In A Killer Ball at Honeychurch Hall thirty-something antiques dealer/appraiser/former TV personality, Katherine ‘Kat’ Stanford, is down in the dumps after being unceremoniously jilted by her married boyfriend, David. She has recently settled close to her mother in Little Dipperton seeking refuge from her dysfunctional life and romance in London. Kat is pursuing a fledgling romance with the local gendarme while attempting to start her own antiques and valuation business in the Honeychurch Hall Estate’s former gate house, which she has just begun renovating; Honeychurch Hall is the cash-strapped ancestral home of the Earls of Grenville. With her romance-writing, former-sideshow-attraction mother Iris and her washed-up boxer, career-criminal Uncle Alfred, Kat attempts to solve many problems plaguing the blue-blooded inhabitants of Honeychurch Hall, including a decades old murder that occurred during a fancy dress ball at the main hall in 1958. Kat and her motley entourage are apparently the ones responsible for solving all of the crimes in Little Dipperton because the local constabulary is seriously understaffed and manned by incredibly ineffectual and biased officers.

A Killer Ball at Honeychurch Hall is a highly farfetched story that suffers from three terrible flaws.

First, the protagonist is romantically involved with the local policeman. Has the mystery writers’ union actually created an edict that all cozy mystery heroines have to date the local lawman? That trope is so old and tired it literally creaks. Somebody get this poor, old book a wheelchair!

Second, Kat’s Uncle Alfred is portrayed as a charming, loveable, madcap jack-of-all-crimes who has spent decades of hard time behind bars for a vast assortment of felonies, including forgery and robbery. Burglary and fraud are not cute and they are certainly not harmless, victimless crimes. Trying to depict this hardened criminal and thief as an otherwise fun-loving, huggable teddy bear is just downright offensive.

Third, every single character in this book is odious…not just paroled convict Uncle Alfred. From the snooty, quarrelsome, & above-the-law Honeychurches, to compulsive liar Iris, to Roxy, the prejudiced policewoman with the serious lack of ethics—all of the characters are vile in one way or another. It is almost impossible to like a book in which none of the characters is even remotely appealing.

Move along to the next book…there is nothing worth reading here. ( )

Heroine is Ok but the plot implausible ( )

I always forget how much I love these books! This one was certainly an improvement from the last in that the mystery actually started at the start of the book and not in the last 50 pages or so! At this point I could care less for the murders (especially this one, it was a little bit of a let down) but I love all the characters so dearly. Kat and Shawn are adorable, and even Eric is growing on me a little bit. I'm looking forward to picking up the next one! ( )

This series just keeps getting better and better. Kat is at Honeychurch Hall to evaluate some items for Rupert Max, Earl of Grenville. A wing of estate was long closed off, and in inspecting the items in that wing, Kat accidentally discovers an unknown priest’s hole and a decades-old corpse as well as a device for minting coins. Hoping to raise money for desperately needed repairs, the Earl is both dismayed at the scandal of the dead body and eager to find the silver coins that were known to exist. Much occurs in this tale, as the mysterious past life of Kat’s mother is slowly exposed with the appearance of people from her past. Suspicion falls on Kat’s mother and on her mother’s recently paroled stepbrother. But as usual, Kat is in the thick of things, and her arch-enemy Trudy – wife to Kat’s former boyfriend – is still making her life a misery. Many twists along the way as well as delightful characters in an intriguing plot will keep you turning pages. ( )

In an odd twist, the same humour that usually makes the books in this series so enjoyable is slowly starting to make them less so.

Kat and her mother have this weird, zany dynamic built on the premise that all Kat's life, while she thought her mother suffered debilitating migraines, she was locked in her room writing internationally best-selling romances. Once she discovers her mother's secret life, she starts learning about all sorts of other stuff too, including a childhood spent in a travelling circus-type thing and previously unknown relatives. Turns out mom's past is a tiny bit shady.

But after three books, the constant bickering and lying and concealment/discovery is getting old. The lack of romantic movement between Kat and Shawn and the constant reappearance of David is tiresome. The mood swings of the 'toffs' at Honeychurch Hall have become so wild I'm beginning to think someone ought to lace their drinking supply with lithium.

The mystery of A Killer Ball was interesting enough, but the ultimate solution was akin to something designed by a wildly imaginative 9 year old. Or alternatively, it felt like the author forced a scenario to ensure it would catch readers by surprise.

Still, I didn't flat line my rating because there were still a lot to enjoy; I love Harry and the Dowager Countess is a delightfully mouthy character most of the time. The setting is brilliant too, and I was especially intrigued by the use of secret rooms and old maps. I just wish Kat and her mother would grow up; there's plenty of humour here without relying on the two bickering biddies schtick. ( )