Death in Lovers' Lane

Henrie O #3

by Carolyn G. Hart

When ambitious, abrasive Maggie Winslow announces her intentions to investigate a trio of unsolved local crimes, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter-turned-journalism teacher, Henrietta "Henrie O" Collins, urges her talented student to pursue the story with uncommon vigor. But when Maggie's corpse is discovered the next day in Lovers' Lane--the site of one of the crimes the budding reporter was exploring--the guilt-stricken, sixty-something sleuth vows to get to the bottom of Maggie's murder, even if it means dredging up a past everyone seems to want to keep buried and placing herself firmly in a relentless killer's path.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

About the author

Also writing as Carolyn Hart.

An accomplished master of mystery with 46 published books, Carolyn Hart is the creator of the highly acclaimed Henrie O,Death on Demand, and Bailey Ruth Raeburn series. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. Letter from Home (2003), her standalone mystery set in Oklahoma, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest book is Dead by Midnight (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2007). She is one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization for women who write mysteries. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma."
New Books: Dead By Midnight Carolyn Hart


DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart On Sale March 29

The police say suicide. Annie Darling suspects murder. Max is unconvinced until Annie follows a trail behind the dead woman's house.

Annie unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the interesting lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst. Max plunges deep into the woods to find incriminating evidence.

Annie sets the perfect trap for a merciless killer, but her cell phone rings and Death is on the line.

www.CarolynHart.com

And for cat lovers:

DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart

I love to have fun when writing a mystery. If I laugh, I think a reader will laugh. In the Death on Demand series, I especially enjoy writing about Annie Darling's ditzy mother-in-law, Laurel Roethke. Laurel is usually excited about a new interest, something that surprises and often confounds Annie.

In Dead by Midnight, Laurel creates Cat Truth Posters, which she wants Annie to hang in the bookstore. Annie thinks books should be the store's focus, but the posters enchant her.

Each poster features a cat's photograph with a caption. Here are three of the Cat Truth posters;

. . . a silky furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the Flow.

A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, cholocolate colored cat appeared as brooding as a Gothic hero: Always Say Yes to Adventure.

. . . a thick-furred, piebald Siberian forest cat, its white front a brilliant contrast to a charcoal back and head. Its face appeared almost angelic: Always try a Smile First.

And yes, one of the posters points to a killer.

Fun for me and fun, I hope for readers

Reviews

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

When ambitious, abrasive Maggie Winslow announces her intentions to investigate a trio of unsolved local crimes, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter-turned-journalism teacher, Henrietta "Henrie O" Collins, urges her talented student to pursue the story with uncommon vigor. But when Maggie's corpse is discovered the next day in Lovers' Lane--the site of one of the crimes the budding reporter was exploring--the guilt-stricken, sixty-something sleuth vows to get to the bottom of Maggie's murder, even if it means dredging up a past everyone seems to want to keep buried and placing herself firmly in a relentless killer's path.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great mystery from Carolyn G. Hart. Henrie O is currently teaching journalism at a local college and is approached by one of her students who wants to do articles on 3 cold cases. Henrie O sends Maggie on her way with an admonishment of bringing new facts to the cases, not just rehashing what was presented in the news when the crimes occurred. When her student reporter ends up dead after only a day of questioning community figures, Henrie O immediately suspects that Maggie must have quickly stumbled upon something that could reopen the cold cases. Because she feels like she's guilty of sending Maggie into danger, she decides to take up the investigation herself.

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Henrie O may be my favorite Carolyn Hart character. She is smart, logical, and doesn't break too many laws in her search for the truth. This story was well written and followed a logical sense of order. The details of past crimes were rehashed over and over again just to add words to the book length. Henrie O will be moving on to a locale in the next book and I can't wait to see where she goes. A good read!

[Janet Adkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first Henrie O book I've read. This particular one Henrie O solved three different cold-case mysteries in order to solve the murder of one of her students. The cold-cases were solved one at a time and ruled out as being related to the current murder. None of the cold-cases were very compelling. So the extra mysteries just felt like book padding to me. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the cold-cases were more entangled and solved concurrently.

[Christy Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 3rd Henrie O mystery by Hart and one I liked best so far. She's a professor of journalism at a small university and as advisor to the newspaper suggests a story for a student. The student is murdered and she sets out to solve three separate and distinct murders. The characters are well developed and the main plot clearly delineated. Hart writes a clever and twisty book.

[Lavins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy this series of mystery books. They are well written, they keep you engaged, they are easy to read. There are at time too many characters which makes it a bit hard to follow all the potential suspects.

[Carolyn Fagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a new series for me and I started in the middle! Fun story with a Journalism Professor as the detective, who has to investigate the murder of one of her students who was working on an assignment for her class.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't like the Henry O series as much as I like the Death on Demand series, but it's still a good one!

[Crystal Karre · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed the mystery

[LORI WALKER · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the Death on Demand series

[Caridad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not find this as rewarding as Dead man's Island or Scandal in Fair Haven.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Gayle Stever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best of this series so far. Great ending. Good pace.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as her others, but fair enough to give 4 stars.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good….

[Lexi Melgoza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Had a plot twist I would have never expected.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this third of the Henry O. series, Henry O. works hard to solve murders, while putting herself at odds with her boss to solve the murder of her journalist student who was doing what Henry O. demanded of herself and her students--"find out the truth".

Her investigations put her at odds with her colleagues and superiors (some of whom are suspects) at her place of employment, Thorndyke University.

The killer is not the person one would suspect it to be, but when all is revealed, it makes sense!

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think a book is bad just because it's easy to read. The purpose for this book is to entertain, and it does just that. I could hardly put this book down and it has been the cause of a lot of unfinished homework. It was exactly the kind of fun to read, slightly creepy mystery I was looking for. It went very fast and I couldn't keep from thinking about it when I wasn't reading. A lot of people are saying they don't like Henrie O, but I like her. I think she is believable. I don't really care if she's not super nice. Really, it's okay. I loved that there were four murders to solve. It was complex and I wasn't able to figure them out until shortly before Henrie O explicitly said who the murderer was and why. I also love Hart's descriptions. They made this book like cotton candy yand inspired me in my writing. The reason this lost a start is the last case Henrie O solves. It was just a little weird how she kept saying it was one person and then all of a sudden exposed the real murderer as if she had known it all along. It turned out I had figured that one out, but, and maybe this is why Hart wrote it like that, I was confused because Henrie O seemed sure that it was another character. But overall a great book I would recommend to most people.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the first two Henrie O mysteries, you read references about Henrietta Collins having been a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, but it's in this book that you get to actually see her strut her stuff. In Death in Lovers' Lane, Henrie O is teaching at a college in Missouri that is a thinly disguised version of the University of Missouri and its excellent journalism school. Henrie O assigns an arrogant but brilliant student named Maggie Winslow to turn up new evidence in three unsolved cases from long ago. When Maggie turns up dead the very next day, a guilt-ridden Henrie O suspects that it's her assignment that led to Maggie's death, and the former journalist sets out to find out who the killer is.

In the process, the intrepid Henrie O re-investigates the three unsolved cases. She finds out the secret to not one death, but of six. Henrie O demonstrates the grit, tenacity, intelligence, and integrity you'd expect from a world-class reporter.

I know most readers prefer Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand series. As for me, I'm sticking with Henrie O. I hope you do, too.

[Beth Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had trouble finding something that I could finish over the last few weeks, but I did enjoy this one. It's one of those "light" mysteries, no blood and guts, no autopsies, no stabbings and shootings. Henrietta Collins is one of those "murder she wrote" type of heroines. She is a newspaper writer, now teaching college courses in journalism. One of her students wants to solve three 20-year-old mysteries. A couple was murdered at the local lover's lane, one college administrator disappeared without a trace, and one man was shot to death in his home. Henrietta, affectionately known as Henrie O, sends her ace reporter Maggie Winslow on assignment to see if she can find out what no one else has been able to. Unfortunately, something she finds gets her killed. Is it the original murderer of one of the earlier crimes? Or someone completely unrelated? Henrie O finds that she has to finish what Maggie started and catch the killer. A well-thought out plot with all of the loose ends neatly tied.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Henrie O mystery. Thoroughly enjoying this series. Slightly different to the usual murder mysteries. Henrie O is a 60 year old widow; older than the usual snoopers. She used to be a reporter and is now a journalism teacher at a University. When one of her students is murdered whilst investigating 3 old murders for an article, Henrie starts investigating against all the professionals who want everything to be hushed up.

[Mark Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reporter turned college professor investigates when an assignment leads to a student's murder. Which of the three old cases produced a fresh body? Interesting characters and a fast paced plot made this a hard book to put down.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start was a little slow, but the book finished with a bang! It was a nice way to tie up 3 old murders and sort-of link them together. Although I figured out who did it and why, I was still interested in the finish.

[Katherine P · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did not connect to Henrie O I did enjoy this book. I really liked how the mystery was solved and the complexity involved in solving the 3 older crimes before being able to solve a recent crime. A good read!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 3rd book in the Henrie O series and I can't say I was really digging it. It started out ok, but then things started happening that I wouldn't even be stupid enough to do. And it makes you think why put it in the book? But it was an ok read.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first read of one of Carolyn Hart's Henrie O books, although I have been a fan of the Death on Demand series. I think I like Henrie O even more than I do Annie Darling. I'll be looking for more of this series in the future.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Henrie O mystery. She is a college professor in her 60s. Since I am a librarian in my 60s, I am drawn to her character. Not great literature but most entertaining.

[Vicky Beltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy mysteries dealing with reporter Henrie O.