Death around the Bend (Lady Hardcastle Mysteries #3) by T E Kinsey

I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars

I won this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

It’s the year 1909 and Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Florence, have been invited to Lord Riddlethorp’s estate for some motor racing and socializing. When one of the other guests dies during the first race, they initially think it’s just a terrible accident. Closer inspection shows the car was tampered with which means murder. Can Lady Hardcastle and her maid find the killer before anyone else is harmed?

This was a very well written period piece cozy mystery that I sadly just could not get into. The first half was promising and kept me mostly interested, but the middle of the book was taxing and I found myself losing interest, barely able to finish a chapter before I’d set it down again. By the time we got to the second half where the story really started picking up, my heart just wasn’t in it anymore. It was enjoyable, but my attention had already started waning so it was hard to really feel immersed in the story. I have never read any other books in this series and although you can read this as a standalone, I feel it would be best to read them in order. It might also help with getting to know the characters better since, quite honestly, I didn’t care for any of them. Not even Lady Hardcastle or Florence. Their banter, which was entertaining initially, became stale and annoying halfway through. The rest of the characters, and there were a lot of them, were equally lackluster. When it came to the big reveal, it took me a minute to figure out who they were talking about as I couldn’t remember who that was. Maybe if I had read the first two I would feel differently. I think at some point I will try reading the first one as I do typically enjoy these type of mysteries and the author does have a nice flair for writing.

Total pages: 310, Kindle edition

Available on Amazon at the link below:

Death around the Bend

Available at Barnes and Noble at the link below:

Death around the Bend