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Murder at Merisham Lodge (Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate, #1)

Celina Grace

Start date: September 1, 2017

Finish date: September 30, 2017

Discussion: Group reads

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What Members Thought

Aug 07, 2017 Susan rated it liked it

Although this novel is listed as the first ‘Miss Hart and Miss Hunter’ investigation, it soon became apparent that the characters had appeared in an earlier novella length story, “Death at the Manor: The Asharton Mysteries 1.” This was referred to several times and, even though this is obviously a stand-alone story, it would have been nice if there had been some mention about this on the product page as I would have preferred to have read them in order. The Asharton Mystery took place in 1929 an Although this novel is listed as the first ‘Miss Hart and Miss Hunter’ investigation, it soon became apparent that the characters had appeared in an earlier novella length story, “Death at the Manor: The Asharton Mysteries 1.” This was referred to several times and, even though this is obviously a stand-alone story, it would have been nice if there had been some mention about this on the product page as I would have preferred to have read them in order. The Asharton Mystery took place in 1929 and this story is set in 1930, with Joan Hart joining Verity Hunter in service at Merisham Lodge, the summer residence of Lord Cartwright and his family in Derbyshire.

Joan Hart is to be undercook at Merisham, while Verity is ladies maid to Dorothy, step daughter of Lord Cartwright, whose mother, Lady Eveline, is his second wife. There is also Lord Cartwright’s son, Duncan, by his first wife, Lady Eveline’s son, Peter, who is slightly frowned upon as a wastrel, Rosalind Makepeace, Lord Cartwright’s secretary and, of course, a whole host of staff and servants. Verity and Joan met as children, where they were brought up in an orphanage, and obviously share a close bond. Joan is, refreshingly, resentful of being in service and, although generally cheerful, this is a realistic look at life as a domestic service.

Although, when murder occurs, Joan and Verity begin to investigate, they have little time to discuss events, are often too bone tired in the evening to even discuss matters and often have to rush off to work. That said, often you wish they did have a little more time, so they could carry the story forward a little more quickly and there were less rumours and speculation and more investigating. The police presence is in the intelligent Inspector Marks and it might have been useful to have seen things more from his perspective, to help create a little more excitement. That said, this is an interesting look at murder in a country house, from an unusual perspective and I enjoyed the characters and setting enough that I will go back and read the original novella.

Rated 3.5

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Sep 04, 2017 ShanDizzy rated it liked it

Interesting concept - crime solving duo of two maids. Not a bad way to pass a holiday off work. Though at times I found myself thinking "I'm ready to be done with this story." I'm not sure that I cared enough about the characters to read the series. ...more

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Sep 10, 2018 Ann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a very good book. It was a fast read. I couldn't put it down. Ms. Joan Hart is an undercook and Verity Hunter is a ladies maid at Marisham Lodge outside of London. Lady Cartwright is found murdered in the study ad Verity and Joan begin to look at the different suspects in their midst. This book gives the reader an idea of the work load that servants in the early 1900's houses had to suffer with. The suspicions of the women fall on members of the household but will lowly servants be beli ...more

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Sep 14, 2017 Gillian Kevern rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, pure-fun, general, historical, detective, 2010s, reading-the-detectives

I really enjoyed this fun historical mystery. I loved the downstairs twist, with the story being driven by the undercook and lady's maid. I'm interested to see how the series continues!

Because the detectives had to work in sleuthing around their often onerous duties, the plot progression was slow. I didn't mind this, or the frequent digressions into historical details and cooking, although the author could have woven them into the story more subtly. Those kinds of details are exactly my jam, so ...more

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Sep 09, 2017 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery-cozy

Quite an excellent cozy. A book's assistant and a lady's maid sleuthing murders in 1920s England. ...more

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Sep 03, 2017 Jill rated it really liked it

Shelves: celina-grace

A bit far-fetched but I did enjoy it. It kept saying how tired the two main characters were and was making me feel exhausted. I do like the style and enjoyed the story so will definitely read on to find out how the pair progress.
Very pleased I read the short story before, as there are a lot of references to it.

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