Murder at Maypole Manor (Posie Parker Mystery, #3) by L.B. Hathaway

Murder at Maypole Manor (Posie Parker Mystery, #3) Reviews

• 
  Corrie

  In the third installment of the Posie Parker Mystery Series, author L.B. Hathaway takes our plucky private detective of the Grape Street Bureau on a new adventure. Posie Parker goes – together with Inspector Richard Lovelace and Bikram the dog- on an undercover mission for Scotland Yard.
  
  In Murder at Maypole Manor, Posie travels to St Margaret’s Bay near Dover, where she and Lovelace are part of an intimate New Year’s Party at the remote clifftop home of Lord Robin Glaysayer. The party is serving as a front for a very hush hush classified operation that involves spies and an exchange of highly coveted blueprints for money. A snow storm traps everyone at the house. With the guests all wildly ambiguous and the first bodies dropping before the New Year’s rung in you can imagine Posie is up for one of the longest and nerve-racking nights of her life.
  
  Narrator Clare Wille remains a revelation. Her many voices and accents are a delight and she is the main reason I started this series. And the series is great! I praise L.B. Hathaway for the solid plot and the most colorful cast members that make these books so hugely entertaining.
  
  I had no idea who the murderer was this time, the plot was (as Blackadder would say) so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel. Onwards to book 4!
  
  The complete series of audiobooks are available on Scribd.
  
  Themes: New Year’s Eve 1921, undercover, Maypole Manor, House of Harlow couture, the walls have ears, what’s wrong with the central heating? smuggling ring, taxidermy galore, spies and double spies, don’t drink the coffee.
  
  4.4
  
• 
  Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore

  This was a historical mystery set in 1920s England which reminded me very much of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody books--with elements of a proper murder mystery but also hints of parody and a touch of the comic. In this one Posie is asked by her friend, Inspector Lovelace to go undercover as his wife to Maypole Manor where some secret documents are to be handed over at the New Year party. Maypole Manor is a bit like Chimneys in Agatha Christie's books, and some of the other elements like the party being cut off in a snow storm with no connection with the outside world are also similar as also the different murders, hidden secrets, and impostors. This was a fun read, and despite the parody elements, I was glad the mystery itself had a sensible enough solution (though may be many things feel exaggerated).
• 
  Cynthia

  A cozy mystery set in 1920s England where inclement weather leaves guests stranded at a country house party ought to be a winner for me. However, this book was a mess and it’s a complete mystery to me how this book has a 3.92 average rating. I am more than willing to suspend disbelief when reading fiction, but this book required too much of me in that capacity.
  
  You will enjoy this book if:
  - You see nothing wrong with the author explaining away gigantic plot holes with “Posie had no idea how xyz could have happened, so she just accepted it and moved on” (hint, hint reader, you are being asked to follow Posie's lead)
  
  - It does not irritate the heck out of you when something glaringly suspicious and criminal happens, and no one who is supposed to be investigating thinks to follow up on it until 100 pages later
  
  - You like mysteries where every motive and clue is established either through Posie giving us backstory on characters and plots (I assume that are from the first two books, but I really have no idea) or by 80% of the characters introducing themselves to Posie then proceeding to tell her all their deepest, darkest, most painful secrets (which is then explained, I kid you not, by “this always happened to Posie, there was just something about her”)
  
  - You do not require the mystery to be developed in such a way that at some point during the story you are able to make a reasonable guess as to whodunit. Furthermore, you do not mind one of the crimes that needs to be explained being committed by a character who did not even appear in the story until the last page
  
  - You don’t mind having to write down who the suspects are in order to even recall what their role in the story is when their name crops up. Jocasta and Jacinta? Could not keep them straight. One was an angry, selfish brat, and one was a psychic with a hunchback. Couldn’t tell you which name goes with which description though. The husband of one of the murder victims? Every time his name came up (referred to by first and last name every single time) I had to wrack my brain trying to recall who the heck he was.
  
  Won’t be reading others in this series.
  
• 
  Amina

  3.5 rounded to 4 stars because I had so much fun figuring this out.
  The plot, the atmosphere, the characters, everything in this book was greatly presented.
• 
  Richard

  The entire book (except the epilogue) takes places on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1921, and into the following day. Things get pretty hectic as the plot moves along. It's a fun book altogether, and features some of the characters we've met before in the previous volumes of the series.
  
  Oh, the editing is very good. Didn't spot even one typo while reading, so that's golden.
  
  There were some anachronistic idioms and phrases scattered through the book, and at one point I started looking up some things in the Google ngram viewer... And Wikipedia. Two specific anachronisms that bothered me while reading were (1) Fred Astaire, because I'm such a fan, and (2) nylons. But it's all in good fun, and I don't know how many readers would even notice without being told. The historical notes at the end also exposed some other things the author took liberty with, but which I didn't know or notice; and it's nothing earth-shaking anyway...
  
• 
  Nobuko

  Mostly I enjoyed reading this 3rd book of Posie Parker Mystery series. But there were 2 things very annoying.
  1. Why did Posie suddenly start addressing Inspecter Lovelace "sir"? It sounded unnatural.
  2. Too much "sure as bread is(was) bread" expression. 23 times in this book.
  
• 
  Julia

  I enjoyed this immensely! Private Investigator Posie Parker is pretending to be the wife of her friend - a Scotland Yard Inspector - at a house party in a remote part of England. They are around to supervise the top-secret transfer of documents for the government. But nothing is what it seems; everyone is keeping secrets and hiding ulterior motives. Things go from bad to worse, and then to even worse!
  
  Posie is likeable and quick and generally fun to read about, and the supporting cast of characters were quirky and interesting. The story moved quickly - with plenty of twists and turns - and I stayed engaged throughout. There were several things that gave me pause (I doubt, for example, that a WW1-era police inspector would use the phrase "I messed up bigtime") but overall the story was an enjoyable diversion.
• 
  Randi

  I enjoy the Posie Parker stories and this one was no exception. The story moved along well and I liked the extended cast of characters.
  I'm not a fan of stories that keep weaving in the same antagonist and hope that the Count della Rosa story is resolved in the next book or so. It feels like a will they/won't they kind of trope used on TV shows.
  I would also say that the author's repeated use of the phrase "as sure as bread is bread" was distracting and a bit annoying by the 3rd or 4th time it popped up.
  
• 
  Susie

  More like 3.5 stars. The plot on this went all over the place and the writing seemed rushed (lots of typos, actually, and words missing here and there). Posie was a delight, as always, and I was interested enough to read it quickly. I’ll keep reading the series.
• 
  Karen

  I listened to book one in this series and thought perhaps I would give the next one a go despite some reservations re historical accuracies (using the saying 'best thing since sliced bread' for example!). Unfortunately book 2 was on a long wait at the library so I skipped to book 3 'Murder at Maypole Manor'. I must say the historical inaccuracies continue, but even if I could forgive these issues, I cannot forgive the writing. I do not want to read sentences such as 'Relieved, she sighed in relief' or 'Restless, he moved it restlessly through his fingers'. As to the plot ... the characters ... it is best I just don't go there.
  Others appear to love these books, I am not one of them.
• 
  Lisa Debellevue

  This book had too many characters and it was hard to keep up with them. It seemed to be an effort to emulate Agatha Christie. With a locked room mystery, but it was quite successful. I do like Posie though and want to continue reading the series,
• 
  Judith Jones

  Review
  
  I liked the pacing of the plot. I sometimes got the characters mixed up but I enjoyed this book. I will read other books by Hathaway.
• 
  Voirrey

  A glorious cast, and a fun read as long as you can cope with the setting not really being England in the 1920s but a fantasy version which gives the impression it was created by someone who has only a vague idea of the period, gleaned from other fiction set in the period rather than actually reading any history...
• 
  Jennifer S. Alderson

  Posie Parker is a great character. I look forward to reading more of this series.
• 
  Kimberly Ann

  
  
  "Posie Parker": first the name put me off; did they mean Nosy Parker or Nosy Rosie? I suppose that maybe, it was suppose to be cute, perky, & modern?
  
  This is not the first book in the series, but the first that I have come across... being I am a "ROO", it didn't bother me much.
  
  So this PI, Posie, is alone for the New Year, living in her offices as the heat in her building is non-existent, and her friends & boy-friend are all away for the holidays.
  
  She receives a call from Scotland Yard asking her help by posing as a rich mystery novelist wife to the Inspector's Barrister at an exclusive New Year's party at a secluded cliff-top Dover Manor.
  
  The party will also be the venue for an exchange of top secret war-plane blueprints & M15 business.
  
  No one at the party is whom they claim to be or has a clean past and it all comes crashing down with the murder of a nasty tempered film star and the alleged suicide of the host.
  
  I found the book interesting to start and was satisfied through the middle as well, but the ending (most of which I had figured out) was convoluted and a bit much over-done.
  
  I will try reading another, but at this point I have no hope for continuing the series.
• 
  Suz Davidson

  A very nice "Agatha Christie-esque" whodunnit. I've not read others of the PP series, but happened upon this thinking it was a stand-alone. Fortunately, other than the heroine referring to prior experiences, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of this story. Within a fairly light story, there was intrigue, and enough twists and turns to be appealing and, for the most part, surprising.
  
  SPOILER -- Stop reading now if you prefer.
  My only complaint is that, in a whodunnit such as this, there is generally a surprising ending of who the culprit is. Rarely is it a case such as this, where nearly everyone is guilty of some crime, with one plot after the other swirling around each other, and all coming to a hurried conclusion in the final moments. I feel that the book suffered with too many dastardly deeds, tangential crimes, and cross-purposes. Unlike the famous "Orient Express" ending, this had a finale of so many characters being guilty, but also so many crimes that it felt like the endings of multiple books were all jammed into the story. A few minor ones could have been cut to provide a more focused conclusion. (That's just my opinion, so perhaps others would enjoy this type of melee.)
• 
  Debbie

  Wow. What a book!
  The first bit of the book was a little hard to follow, there was just so much going on. It continued with many, many things happening at once, but you sure couldn't say there was no action! Mysteries, murders, drugs, smuggling, kidnapping, imposters, thefts, multiple villains, reunions, more attempted murders, several different plotlines, some romance and a dodgy stuffed tiger and an unfaithful dog thrown in! Whew! I wasn't kidding when I said there was a lot going on!
  I liked the first two books a little more, but still enjoyed this one a lot, and I sure wasn't bored! haha
  Highly recommend if your brain likes to multitask. ;)
• 
  Sheila

  I have loved all of the Posie Parker books. This one was not quite as good as the previous two books. The story seemed a bit too convoluted, with a couple of unnecessary characters whose only reason for being included seemed to be to muddy the waters. Still, though, I like Posie, and look forward to reading the next book.
• 
  Diane Waldo

  Sure as bread was bread, if I'd read that expression one more time I'd have thrown a fit. It was a novelty the first time I came across it, but by the umpteenth repetition I was very annoyed.
  
  Other than that, the book was okay albeit far-fetched. If I stumble across another book in this series and it's free, I might read it but I will not go hunting for others.
• 
  Helen

  Too convoluted
  
  I think the author tried to use too many plot threads in this story. I found it a bit hard to follow, which may have been partly due to it being the first story in the series I’ve read.
  I picked up a few inaccuracies and anachronisms, which the author spends too much of the appendix explaining.
• 
  Hillary Baumann

  Slow
  
  This just didn’t seem original. It was very predictable. It also moved really slowly. I expected more. Banal lead character.
• 
  Virginia Tican

  In Chapter 14 when Binny said that Posie should not go in the library to see the body... don't they know that she had seen action in the Western Front?... and they are Scotland Yard detectives?... don't they vet everyone?... especially those who could be friends or potential work colleagues? Anyway, it all started when Inspector Lovelace wanted a "wife" and Posie was holed up at her offices while the heating on her building flat was to be seen to after the Christmas holidays with a cat (Mr. Minks) and a dog (Bikram) giving in to their contentious natures with Posie feeling cabin fever... she jumped at the chance to play incognito wife to a QC (Lovelace) to help broker a deal involving the realm's security... that would happen at Maypole Manor at the southern most tip of Dover. Then they were all snowed in and trapped at the manor with 2 corpses... making most of the guests and temporary residents suspects and that most of them not at all what they seemed. Lots of threads here but the author managed to make a grand design out of it plus giving the reader the thrill and excitement attendant to this author's works. This was also the case when Inspector Lovelace, in all honor and mortification had to resign his post at Scotland Yard... He did get what he truly deserved despite all what had happened. A good run, this one... if the reader could see past some of the Contemporary words and phrases that jolts the timeline a bit as I have noted below...
  
  P.S. ~ Wonder why Jocasta was still in need of money when she had her cut from the major drug smuggling operations underneath the Manor... Weird...
  
  NOTES ~ The use of Contemporary words and phrases in present day context although stated in the Author's Note that she used them for readability... still create an undeniable Time Warp for me because these conjure images or scenarios that DO NOT yet exist in Posie's Timeline for example in Chapters 2 & 14~'national security' (9~11 & homegrown terrorists & suicide bombers)... Chapter 5~'game~changer' (video games & virtual reality) 'strategic bombing' (Bin Laden & ISIS & drones)... Chapter 7~'cutting~edge' (end of the 20th century science and technology & high finance jargon) Chapters 21 & 23~'game over' (video games) 'big time' in present day context... Ah well, these all belong to the same century albeit the later part (while Posie's was 1922) so I will just have to lump it if I want to follow more of Posie's adventures...