Customer Reviews

Death in Lover's Lane: A Henrie O Mystery (Henrie O Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I read Death in Lovers' Lane a little over a year ago and still can't get over how much I enjoyed it! I couldn't put it down, and whenever I had to, I couldn't wait to get back to it. I was even sad to finish it. Carolyn Hart has written a cozy mystery in which Henrie O. solves not one case of suspicious death, but four! This book keeps you guessing and keeps you reading with intricate plot lines and engaging characters, the most engaging one being Henrie O. herself. This book is another score for Carolyn Hart and for the ever-more-charming Henrie O.

I find that these mysteries are a bit darker and bit deeper than Ms. Hart's Death on Demand series. However, they are worth the time to read them. I have enjoyed everyone I've read. This book was no exception.

Henrie O is a strong female who has not yet let go of her old reporting attitude although now she's a college prof. She encourages one of her young students, Maggie, to dig deeper into an old mystery of three murders. Maggie begins to do that and ends up dead. Henrie O decides that maybe it was her fault, that she pushed Maggie into the killers path. So picking up the path, Henrie O tries to figure out who killed Maggie and why.

All of the Henrie O novels begin with a short introductory type of chapter but quickly develop into a great mystery. The characters are well thought out.

These Henrie O books are very different from the Death on Demand series. The mysteries are a bit deeper and a bit darker. However, that doesn't make this series any less enjoyable.

In the first two Henrie O mysteries, you read references about Henrietta Collins having been a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, but it's in this book that you get to actually see her strut her stuff. In "Death in Lovers' Lane," Henrie O is teaching at a college in Missouri that is a thinly disguised version of the University of Missouri and its excellent journalism school. Henrie O assigns an arrogant but brilliant student named Maggie Winslow to turn up new evidence in three unsolved cases from long ago. When Maggie turns up dead the very next day, a guilt-ridden Henrie O suspects that it's her assignment that led to Maggie's death, and the former journalist sets out to find out who the killer is.

In the process, the intrepid Henrie O reinvestigates the three unsolved cases. She finds out the secret to not one death, but of six. Henrie O demonstrates the grit, tenacity, intelligence, and integrity you'd expect from a world-class reporter.

I know most readers prefer the Death on Demand series. As for me, I'm sticking with Henrie O. I hope you do, too.

This was my first Henrie O, and I'm here looking for more. Actually, I listened to the book in the car, and I didn't want to turn the car off when I got to work (or back home, either). In fact, even though it was for "car listening" only, I snuck it inside and finished it the other evening. I fell in love with Miss Marple on the couch watching her on late night movies. I fell in love with Henrie O in the car. I want more, and you will, too.

Henrie O is teaching journalism in a college located in a small town in Missouri. When she encourages her students to pursue investigative reporting, one of them named Maggie Winslow decides to try to solve 3 old police cases which include 2 sets of murders and a disappearance. Maggie feels that the cases may be related and so she begins her own investigation. Soon her body is discovered near one of the previous crime scenes and Henrie O decides that Maggie must have been getting too close to the truth about the cases. Risking her own life in the process, Henrie O picks up the investigation where Maggie left off. She finds many members of the University community who had opportunity and motive for committing one or more of the murders. Intricately weaving the cases throughout the book, Carolyn Hart's main character manages to solve the mysteries in an intriguing way. This is another winner in the Henrie O Series!

Complex plot (three mysteries, no four, three old, one current). The reporter/teacher/sleuth Henrie O succeeds in solving all four fairly satisfactorily. The story-telling is excellent; the actual plot, events, and twists are rather far-fetched. Hard to imagine that one journalism school student and one teacher could solve three mysteries which police couldn't (though, truthfully, one was solved, and one was officially covered up ~ covered up by officials, anyway), getting murdered and solving the murder respectively in the process. Still, one could probably make that complaint about many mystery novels, including the Mistress, Agatha Christie, to whom Carolyn Hart is unwisely compared in a series of quoted reviews which form the back cover blurb.

I love a good mystery! She has the gift! This was the first Hart book I had read. Couldn't put it down. Just enough clues to make you think you know who did what to whom! Ha! What a surprise, it was great. Not an ounce of garbage. Wonderful romance. When I put it down I remembered the story and the plot. Sex did in NO way overshadow the great mystery that this remarkable Lady has spun. Thank you for being out there to give us mysterys that will be Classics to our Children's Children. M. Strong

Retired journalist Henrie O enjoys her job teaching at a private college in Missouri. The town is truly a college town. In fact, the newspaper the journalism students put out also serves the entire town.

This semester, Henrie O is supervising senior Maggie Winslow in an investigative reporting directed studies class. Maggie wants to make her final project a series on three famous unsolved cases from town. Henrie O's only requirement is that Maggie dig up new facts. And she must have done that because not too long after Maggie starts, she turns up dead, left in Lovers' Lane, where one of the murders took place.

The police start focusing on suspects related to Maggie's personal life, but Henrie O is concerned the killing must be related to one of those old cases. In order to ease her conscience, she starts her own investigation. But can she solve the old crimes? Even if she does, will it lead to Maggie's killer?

I really enjoyed this novel. With four cases to solve, there was never a dull moment. There were a plethora of characters, but I had no trouble keeping them all straight thanks to the excellent writing. And they all seemed real to me, with strengths and weaknesses.

I couldn't get through this book fast enough to satisfy my curiosity. I'm looking forward to meeting up with Henrie O again in the fourth mystery in this series.

This was my second Henrie O mystery. I read SCANDAL IN FAIR HAVEN first. I did prefer that book to this one. But this is still a very good book.

Henrie O is always a fun read. She is a 60-something widow that drives an MG. She is working on the campus of Thorndyke University. When one of her top students Maggie Winslow is killed - Henrie O feels guilty. She had prodded Maggie to get more info on 3 old unsolved cases. Now Henrie O is worried she pushed Maggie into the path of a killer.

Henrie O feels obligated to find Maggie's killer. She doesn't believe the woman arrested for the crime is guilty. So off Henrie O goes on her own little adventure.

I have been a "Henrie O" fan since she was introduced in Dead Man's Island. What a gal! The silver fox does it again. She's tough, independent, believes in fair play, and doesn't back down. Maggie's death opened up the proverbial can of worms. Little did Maggie's murderer know that Henrie O would be the fish that devoured the worm. This book showcases human emotions at their weakest. Greed, lust, hate and fear all took their turn. Even though there are four crimes, they are woven together into a common strand. The past and present are brought together for a final showdown. Another one (or is it four) for the geritol greyhound.