I'm a big MRC kasasian fan.

I enjoyed this latest outing. However, I must agree with previous comments. I would have loved to have seen another Sydney Grice or Betty Church book appear. Hopefully, this will be in the pipeline. Another outstanding narration by Emma Gregory.

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5 people found this helpful

Ummm… ok

I just don’t know what to think. I didn’t dislike it, but I have to agree with other reviewers, I would rather have had another Betty story. Emma Gregory makes it listenable, but were there bits cut out or bad editing… it seemed disjointed.

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3 people found this helpful

a very honest review

I will try to be as honest as possible here.
is this my favourite Kasasian story - no.
would I have rather spent another adventure with March or Betty - yes (iykyk).
is this still better than 90% of other fiction writing out there - yes.
is it worth your money - yes.

I did not warm to the main character in quite the same way as previous Kasasian novels but this remains a well written novel with a strong multi dimensional female lead and even on a bad day Kasasian walks all over most authors of similar genre. there is some reassuringly good Kasasian-esque stuff in here it just didn't quite do it for me in the same way as all the previous books. I should caveat this by saying Kasasian is one of my favourite authors and I have repeatedly read every single other one of his books over and over again they are that good. go try out the Gower St Detectives or Betty Church mysteries before you come to this one. Emma Gregory faultless as always on narration.

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9 people found this helpful

It's good. But is it good enough?

For most of 2022 and 2023 I was eagerly anticipated the fourth book in the Betty Church series as the fabulous ‘The Ghost Tree’ left us dangling. And so I was disappointed to see that we were actually getting a new series.

What? No...!!

Oh well, it’s M. R. C. Kasasian. It’s going to be brilliant, right?

‘The Horror of Haglin House’ is good. Very good in places. The new central character, the diminutive Lady Violet Thorn, is as likeable as she is quirky, and the dark humour we’ve come to expect drips from every line. Emma Gregory (thank God the new publishers retained her services!) gives another 5-star performance. But, somehow, all this was not enough. It seems Sidney Grice, March Middleton and Betty Church set the bar too high. On the strength of this outing, the diminutive Lady Violet Thorn could walk under it without knocking her bonnet off.

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4 people found this helpful

Disappointing

Lovely Emma Gregory made me finish this but I didn’t enjoy the book. The protagonist didn’t come to life for me. Please may we have more Betty Church!

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1 person found this helpful

I’m a big MRC Kasasian fan

I’m a huge fan of MRC Kasasian’s work - always reading new books in one go and enjoying them enormously. This book took me a month to finish. And I agree with most comments - the story was…difficult to follow, the multiple narratives were confusing and unnecessary. I’d much rather follow one of the previous protagonists- Betty or Sidney. The narration was excellent and somewhat saved this book for me. But I probably won’t be buying any further books in this series. It is very rare than an audio book gives me a headache…this one has sadly managed to several times.

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Good

Sadly this became a bit of a long winded struggle.
I loved previous bookings and Martin R. C. Kasasian such a good writer but for me this one wasn't as good as the others. It's still very good but the protagonist was

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Narrative strategy over-contrived

Though it is undoubtedly clever and witty, and despite a skilled narrator, I feel I should have read rather than listened to this book. The persistent interventions of the voices of the protagonist’s characters from her own fiction becomes annoying and is over-contrived. I have enjoyed other titles by this author - just a matter of taste.

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o dear

very disappointed, I was excited to see another story by the author but found this irritating, and not funny. just difficult to listen.
PLEASE bring more March and her fantastic Guardian Mr Brise absolutely love those books.
shame as I know author and narrator are better then this.

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The Voices In Her Head

Boy, this novel was infuriating.

The protagonist, thriller writer Lady Violet Thorn, sets out to solve a mystery. To do this she obviously has to interview folk. Unfortunately no sooner does she open her mouth to ask a question than characters in her head, that she created to people her novels, butt in to add their twopennyworth, Or I should say their twelvepennyworth. Goodness, do they go on. When we get the actual interviewees response to Lady Violet’s question we could be forgiven for having forgotten what they’re responding to.

This quirk would have been amusing if used sparingly but the relentless, and I mean relentless, reliance on it very quickly started to grate. I was unable to return the book and so I slogged on to the end, and things never got any better.

The book lasts thirteen hours, thirteen very long hours only made bearable by yet another wonderful performance by Emma Gregory

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1 person found this helpful