Author: Catherine Aird
Narrator: Robin Bailey
Series: The Calleshire Chronicles (Book 2)
Publication: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (May 5, 2015); Audible Studios (December 7, 2010)
Length: 248 p.; 4 hours and 51 minutes
Description: A hit-and-run murder unearths a case of mistaken identity in this “well-bred, well written and genuinely superior” mystery by the Diamond Dagger winner (Kirkus Reviews).
Early one morning in the quiet English village of Larking, the body of a woman named Mrs. Jenkins is found in the road. Miles away, her daughter, Henrietta, receives the bad news while working in the university library. Poor Mrs. Jenkins appears to have been the victim of a horrible car accident.
When an autopsy proves not only that this was no accident but also that Mrs. Jenkins had never had a child, young Henrietta’s life is thrown upside down. If she’s not Mrs. Jenkins’s daughter, then who is she? It’s up to Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Calleshire police force to bring the murderer to justice—and a sense of order back to Henrietta’s life.
Proclaimed by the New York Times in 1968 to be one of the year’s best books Henrietta Who? is a first-order English whodunit that’ll keep you guessing until the end.
My Thoughts: A hit-and-run accident uncovers a lot of secrets in the second in the Calleshire Chronicles. At first it looks like it could have been an accident, but the autopsy indicates that Mrs. Jenkins was run over twice. And the autopsy shows that Mrs. Jenkins never had a child, yet it is her daughter Henrietta, a nearly twenty-one-year-old university student, who identifies her mother's body.
Detective Inspector C. D. Sloane of the Calleshire police force is called in to investigate. He wants to know who murdered Mrs. Jenkins. Meanwhile, Henrietta is more concerned with finding out who she is since she now knows that Mrs. Jenkins wasn't her mother.
All Henrietta has to contribute to the investigation are stories her mother told her when she was growing up and she doesn't know how many of them were true. A break-in at their cottage indicates that someone is looking for something they are convinced Mrs. Jenkins had. All Henrietta knows is that her mother kept her papers in the locked bureau that the thieves broke into.
This was an engaging historical mystery. Attitudes about illegitimate children play a role in this one and highlight that it is a historical novel. I enjoyed all of the period detail. I also liked the various characters and have a bit of a soft spot for Sloane's young confederate who is being taught by Sloane but who is just a little dim.
Robin Bailey did a good job with the narration. I liked that he didn't even try to mimic women's voices but had quite a variety of men's voices at his disposal.
I bought this one in both Kindle and Audiobook versions August 24, 2021. You can buy your copy here.
I bought this one in both Kindle and Audiobook versions August 24, 2021. You can buy your copy here.
I like English mysteries. The writing is often so good.
ReplyDelete