It's February 1913, and millionaire J.B. McIntyre has invited his friends, Lady Hardcastle and her maid Florence Armstrong, to spend the weekend at his recently renovated Tudor fort on a remote island off the coast of Devonshire.
The weekend quickly veers into disaster when valuable jewels go missing, and a fellow guest is murdered with a very unusual weapon. Naturally, the intrepid duo agrees when McIntyre asks them to investigate. Is the murderer one of the guests? Everyone has an alibi, and everyone has secrets that they want to keep.
When a violent storm traps everyone on the island and cuts them off from help, the stakes are raised. Lady Hardcastle and Florence must work fast before someone else is killed.
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When I want some light-hearted, historical fun, I know I can always turn to T.E. Kinsey's Lady Hardcastle mysteries, and his latest is no exception.
Murder on the Rocks is essentially a locked room mystery set in a remodeled Tudor fort on a remote island. An old building, an island that's easily cut off from the rest of the world. What could possibly go wrong? Just my kind of mystery!
This book has a small cast, but there are more than enough motives to go around, so everyone is a suspect. I found this particular mystery a bit easy to solve, but I enjoy the banter between Lady Hardcastle and Florence so much that I really didn't care.
If you are in the mood for a light-hearted historical mystery series with two wonderful main characters, you can't go wrong with T.E. Kinsey's Lady Hardcastle.
Murder on the Rocks by T.E. Kinsey
eISBN: 9781662521577
Thomas & Mercer © 2026
eBook, 296 pages
Historical Mystery, #13 Lady Hardcastle
Rating: B+
Source: Net Galley
One of the things I love about a lighter novel like this is that a story can be light entertainment and still be an intelligent story with well-developed characters. I like to learn as I read, so I do enjoy historical novels that actually teach you something about a time period (or a craft, or...) while still telling a good story. I'm glad this series falls into that category, Cathy.
ReplyDeleteSo am I, Margot. I hope this series lasts for a good long while.
DeleteI so enjoy this series that I'm happy to be taking my time reading my way through it, knowing that there are many more installments waiting for me to savor.
ReplyDelete