Heathcliff Lennox - France 1918

Heathcliff Lennox #0.5

by Karen Baugh Menuhin, Sam Dewhurst-Phillips (Narrator)

A short story, prequel to the Heathcliff Lennox Murder Mystery series

Spring, 1918. The Great War is at a crucial stage, the Germans are making one last push into France, and the Allies are struggling to hold them back. Battle lines are shifting, and men, and their machines, are being sent up and down the front to shore up defenses.

Major Heathcliff Lennox, and his batman Greggs, are told to report to their new HQ. They set off on a sunlit day to fly the distance, but the enemy is never far away, and disaster strikes. They're sent crashing to the ground behind enemy lines, where life, death, and love await.

Major Heathcliff Lennox: WW1 pilot, six feet 3 inches, tousled dark blond hair, named after the hero of Wuthering Heights by his romantically minded mother - much to his great annoyance

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Romance, Fiction, Short Stories, France

Audiobook

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

1920's, Cozy crime, Traditional Detectives, Downton Abbey - I love them!
Along with my family, my dog and my cat.
At 60 I decided to write, I don't know why but suddenly the stories came pouring out, along with the characters. Eccentric Uncles, stalwart butlers, idiosyncratic servants, machinating Countesses, Fogg the dog and the hapless Major Heathcliff Lennox.
Suddenly a whole world built itself upon the page and I just followed along.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining WWI listening 🎶🔰

Another will written British 🏰 romantic family and friends relationships adventure thriller short story by Karen Baugh Menuhin a prequel. Heathcliff Lennox and his butler are shot down behind enemy lines during WWI. They are found by a young woman 🚺 who is part of the French resistant. She leads them to safety with a little romance. I would recommend this series and author to 👍 readers of historical adventure novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa read books 📚. 2023 😀👒😯

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lennox meets the girl of his dreams after crashing his plane with Greggs along. She is a French local and helps the resistance and is instrumental in Lennox's being able to return to England. If you've read the other books you know how important she is to him.
Voice actor Sam Dewhurst-Phillips really is the Voice of Lennox with his droll way of interpreting the text. Perfect match!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1918 Whilst flying in France during the War, the aircraft piloted by Lennox with passenger Gregg, is forced into a crashed landing. Can they make their way back to friendly territory.
An enjoyable and well-written short story

[Sandra Baier · Rating 1 out of 5]

This wasn't even a short story. As a prequel, I expected to learn more about Lennox's experience in WW1. Although I have read several of the Heathcliff Lennox books, if this were my introduction to the series, I doubt if I would continue.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lennox, Greggs, and the Girl with Eyes the Color of Cornflowers

This one is for Heathcliff Lennox fans, but before they buy the book, they should know a few things:

1. It is very short.
2. There is no murder to solve.
3. The tale outlines the backstory of several characters in a prequel.

While there is an explanation of Lennox's state of mind in the first volume and of how Foggy, the world's worst hunting dog, came into Lennox's life, readers know from the beginning of the story what the ending will be.

When I purchased this, I felt the need to be removed from my current place and time. This story was little solace, but reminded me that times are often even tougher.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story involving Lennox and Greggs, two characters always worth reading about. The story takes place during the end of The War and wraps up a loose end that was dangled and the end of The Monks Hood Murders. The characters are their usual engaging selves, and the story is rather bittersweet, with a bit of humor.

[Penelope · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE: Bumped up to 5 Stars. A short, heartwarming prequel - highly preferred in audio format.

I previously read this prequel but decided to pick it up in audio. Sam Dewhurst-Phillips does an excellent job of voicing the characters and the narration. This was much more heart warming on audio than by reading alone. I’m so glad I decided to pick it up. I have purchased both some of this series in book format & all of the audios. These Lennox Mysteries are among my favorites, partly due to the excellent reading. Short but Wonderful listen!

PREVIOUS POST:
4 Stars for HEATHCLIFF LENNOX - a wartime romance mystery. Revisiting an enjoyable Mystery series starter.

MY RATING GUIDE: 1= dnf/What was that?; 2= Nope, not for me; 3= This was okay/cute; 3.5= I enjoyed it; 4= I LIKED IT A LOT; 5= I Loved it, it was great! (I rarely give 5 Stars).

HEATHCLIFF LENNOX was a short prequel backstory novella introducing the MMC in the historical period Heathcliff Lennox Mystery series. This series sounds as if it may be similar in tone to Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Whimsey Mysteries, Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion Mysteries, Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot or possibly Sally Wright’s (post WWII Army Scout) Ben Reese Mysteries. I enjoyed this short prequel and have purchased the next 2 books in the series (one audio which sounds wonderful). I do hope they are as enjoyable as HEATHCLIFF LENNOX, prequel hinted.

Wartime France 1918
We are introduced to an unarmed (trainer aircraft) English pilot Major Heathcliff Lennox/MMC who is shot down over occupied France with his proper, portly figured personal butler Greggs (serving alongside Lennox in the Air Force). While beleaguered German army troops retreat through the countryside, they are killing anyone that attracts their suspicion. Yet a young widow in the French Resistance observes their crash landing and assists them, getting them both safely through enemy lines back to their English comrades. And so begins the LENNOX MYSTERY series.

Readers of old Classic mysteries, and mysteries that lean toward the “cozy” end of the spectrum may find this series worth checking out.

READER CAUTIONS - IMO, appropriate for any reader who enjoys Clean fiction or mysteries, 15yrs+.
VIOLENCE - PG. Setting wartime France but not described in a particularly dark or graphic manner.
PROFANITY - No. I don’t believe so.
SEXUAL SITUATIONS - None.

[Celia Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prequel - Heathcliff Lennox - France 1918 by Karen Menuhin is easily as much fun as her murder mysteries. The only problem with it is I wish it was longer. I love Karen's books so much. Her wit, her characters, her dialogue are all such fun. Though Lennox finds himself in an awkward position as the story begins, he receives help from a lovely French woman. He cannot help but fall in love with her as she helps him escape capture by the Germans. Per usual, he stumbles across a murder victim, but with the Germans on his tail, he has no time to truly solve the mystery, though he has a good idea who was the murderer. However, the murderer might have had good cause to kill the victim. Sadly, Lennox's true love cannot be everlasting - they must part. I thoroughly enjoyed this short look into Lennox's past.
Celia Martin

[Cheap and Lazy · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the story wasn't fabulous and did not contain a mystery, it did introduce me to Heathcliff Lennox and his backstory. Humor was limited and the setting grim. However, as a prologue to the first book in the series, Murder at Melrose Court (which I loved), it worked well. My first experience with Sam Dewhurst-Phillips narrating and I was impressed.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story that takes place during WW1 and sets the stage for this series featuring Major Heathcliff Lennox. For such a short story, it does a great job capturing the pain and horrors of war-torn France, and the impossible choices people were faced with during those years.

I gave it four stars because I wished it was a bit longer!

[Myriam Correa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet

I enjoyed reading about Lennox in 1918. Hard times for Europe those years of war. I recommend that if you hadn’t read the Lennox saga, to go ahead and do it. Nice reading, good plots and charming characters.

[Ulysese · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting and story was wonderful as well as the peak at romance. Heathcliff and Greggs would make for a fine story where ever and whenever.

However, the story was too short. I would buy another story with these 2 characters without thinking.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read but such great background material that helps us understand the events that shaped Lennox. Thank you to the author for providing this extra treat.

[Kimberly Thorpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sweet short story that gives Lennox & Gregg's a deeper back story. The story is both sweet and sad with a little humor which can be found in all the books.. I won't put in any spoilers.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t know this little book existed. It’s fills in some gaps and answers some questions about Heathcliff

[Kathy B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story to fill in the holes!

[Roo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad and sweet

[Laurel Bradshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 yellow stars.

There really isn't enough here to give a rating. This is a sort of prequel freebie to the Heathcliff Lennox mystery series. It is very short, and there is no mystery here. It show us that Heathcliff and his butler Greggs were in France during WWI. They are downed behind enemy lines, and a young French woman helps them to escape. That's it. I couldn't really make a love story out of this. They return at the end to find that she has died. It hasn't put me off the series, but there's nothing here that makes me want to continue either. So maybe just skip it.

Description: Spring, 1918. The Great War is at a crucial stage, the Germans are making one last push into France and the Allies are struggling to hold them back. Battle lines are shifting and men, and their machines, are being sent up and down the front to shore up defences. Major Heathcliff Lennox, and his batman Greggs, are told to report to their new HQ. They set off on a sunlit day to fly the distance, but the enemy is never far away, and disaster strikes. They're sent crashing to the ground behind enemy lines, where life, death and love await.

[Sarah Zama · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is some sort of introduction to a much longer cosy mystery series, and in a way I think it betrays its introductory nature.

Yes, there is a murder. Yes there is adventure. But most of all we learn about the two main characters, Heathcliff Lennox and Greggs, his batman and one day his butler. The cosy mystery series is set in the 1920s, but this is a prequel set during the Great World, so quite a different situation form the series proper.

I liked the setting a lot, even if the story is more of a long vignette than a true story. Still, I had the opportunity to meet two interesting characters. Included, is also the first chapters of Lennox’s first mystery, which gives a sense of the mystery series. Very very different from this short story, but equally intriguing.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok as background to the main Heathcliff Lennox stories, but I wish the author would learn the difference between a comma and a semicolon. The number of comma splices that separated complete sentences was very distracting; several times I had to go back and reread to understand what was being said. (See what I did there?) I try not to be too picky about stuff like that, but once I notice it, it really detracts from my enjoyment.

[Janet Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Touching introduction to a fun historical mystery series. No mystery here, simply a story of the start of an unrealized romance that took place in France when a British pilot was shot down and a beautiful young French widow guided him through the hazards of occupied territory so he and his co-pilot (the family butler) could reunite with his unit. Nice, if unspectacular, often humorous, story wonderfully narrated by Sam Dewhurst-Phillips.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this the short introduction (0.5) to the ‘Heathcliff Lennox’ series, which is described as a cosy 1920s murder mystery thriller. In reality, it failed to check any of those boxes, and yet I couldn’t stop reading it. It gets four stars because it just feels good, and although I am not rushing out to buy number one in the series, I will certainly be tempted if I see it on the shelves of my local bookshop. Definitely worth the time just to see if it grabs you.

[Margaret Estes-Sylvester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heathcliff Lennox is a very likable character so are his buddy the former Scotland Yard inspector and his butler who has a fondness for "good" whiskey (and almost any alcoholic beverage).. Heathcliff enjoys his quiet life in the country and somehow gets pulled into solving murders kicking and screaming until he believes they can find the killer.

[LINDA MCALISTER · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was entertaining enough, but even as a prequel I felt it lacked development. We got a simple narrative to introduce the characters by name and position, and to fill in some background information. But I didn't really feel like I had met the characters who appear in the series in a way that would cast much insight into their behavior or personality.

[Joleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very brief story about Major Heathcliff Lennox and his batman/butler, Gregg’s, being shot down by Germans over France and their subsequent escape lead by a French maiden.

Sweet but insta-love isn’t my favorite storyline. However, it sets the stage for following books where Lennox knows what love is, and her name is Eloise.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short story about a very brief time during the war featuring Lennox and Greggs who meet a very kind young woman after their airplane is shot down by the Germans. I'm only on Book 4 of the series, but I don't see where this info pertains to any of the books I've read so far. I think it was too brief to even get any background from it.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short story. Entertaining - and supposed to the be background for the rest of the books. Somehow this seems like a different guy. Will give the benefit of the doubt that the war changed him though.

[Gail W. Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

France 1918

This wartime romance shows a different side of Heathcliff, a warm and caring person. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. Can't wait for the next book! I highly recommend.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduction to Heathcliff Lennox, behind lines in WWI, aided by a French revolutionist woman back to his own... and a sweet, short love... and he returns after the war as promised, to put flowers on her grave.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bittersweet short story giving the reader some insight into Major Lennox's experience after a plane crash in enemy territory during WW I. Phillips does an amazing job with the narration as always - such a smooth voice. Very enjoyable, quick listen.