Helena Dixon

Favorite Quote:

Mildred, is the most ghastly woman. Terrible social climber. She will insert herself in spaces where castor oil couldn’t reach.

My Review:

Helena Dixon’s cozy mysteries are always a fun, amusing, and engaging diversion with well-crafted murders that I can rarely solve on my own. I always think I have it worked out, but alas, even working overtime, the little pea in my brain still gets it wrong. I adore her Kitty Underhay character as much as I do Ms. Dixon’s clever and show more thoughtfully crafted arrangements of words. show less

Favorite Quotes:

Golly, it’s brass monkeys out there this morning,

Jane was perched on the edge of a seat next to a garrulous elderly woman who appeared to mistakenly believe that Jane would be interested in the state of her bunions.

My Review:

I became a Helena Dixon fan the first time I picked up one of her cozy mysteries, and each subsequent book of hers that I have read has only further cemented my adoration of her wry sense of humor, descriptive scenes, and smooth writing style. The show more mysteries found within are always full of unique twists and confounding clues, and I can rarely solve them myself as everyone seems a bit suspect.

The main female character of this new series is Jane. Jane is tenacious, very British, smart, not always likable, rather obnoxious at times, self-involved, and passive-aggressive. I am more drawn to Arthur as I sympathize with him putting up with Jane’s pushiness, but my favorite character is the ever-prepared and humble manservant, Benson. His pockets are like Mary Poppins’s bag. He reminds me of Verity Bright’s character of Clifford, whom I adore. I’m looking forward to more of their adventures and hoping Jane goes easier on Arthur in future installments. show less

Spend Christmas in New York with Kitty and Matt.

I love this series. It’s one of the few historical cozies that constantly delivers the perfect blend of period detail and a good mystery. And did I mention that the covers are always enticing and set the mood.

In this installment, Kitty and Matt are bound for New York when they receive a message that Kitty’s father, Edgar, is ill. When they arrive, they find him much improved and suspect that perhaps he was not sick but perhaps hiding from show more people he didn’t want to see. Regardless, they decide to make the best of the holidays and accept an invitation to attend a charity costume party up in the penthouse of Edgar’s somewhat swanky building. It’s a shock when they find their hostess, the wealthy widow Nora Dangerfield, dead alongside a path in the park the next morning on their way to breakfast. Not only does it appear that she had been murdered, she had also been robbed of all of her jewels.

Despite being far from home and unable to use their credentials, Kitty and Matt begin their own investigation without permission of the local NYC police. There are many friends and acquaintances to question and lots of them have plenty of motive, means, and opportunity to kill Nora. But who did it?

I love the characters and the way the author writes the stories. I always feel like I am meeting up again with old friends when I pick up a new book featuring Kitty and Matt. This is the 18th and I feel it is important to begin this series at the beginning. I highly recommend it for a comfort read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review. show less

Favorite Quotes:

The city was busy and the air in the tube station smelt of stale humanity...The government had tried to stop people from heading there when the sirens had sounded since there was a chronic lack of facilities. Jane thought they might as well have stood on the beach like King Canute trying to stop the tide from coming in.

‘You are quite merciless when you get going,’ Arthur remarked, looking at her with a mix of wonderment and fear. Jane shrugged. ‘We need to stir things show more up a little if we are to get some answers.’ Arthur considered that there was a difference between stirring things up and applying gunpowder to a hornet’s nest.

He had never been good at dancing. Not even after the lessons at Miss Mornington’s Dance School for young ladies and gentlemen when he had been about twelve or thirteen. He suppressed a shudder at the memory of having to learn to waltz under Miss Mornington’s eagle eye. He had been partnered with a ghastly, round-faced girl called Petunia Waddington who had smelt of stale cabbage and who giggled at nothing. She was also heavy-footed and would often leave him with bruised toes.

My Review:

I enjoy Helena Dixon’s wry Brit humor, which is often sneakily inserted as inner musings and descriptions in the midst of more serious exchanges. Her characters vary greatly in likability, while authentically quirky, annoying, selfish, driven, and entirely human. While I don’t always like Jane, I empathize with her most of the time. I adore the beleaguered Arthur and also adore and covet his devoted butler, Benson. We could all use a Benson in our lives. show less