions to make about his life - will he be lured by his intended haven?
191 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Michael Innes
130 books92 followersMichael Innes was the pseudonym of John Innes MacKintosh (J.I.M.) Stewart (J.I.M. Stewart).
He was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Oriel College, Oxford. He was Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds from 1930 - 1935, and spent the succeeding ten years as Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1949, to become a Lecturer at the Queen's University of Belfast. In 1949 he became a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a Professor by the time of his retirement in 1973.
As J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of works of non-fiction, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as about twenty works of fiction and a memoir, 'Myself and Michael Innes'.
As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective John Appleby.
He was born in Edinburgh, and educated at Edinburgh Academy and Oriel College, Oxford. He was Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds from 1930 - 1935, and spent the succeeding ten years as Jury Professor of English at the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
He returned to the United Kingdom in 1949, to become a Lecturer at the Queen's University of Belfast. In 1949 he became a Student (Fellow) of Christ Church, Oxford, becoming a Professor by the time of his retirement in 1973.
As J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of works of non-fiction, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as about twenty works of fiction and a memoir, 'Myself and Michael Innes'.
As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective John Appleby.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 21, 2021
The unfortunately named, uncharismatic Charles Honeybath is middle-aged but has already bought himself a room in an upscale retirement home for future matriculation. When his friend and fellow-artist Edwin Lightfoot (also middle-aged) starts to show signs of senility, Honeybath donates his quarters at Hanwell Court to Lightfoot, who promptly falls into a pond (or was he pushed?), is entangled amid the seaweed being grown there by a kelp-hobbyist inmate, and drowns. This happens late in the book, and you won't care who killed Lightfoot or why, just as you will have failed to be captivated by any of the events happening prior to the murder. (I've already forgotten all of them.) Lightfoot's brother-in-law and art dealer is doing something dishonest with Lightfoot's early paintings, and a doctor at the facility is conducting a nefarious experiment, persuading Lightfoot to paint zinnias although Lightfoot doesn't even know what zinnias are. There's a mysterious man in a Panama hat who lives at Hanwell Court, who turns out to be some kind of gangster. Did he kill Lightfoot? I finished the book yesterday and I've already forgotten. (Maybe I need a room at Hanwell Court myself.)
Innes (a pseudonym) wears his donnishness heavily, and the book is turgid with words like untenanted, confabulations, discreditable, refection, and pertinacity. The stiffest, most circumlocutory possible way to say something is always chosen:
"In that unassuming hostelry there would be a considerable interval before Honeybath could hope to dine." He "contrived to secure a conveyance to take him to the railway station..."
"The two men returned to their hotel in the hair-raising fashion inseparable from a nocturnal ride across Rome in a taxi-cab."
"Had it not presented, as it decidedly did, a somewhat run-down appearance, the inescapable inference would have been that its proprietor was in the enjoyment of affluence."
I learned two new words: louring (a variant of lowering) and curtilage (an area of land attached to a house and forming one enclosure with it). I'm sure I'll be able to toss these into future conversations.
September 2, 2017
Honeybath's Haven (1977) features one of Michael Innes's less prominent recurring characters, the portrait painter Charles Honeybath. Honeybath used to be quite close with fellow artist Edwin Lightfoot, by as time passed they saw less and less of each other until he runs across Lightfoot's brother-in-law Ambrose Prout at the Savage Club. Prout is quite concerned about Lightfoot and thinks it will do him a world of good if Honeybath would drop in and see him.Charles understands Prout's concern when he finds Lightfoot playing "charades"--pretending to be be a long-dead housebreaker who went under the name of "Flannel Foot."
Is his friend really dotty? Honeybath sees glimmers of the old Lightfoot peeking out and when he discovers that Lightfoot's wife is packing her bags to leave him, Charles convinces the artist to take his spot at Hanwell Court, an exclusive home for the elderly. But when Lightfoot's body is found tangled in the seaweeds growing in a saline pool on the grounds, Charles begins to wonder if something more sinister had been going on all along at Lightfoot's house. Especially, when you take into consideration the sudden discovery of "missing' Lightfoot paintings that the brother-in-law is buying up like hotcakes. You wouldn't think that a mystery in the British countryside would involve gangsters, red Indians, and a statue of Poseidon....but it does.
Okay...this has got to be the most convoluted of all the bizarre Michael Innes books I've read. Every once in a while Innes takes his reader on a trip through a murderous Wonderland where anything can happen and things don't always seem to be right-side-up. I'm normally pretty okay with that--I loved The Open House, for instance. But this time, Innes took me up the garden path on the other side of the Looking Glass and lost me. I distinctly remember liking Charles Honeybath the last time I met him (long ago and far away when I first discovered Innes), but this time I found him rather irritating. The best moment in the book is when Honeybath is on the train and has a rather weird conversation with an inmate from Hanwell Court. Innes does do dialogue well on the whole. But I can't say that I recommend this particular book.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Is his friend really dotty? Honeybath sees glimmers of the old Lightfoot peeking out and when he discovers that Lightfoot's wife is packing her bags to leave him, Charles convinces the artist to take his spot at Hanwell Court, an exclusive home for the elderly. But when Lightfoot's body is found tangled in the seaweeds growing in a saline pool on the grounds, Charles begins to wonder if something more sinister had been going on all along at Lightfoot's house. Especially, when you take into consideration the sudden discovery of "missing' Lightfoot paintings that the brother-in-law is buying up like hotcakes. You wouldn't think that a mystery in the British countryside would involve gangsters, red Indians, and a statue of Poseidon....but it does.
Okay...this has got to be the most convoluted of all the bizarre Michael Innes books I've read. Every once in a while Innes takes his reader on a trip through a murderous Wonderland where anything can happen and things don't always seem to be right-side-up. I'm normally pretty okay with that--I loved The Open House, for instance. But this time, Innes took me up the garden path on the other side of the Looking Glass and lost me. I distinctly remember liking Charles Honeybath the last time I met him (long ago and far away when I first discovered Innes), but this time I found him rather irritating. The best moment in the book is when Honeybath is on the train and has a rather weird conversation with an inmate from Hanwell Court. Innes does do dialogue well on the whole. But I can't say that I recommend this particular book.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
December 3, 2019
"POOL OF DEATH ...
"Most of the inhabitants of Hanwell Court, an exclusive home for the elderly, are more than a little dotty. And one of them -- artist Edwin Lightfoot -- is more than a little drowned. It seems that he stumbled an fell into a saline pool where another inmate grows seaweeds -- that he died in the greedy embrace of an underwater plant. Lightfoot's friend Charles Honeybath, also an artist, suspects foul play. Gangsters, red Indians, and a statue of Poseidon enter the picture. It all adds up to one of Michael Innes' most murderous flights of fancy."
~~back cover
A very convoluted plot, and most of the book was the ruminations of prissy little Charles Honeybath, although he was right in smelling a rat. Not one of my more favored works by this author.
"Most of the inhabitants of Hanwell Court, an exclusive home for the elderly, are more than a little dotty. And one of them -- artist Edwin Lightfoot -- is more than a little drowned. It seems that he stumbled an fell into a saline pool where another inmate grows seaweeds -- that he died in the greedy embrace of an underwater plant. Lightfoot's friend Charles Honeybath, also an artist, suspects foul play. Gangsters, red Indians, and a statue of Poseidon enter the picture. It all adds up to one of Michael Innes' most murderous flights of fancy."
~~back cover
A very convoluted plot, and most of the book was the ruminations of prissy little Charles Honeybath, although he was right in smelling a rat. Not one of my more favored works by this author.
June 11, 2020
I read this "who dunnit?" from the well known former Oxford don, Michael Innes (or J.I. M. Stewart, his real name) in German, mainly to keep up my German. "Honeybath's Haven" is the English title for this book, which was written in 1977. This German translation, by Otto Bayer, really caught the sophisticated almost verbose style of the higher level intellectuals. However, the underlying story is established so carefully it almost seems to drag, until the final 10 pages or so, which satisfyingly pull together all of the details one was inclined to throw one's hands up. I think the book is reading if you can be bothered to get to the end--where really all the strange impressions gathered by the protagonist--who is puzzled by the death of his friend who he had put up in a retirement home for the very wealthy (which according to Innes (a Scotchman teaching in Oxford for his day job) in England frequently seems to be related to highly idiosyncratic bordering on "odd"type of individual. Can't divulge the ending as it would spoil this book, but if this is one of Innes' less successful books, I think I will hunt down one of his others.
June 29, 2025
Summary: Little does artist Charles Honeybath think that yielding his place in a senior home will lead to an artist friend’s death.
I’ve long been a fan of Michael Innes Appleby mysteries. I did not look too closely when I picked up several Innes paperbacks with the green Penguin crime fiction spines. Therefore, I did not realize I had found an Innes book in which Appleby was not the protagonist. Instead, this is one of several featuring artist Charles Honeybath.
In this book, we learn that Honeybath had reserved a place at Hanwell Court, what today we might call a retirement community. But a visit leads to second thoughts. And then he learns of the hapless state of his artist friend Edwin Lightfoot. He’s taken to episodes in which he pretends to be a long-dead petty criminal, Flannel Foot. His art, apart from a few sketches, has taken a turn to the mediocre. It’s driving his wife, Melissa, crazy, and in the end she leaves him.
Honeybath learns of his miserable state from Melissa’s brother, Ambrose Prout. Edwin has lost their flat and lives miserably in his studio. Honeybath remembers his place at Hanwell Court and offers it to Edwin. He accepts.
Hanwell Court is a stately old estate divided into apartments, in a park-like setting. There is a resident psychiatrist, Dr. Michaelis, to attend to the mental health needs of the eccentric individuals who make their home there. Richard Gaunt has a fascination with lethal weapons like stilettoes. Colonel Dacre loves his rifles, and spending time at the rifle range (and occasionally stalking other prey). Mr. Brown, the man in the panama hat, seems to be the resident snoop, aware of everyone’s doings. Lady Munden, recently widowed, grows seaweed in the community pond, her pet project.
At first Edwin appears to do well. His paintings are mediocre but his sketches show a flair of his old genius. Most are caricatures of the residents, seemingly well-received by all but Lady Munden. However, Honeybath is uneasy about the “care” his friend is receiving from Dr. Michaelis. Then he discovers that Ambrose Prout is conspiring with Dr. Michelis to find missing works from Lightfoot’s zenith as an artist.
Honeybath gets his friend away on an artist’s excursion to Italy. While in Pisa, they run into Melissa, and Honeybath reveals Ambrose’s doings. When Edwin hears of this, he decides to immediately return to set things straight. A few days later, Hanwell Court employees find his body tangled in Lady Munden’s seaweed.
Honeybath doesn’t think it was an accident. Nor does Adamson, a Scotland Yard investigator. Yet, while several people might have motive against Lightfoot, was it enough for murder? Only the invasion of a criminal gang onto Hanwell Court’s grounds will expose the murderer and contribute to that person’s demise.
While this plot certainly had enough twists and turns to keep the reader wondering, this didn’t seem to have the elegance and flow of the Appleby stories. Honeybath seems more storyteller than sleuth. I like Innes as a writer for style and plotting. However, this was not one of my favorites.
I’ve long been a fan of Michael Innes Appleby mysteries. I did not look too closely when I picked up several Innes paperbacks with the green Penguin crime fiction spines. Therefore, I did not realize I had found an Innes book in which Appleby was not the protagonist. Instead, this is one of several featuring artist Charles Honeybath.
In this book, we learn that Honeybath had reserved a place at Hanwell Court, what today we might call a retirement community. But a visit leads to second thoughts. And then he learns of the hapless state of his artist friend Edwin Lightfoot. He’s taken to episodes in which he pretends to be a long-dead petty criminal, Flannel Foot. His art, apart from a few sketches, has taken a turn to the mediocre. It’s driving his wife, Melissa, crazy, and in the end she leaves him.
Honeybath learns of his miserable state from Melissa’s brother, Ambrose Prout. Edwin has lost their flat and lives miserably in his studio. Honeybath remembers his place at Hanwell Court and offers it to Edwin. He accepts.
Hanwell Court is a stately old estate divided into apartments, in a park-like setting. There is a resident psychiatrist, Dr. Michaelis, to attend to the mental health needs of the eccentric individuals who make their home there. Richard Gaunt has a fascination with lethal weapons like stilettoes. Colonel Dacre loves his rifles, and spending time at the rifle range (and occasionally stalking other prey). Mr. Brown, the man in the panama hat, seems to be the resident snoop, aware of everyone’s doings. Lady Munden, recently widowed, grows seaweed in the community pond, her pet project.
At first Edwin appears to do well. His paintings are mediocre but his sketches show a flair of his old genius. Most are caricatures of the residents, seemingly well-received by all but Lady Munden. However, Honeybath is uneasy about the “care” his friend is receiving from Dr. Michaelis. Then he discovers that Ambrose Prout is conspiring with Dr. Michelis to find missing works from Lightfoot’s zenith as an artist.
Honeybath gets his friend away on an artist’s excursion to Italy. While in Pisa, they run into Melissa, and Honeybath reveals Ambrose’s doings. When Edwin hears of this, he decides to immediately return to set things straight. A few days later, Hanwell Court employees find his body tangled in Lady Munden’s seaweed.
Honeybath doesn’t think it was an accident. Nor does Adamson, a Scotland Yard investigator. Yet, while several people might have motive against Lightfoot, was it enough for murder? Only the invasion of a criminal gang onto Hanwell Court’s grounds will expose the murderer and contribute to that person’s demise.
While this plot certainly had enough twists and turns to keep the reader wondering, this didn’t seem to have the elegance and flow of the Appleby stories. Honeybath seems more storyteller than sleuth. I like Innes as a writer for style and plotting. However, this was not one of my favorites.
November 17, 2022
An oddly-titled murder mystery that was oddly disappointing. The book is over half finished before any body has the good grace to allow themselves to be murdered. With an eye to his declining years, Charles Honeybath has reserved himself a place at an exclusive retirement home, but when his artist friend Edwin Lightfoot shows greater need (by painting badly and believing himself to be a burglar called Flannel Foot), Honeybath relinquishes his reservation in this rest home for quirky misfits in favour of his friend, who immediately "falls" into a fountain and expires. The solution is unlikely and ingenious, but this is a mystery that never truly gets out of second gear.
March 8, 2026
A random used bookstore find that proved unexpectedly delightful. A witty, erudite mystery that, unlike most, pays some attention to characterization and possesses plenty of imaginative flair. I’ll be seeking more out by Innes, an Oxford literary critic for whom these mysteries were apparently a sideline.
July 29, 2024
Fairly entertaining but a bit slow at times. More about the eccentric old people would have been good. The ending came on rather suddenly and didn't really mesh with the slow pace of the rest of the book.
March 9, 2026
Barely pleasant enough adventure with the snobbish Charles Honeybath. Not much of a mystery, not quite a comedy of manners, not focused enough except as a witty diversion, but not funny enough for that. I wish Adamson had a larger role.
February 15, 2018
A bit of an oddity - for such a slim book (191 pages) it took me ages to read and was pretty rambling.
November 6, 2020
Charles Honeybath is an aging, reasonably successful artist. Ah, but his friend Edwin Lightfoot! When they were both young, Lightfoot was a great artist, although both his life and his talents have been frittered away. Shocked by Lightfoot's condition, Honeybath arranges him to stay at luxurious Hanwell Court, where Honeybath had planned his own retirement--although now he has his doubts, since it seems to be as much a mental institution as a retirement home. When Lightfoot dies suddenly, Honeybath is not satisfied with the possible explanations, especially since some hitherto unknown works from Lightfoot's great period turn up under mysterious circumstances.
October 15, 2021
Cute. British class conscious. Trivial. Fun.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews