Christmas at The Grange

Series: A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 3.5

By: T E Kinsey / Narrated By: Elizabeth Knowelden

Length: 2 hrs and 5 mins

Unique weaponry makes for wonderful gift-giving!

Okay I shall admit it upfront that the maaaain reason I added Christmas at the Grange to m’ Christmas Week Listening was mainly cuz I canNOT get onto the next in the series unless I do this one. I KNOW! How un-festive is that?!

Seriously, clocking in at only 2-hours, I pretty much assumed nothing would be fleshed out, there’d be no mystery to speak of, and what on earth would Lady Hardcastle and “Tiny Servant” Flo Armstrong do for those 2-hours? Drink eggnog and TALK about past mysteries? See? It was meeee, and not the book, obviously! as I did indeed enjoy it.

The dynamic duo are settling in for Christmas and have been invited to The Grange for Christmas Eve festivities, mass, and later Christmas Day lunch. Yes, even lady’s maid Flo has been invited to eat at the table, as a guest and not the servant she is (One reviewer said it was refreshing to read of the Classes treating each other so well… uhm, yo! it’s fiction!).

All goes La Dee Dah Well until the two are taken aside by Lady Farley-Stroud: Overnight, a valuable pearl pendant has been stolen from a room, and the occupant never woke up during the theft. Further, the police can’t be called in as it would show the woman’s husband in a poor light. And so, it’s up to the women sleuths.

There are various clues, and it’s often up to Flo to use her Ninja-like skills and grace to do stuff like engineer the perfect catastrophic/drunken sprawl so that she might use her time on the rug to look at the soles of shoes of various male guests. Insult to injury? When the men say it’s not like Flo to fall flat on her face, Lady H adds that she must be drunk. But you see, it was Flo’s turn to pull The Perfect Sprawl.

So much to love in this little, and I do mean LITTLE! charmer, but especially the relationship between Lady Hardcastle and Flo which burst fully-formed from the beginning, page one of book one. The two here speak briefly of their past escapades that occurred as they traveled the world, showing just how they got to be so much more than Employer and Servant. Besides? What could be better than listening to, and picturing in one’s mind, the ingenious and specially designed/made Christmas gifts they exchange? A glorious bespoke hat with a pocket in the band that can hide a tiny gun in it? Or how about a specially-crafted knife that’s just exACTly like the ones Flo’s Circus Dad threw at her Circus Mom? >sniffle, sniffle< it brings a tear to the eye, just so very touching those gifts!

Elizabeth Knowelden does her usual Bang Up To The Mark job here, no surprise there. From Sir Hector getting increasingly drunk (Or heck! Lady H and Flo kinda having a bit too many!) to Lady Farley-Stroud as she gets a trifle all sorts of worked up about that pearl pendant. To every single character in the village who comes back for their Christmas cameo on Boxing Day. EnTIREly amusing! Brava!

Nope, no inCREDibly involved Mystery here when all was said and done, but I enjoyed the twist that spoke of Love and Good Will Towards All.

And dude! I get to go onto the next in the series, like, soon…

Soooo? Merry Christmas to meeeee! HUZZAH!