July 1910. Lady Hardcastle and her tireless sidekick Flo have finally embarked on a long-overdue seaside break. But just as they’re wavering between ice creams and donkey rides, their fellow guests start to go missing—and the duo find themselves with a hysterical hotel manager and a case to solve.
The first to disappear is Dr Goddard, a scientist doing something terribly top-secret for the … the government. Gone too are his strongbox and its mysterious contents. By the time Lady Hardcastle has questioned the horde of international guests, her number-one suspect has been dispatched in grisly circumstances—and then the others start vanishing too.
As the case begins to look like a matter of national security, Lady Hardcastle takes advice from her brother in the secret service. But could there be an even more personal connection at play? To solve the case, Lady Hardcastle may face a shocking discovery of her own.
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Lady Hardcastle and her lady’s maid/sidekick Flo are taking a long overdue vacation at a luxurious seaside hotel in a small English village called Weston-Super-Mare. Unfortunately, their relaxing holiday turns into a nightmare when four hotel guests are murdered, two are kidnapped, and a mysterious strongbox goes missing. Something sinister is going on at the hotel and Lady Hardcastle and Flo are determined to get to the bottom of it.
Death Besides the Seaside is a fantastic addition to the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries. It is a humorous, entertaining historical cozy mystery, with great characters, excellent writing, and a complex mystery. Lady Hardcastle and Flo had me laughing out loud several times throughout the book, and I look forward to solving more mysteries with them. If you’re looking for a lighthearted, historical cozy, then I highly recommend this series.
Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Oh my gosh, I love this series! T. E. Kinsey can’t write them fast enough for me. In case you haven’t tried them yet, the Lady Hardcastle mysteries take place in the early twentieth century in a small village in England where a widowed, upper-class British lady has moved with her outrageous lady’s maid, Florence Armstrong. They are, in a word, spies, or rather retired spies, who continue to get themselves into mysteries and murder cases all over England. The stories are told from Flo’s POV. This particular mystery takes them to a small seaside town where they find themselves in a hotel populated by a whole load of foreign spies all vying for the mysterious box of secrets from a British scientist. The story is witty, funny, but still a genuine mystery. Both Flo and Lady Hardcastle are such original characters, you’ll never forget them. (Flo is five feet tall and a martial arts and knife throwing expert, while Lady H is a crack shot.) Any of these books can be read stand alone, but i definitely suggest you try them all. They’re delightful!
I enjoy T. E. Kinsey’s dialogue, Elizabeth Knoweldon’s delivery & the dynamic between Lady Hardcastle & Flo!
The Lady Hardcastle mystery series is an absolute delight. This is Lady Hardcastle and Florence Armstrong’s sixth adventure and it’s their most exciting one yet. These two ladies have hidden depths and it’s a pleasure to observe their slow reveal. Start the series at the beginning (with A Quiet Life in the Country) and enjoy them all!
Death Beside The Seaside is the seventh book in the A Lady Hardcastle Mystery series.
I like this series. The main characters, Lady Hardcastle and her sidekick/best friend/maid, Flo, are humorous and interesting and one of my favorite duos. They have been through many harrowing experiences together. They trust each other to have the others back when necessary. For the most part, Flo handles the narration of the story along with most of the humor, but Lady Hardcastle also gets her chance with humor.
Lady Hardcastle and Flo decide that it is time for a much-needed vacation and set off for Weston-super-Mare. Their new motor is loaded and off they go. Once they arrive at their hotel and get settled in their rooms they head downstairs for dinner. They have ordered drinks when a gentleman enters the dining room and Lady Hardcastle offers to share the table the gentleman who identifies himself as Dr. Goddard. He says he is a scientist for the government and is the area for a top-secret meeting. Lady H. and Flo soon learn that there are three other men from different countries also staying at the hotel who are also part of the secret meeting. A couple of days later Dr. Goddard and a strongbox he had in his room have gone missing. The hotel manager says he has heard of Lady H. and Flo to solve mysteries and asks them to find what has happened to Goddard. Before long the other three men are dead and the strongbox still not located. Since Goddard disappearance, Lady H has been in touch with her brother Harry who works for a secret government agency and Harry tells her to stop her sleuthing but knows she won’t. Hopefully, the killer will be found before anyone else loses their life.
Well written story with interesting and believable characters that kept me guessing until the end. The author in his Authors Notes provides some interesting historical information and explains where he has changed some facts to fit his story.
I will be watching for the next book in great series.