Customer Reviews

Scandal in Fair Haven

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

 

 

Henrie O plans on a vacation to her friend's cabin in the Cumberland Mountains. Unfortunately her friend becomes ill and is not able to go, but she urges Henrie O to go anyway. When she arrives at the cabin, she encounters her friend's nephew who is in shock and is covered with his wife's blood. He has discovered her dead body and has run away in a panic, thus squarely pointing the finger of suspicion at himself. Henrie O believes that the young man did commit the murder and she sets out to find out who did. The cabin is near the upper middle class town of Fair Haven, and Henrie O finds a lot of people who envied the dead woman and who stood to gain financially from her death. After the usual red herrings, Henrie O finally uncovers the surprising truth. Carolyn Hart's books are always engrossing and well-written and I would recommend them to mystery fans.

Henrie O. is looking forward to a week's vacation with a friend at a cabin in Tennessee. But first her friend needs emergency heart surgery. Then Henrie's first night in the cabin is interrupted by the friend's nephew.

It's the middle of the night when Craig Matthews arrives bloody and upset. He's just found the body of his wife, Patty Kay, in their house in the town of Fair Haven. The police are looking for Craig because they believe he did it, and the fact that he ran doesn't help his case.

Henrie thinks it's a set up. The case against Craig is based on nothing but circumstantial evidence, and too many details point to him. It just all seems a little to convenient. Posing as Craig's aunt, she returns with him to Fair Haven to see if she can find the truth.

On the surface, Fair Haven seems like a nice, mostly rich town scandalized by a murder in the community. This kind of thing just doesn't happen there. But the more Henrie learns, the more motives seem to emerge. The problem is, just as many clues point to Craig as against him. Can Henrie clear Craig, or will she just put the final nails in his coffin?

This is a book populated by strong characters. While most of them are thrown at the reader at the beginning, with a little effort, they are easy to keep straight. Part of this is their personalities. While almost all of them are rich, Ms. Hart has made them unique, which helps them stand out in the reader's mind.

Once again, the style is outstanding as well. Things flow so well it's hard to put the book down because the reader has been drawn into the story.

The only real black mark against the book is the plot. It starts out strong with a great puzzle you can't wait to see solved. Then other suspects and motives are introduced. For the first half, things roll along fine. The problem comes in the second half. Henrie learns little new but keeps going over the same clues again and again reaching no new conclusions. Things do build again toward the climax, but the ending is a bit sudden given what has happened before and ultimately not as satisfying as it could have been.

I really did enjoy the book and am looking forward to more from Carolyn Hart. Hopefully the next book will have a climax that is more satisfying then this one.

The novel starts well enough, but then it meanders for about a hundred pages. Again and again the writer mulls over the suspects without coming to any conclusion. One almost senses that space is being filled for the publisher, without the plot moving forward a single inch.

But that is tolerable, perhaps. What is not tolerable is the murderer confessing in detail (while a tape recorder is running) and explaining just how the killing took place and why the crime was necessary--and then committing suicide. Baloney! It has been done far too many times. Surely readers are sick of this by now. The evidence here against the killer is flimsy at best, certainly not strong enough to stand up in court if the accused has a decent lawyer. All the murderer has to do is deny, deny, deny. The easy way out of this for the writer? Those old stand-bys, confession and suicide. Surely there has to be some alternative to this facile denouement.

Henry O pretends she is a relative of a young man who is
accused of killing his wife. She interacts with all of the
people in town and eventually solves the crime. Quite a good
mystery from Hart...one of her better plots. I think you will
enjoy it.

G.Hart, Carolyn. Scandal in Fair Haven. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, Inc, 1994. 275 pages.

"Scandal in Fair Haven" is an amazingly well written book filled with
lots of mysteries which will question you throughout the whole book. Set in
Nashville, Tennessee, Henrie O' goes to her friend Margaret's cabin located
on a mountain in Fair Haven for a pleasant and relaxing vacation. While she
is in Fair Haven and staying, she encounters Margaret's nephew, Craig
Matthews, whose shirt is stained with blood and is astonished as if
something had happened. This soon questions Henrie O' about what happened.
Craig tells that he found his wife, Patty Kay, lying dead in the play house
of their estate. "When I went to the kitchen, I knew something bad have
happened. Our kitchen had been vandalized. I ran outside. The playhouse
door was open. I found my wife's body there, on the floor" (pg. 26). Craig
admits that he didn't murder his wife. Henrie surprised from hearing the
story, leads herself to put in the shoes as of a detective and solves the
case on who murdered Patty Kay. To solve the case, she pretends to be
Craig's aunt and sets for the investigation to be solved. Apparently, Patty
Kay was a member of board of trustees at Walden School along with her other
friends too. Among her friends, was Brook Forest, who lived two houses away
from Patty Kay and were really good friends. Henrie O' finds out that after
when Craig and bunch of his friends had a poker game night, someone had
plotted him in a way, so that he would be accused of the murder of his
wife. In some cases, many liked Patty Kay and appreciated her, while some
didn't. From knowing a lot of information of Brook Forrest and what she is
like, it happens to be that Henrie O' solved her first case and found out
that Brook is the one who had murdered Patty Kay because she was jealous of
Patty Kay and didn't like what Patty Kay did for Walden School. However,
because this book is filled with mysteries it is really interesting and
upon this I recommend reading this book.

This was the first Henrie O book I had read. I always enjoyed the Death on Demand series by Hart. So I decided to try a Henrie O book. I wasn't disappointed. This book had my attention early on. The first chapter introduced me to the character of Henrie O. Then in the second chapter the excitement began.

I enjoyed learning about the exclusive community of Fair Haven. And several people had a reason to kill Patty Kay. But who did it? Was it her younger husband? Henrie O never quite knew if she was defending an innocent man. But she felt obligated to help the nephew of her good friend.

There are alot of twists and turns in this book. Also some light-hearted moments. It made me want to read more books about Henrie O. I will suggest everyone that likes Carolyn G Hart will love this book.

I loved this book. It is a perfect who done it.

I am a big fan Of Ms. Hart & I really enjoyed this book & trying to figure out just who the killer was & why.

Doesn't Patty Kay and her mousy husband remind you of another famous rich Tennessee couple? I sometimes wonder if Ms Hart did this in purpose. There were times when I wanted to tell PK to back off,she can come off sounding cruel,mean spirited and heartless,I don't care if she does have money and do charity work. I liked Henry O best in this book.

What have a Suicide and Murder have in common in the Town of Fair Haven? Henrie O must find the answer to these questions if she is to save her friends nephew from being charged with the murder of his wife. Posing as an Aunt of the accused Henrie O finds that beneath the lovely exterior of Fair Haven lies a hot bed of jealousy, hatred, pride and downright nastiness. Not only is she trying to find out who killed Patty Kay but who was respomsible for sending the horrible letters that drove young and sweet Franci Hollis to commit suicide can there be a connection. This is quite a deep book once you start reading and you will find it very hard to put down until you find the answers.

**Just a word of warning if you have had a Suicide in the Family the book could be a bit disturbing for you**

This is the second Henrie O book I read. This is an excellent book.

Henrie O is a strong woman. She's not afraid to do what she thinks needs to be done. Her friend's son is in trouble and she takes on the role of aunt when it looks like he might have murdered his wife. I like that she doesn't spend a lot of time agonizing over the decisions she makes, she makes them and goes forward. In this case, she decides to do what she can to help the young man whose wife was murdered.

As she begins looking at the people who might have wanted Patty Kay dead, she is never sure if it wasn't Craig, the young man who might have killed his wife. She is similar to Miss Marple in that she considers the people involved, their emotions, and their motivations. However, Henrie O isn't above going out and doing a little sluething on her own as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this book bunches.

The Henrie O series is very different from the Death on Demand series although they are both written by the same author. Although they are different, they are both great series with a lot to offer a reader.